Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-05-09
a ROMANCE OF TIE THEATRE.
Nellie Wilton Perjured Herself But She Wasn't
Happier for It.

Happier for It.
Dashing Jack Walton stood six feet one
and was the persouihcation of plucF,
good nature, strength and physical beauty.
Besides being undeniably good looking,
Jack had one talent-he had capital
memory. For the last three years OF his
school lite he had been the show boy at
what they termed Rotations, at which
the parents and guardians and friends
and relatives of the pupils used to assist.
JaoEshad no available property-he Ger
tainly had no expectations. As for his
character, Jack was as weak as water, he
was free from vice and was fond of a
pretty face and pretty figure in boy
ish, sentimental sort of way.
At the age OF nineteen Jack ran away
from his home TO try the stege. He OBJ
tanned an engsg ement at once as general
utility at dirty little theatre in the min
ing districts. How Jack Walton managed
to keep his small soul and his big body
together on fifteen shillings a week, /
don't know. | fancy he must have vince
died mis- landladies.
And now Jack made an ass of himself;
he married the Columbine at the dirty lit-
e., theatre--a well developed yonng per
son, who couldn't write her own name, and
spoLe of him as my mon" 1t was rath-
er to Jacks credit, perhaps, that he did
marry her, but his professional friends
unanimously agreed that he had maze an
ass of himself And so be had, for Miss
Vavassor was innately vicious, and Miss
Vavassor was fond of drink. Jacks six
months experience of married life was
not happy one, it ended, as love mar
rIages often do end, in the lady running
away. She left him a short i'll spelled
note, written for her by somebody else,
in which she informed him that she
should never see his face again; but she
didn't leave him his watch and chain,
which we're the only articles OF value ne
possessed in the world.
Poor Jack did not pursue the fugitive;
he couldn't, poor devil, for he had not
farthing in the world. Jack stuck TO his
profession, and he gradually worked has
way up; he was "quick study" and of
commanding presasce, and after five years
he became leading man in a respectable
theatre in the north. One thing Jack
Walton had learned by his early expert
encee, and that was thrift We should all re
spect the man who has squared the cir
Gle, for he certainly had accom- plished the
apparently impossible in supporting him
self and wife-and they both had fine
healthy appetites-on his miserable salary
of fifteen shillings q week. But Jack
Walton, as bachelor, as a principal
tragedian, at three pound ten a week, paid
regularly was a wealthy man. Whether
Miss Vavassor was dead or alive Jack did
not know; he had ceased TO think of her,
and his short existence of married misery
had passed away from his mind, like a
fevered dream. Jack worked hard, and
he made himself very useful; he stuck TO
old Brewer, his manager, like trump. i
fear his constancy was not altogether
1isinterested.
The lodestone which kept this needle
faithful TO its pole. the pole being Old
Brewer, was the old mans pretty daughter
Nellie. All the Brewer family were in the
profession, and five sons and three
daughters in themselves make powerful
company. Old Brewer as King Lear,
Mrs. Brewer as Lady Macbeth, and pretty,
blonde, blue eyed Nellie as anything you
please TO mention. from Ophelis to
fairy queen or pretty, pert prince of
burlesaUe (for Nellie was a we'll shaped
girll, where each and all of them GER
tain draw. need not say that Nellie
Brewer WAS thoroughly good girl-girl's
born and bred upon the boards of the
alter, reared IN, 20 to say, the atmosphere
of gas and orange peel, always are.
When two young people make love to
each other professionally all the year
round, they generally end by falling IN
love in reality. They did not talk about
il, but il came to them as most Datural
thing in life, and the only people who
did not seem to see it were the Brewers
Themselves. Had Lady Macbeth had
any inkling Of the fact she certainly
would have urged her husband to have
seLt Jack Walton about his business, and
though it would have cost old Brewer
some trouble, and certainly another two
pounds a week 10 have replaced Jack, he
would not have hesitated an instant, for
Brewer was, in his way, ambitious. The
dream Of his life was 10 see his daugh-
tiers married we'll He would say in his
excitement TO the faithful Jack, when
pretty Nellie had been called for the third
time before the curtain:
THAT girl will drive her carriage yet,
Mr.. Walton" obey are Al ways very polite
in the profession, and "Mister" each 9th
er good deal). at isn't only good
looks you see, my boy-it's good looks
and talent combined; it's the combina
ton that does it, sir; we seldom see the
combination no xadsy 3, Mr.. Walton. She'll
drive her carriage yet"
~ sincerely trust she may" replied
jack, with becoming humility. And az
hat artfui hypocrite, Jack Walton, was
quite determined that pretty NelieshC Uld
be the future Mra. Jack, there could b
very little doubt OF the sincerity he pro-
fe-sed, though how she should ever drive
her carriage as Mrs. John Walton, save
by some extraordinary turn Of fortune e
Wheel, was a rather difficult problem.
Though Jack Walton had never for
mally proposed to Nellie, and had never
breathed word Of love to her except on
he stage, set l fancied the pair under
stood each others feelings, for
Jack, except on the stage, was the most
dificent of men. He had never even PRO
POSED TO the forgotten Miss Vsvassor; on
the contrary, that illiterate but bold eyed
young woman had proposed TO and mar
ried MIN, and he had submitted, poor boy,
out Of pure weakness End good nature.
The great Miss Bellsstuu he'd come
9ovgn "a U-toru for "a Usek The ureaf