The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-08-30

-NOAiSheiNe SpecCns
smith always referred to the room we had
in London as the "cubby hole.n Now what
th's highly ornate phrase means has ALWAYS
peen a mystery to me, but from the first he
never called it anything else. 'sI left it at the
cuoby hole," he would say, or S'I'm tired:
leIs go TO the cubhy hole and turn in'' and in
MS ltemlzed account of daily expenses I no.
uceu he had made the entry ''to 'cubby hole'
rehI lUs.." not room rent. He never referred
TO our headquarters as a room, but always as
"cubby hole" But II never question Smiths
English. lie is the author of two or three
works on language and literature, l believe.
andccrtaiuly would not criticise an authors
choice of words. Yet cubby hole does sound
funny, doesn't it? Suppose this term had
been used on the placard in the window in
stead of the word 'sroom'-the ambiguity
would have been mystifying Our room is or,
the ground floor and just at the end of the
nall. One of the Strand theatres is lust on
posite, and from our windows we have rood
view OF both the wings and the stage We
Wa1cnea ,!..I the nightly, performances with no
little interest, although being able to see the
characters after they had finished their parts
mad the effect to lessen the air of reality of the
play. To see the confiding child of nature.
who had loved well, but not wisely, plunge a
cleaning dagger into her trusting heart. and
with tragic farewell, cruel, cruel world,''
fall with sickening thud to the floor. and
then arise gracefully, adjust her wig, aud re-
sumo her fancy work in the wings dispe!s. to
some extent, the horror of the deed The vii
lain when the fair heress jilts him for noble
Raymond Esmond, in retaliation for which.
SAID villain waylays said heiress as she passes
through the park at dusk, and with /, Missed
You shall never marry hated Raymond Es-
mond, by heavens Die, false enchantress =,
plunges tln sword up to the hllt in her bosom,
and, after she gurgles and dies to slow music.
they both 60 off behind the scenery and drink
bottle of setzer. Seltzer seems to he the
stage specific for these fatal stabs The tnur-
derer, of course, always pays the bills.
W nat peautlful scene-to the audience
is that one where beautiful Edenia welcomes
home brave Harold her soldier lover. When
dalold left five years ago to fight for mis-
country's flag they were both in their teens.
hdenla wore short dresses and Harold had
just put on long pants. He was fire,i with
boyish patriotism and, although he loved
Edenia passionately responded to his countrv,s
call like an old soldier. In the parting sceie.
Edenia had never as yet openly confessed that
she loved Harold. But now she filings herself
lnto INTO Harold's arms and sobs out Historically,
"Oh! my darling, | have always loved vo1
and now my heart is brealling," whereupon
Harold smooths back few stray hairs from
her blonde wig, which in her violent grief has
been Knocked little to one side, and tries to
comfort her. With good deal of erratic
embracing, sighs, and sobDing, they swear
mutual and eternal fidelity, when some one
thumps the scenery, and Harold excaims.
"Hark the drum, the regiment starts, fare
well "a hug), farewell (another hug), and
God bless my own fond darling (several hugs
and stage kiss),' and Harold is away.
Edenia rushes to the window just in time to
see him turn the corner and then she gives y
stlfled "he's gone" and breaks down com
pletely. After an appropriate amount of
raying she is carried off the stage We neyt
see her tall and queenly, beset by ardent
suitors. But she remains true to her boy
lover all these years. She is sistery ii q kind
to all the fellows, but tells them her heart
belongs TO another. The report comes that
ne is DEAD, but she prefers to live true TO his
memory, and the earnest admirer urges his
sultto no purpose. Her heart beats but for her
soldier boy, be he dead or alive The war is
ended, One day she receives letter. otis
true, he lives Oh, bliss, he is cominglr
Edna is crazed with JOY. Her fidelity is re-
and sporting fierce mustache, Harold re-
turns leading his brave regiment Edenia
dressed IN a becoming gown of some light
material, leans out of the window when she
hears the drum and sees the regiment ap-
preaching. She is flushed with suppressed ex-
citement. The mighty tread of the conquer
ing army becomes louder and louder That
mighty armyh as we saw it from our window
WAS maue up OF TOUR as harmless looking
specimens of humanity as one ever encounters
The stage carpenter with begrimed face and
a flannel blouse headed the procession Next
In order came sickly-looking supe with his
coat OFF, and his sleeves rolled up 10 the
elbows. He was followed Ivy a nondescriot in
ragged attire, who manipulated the calcium
lights, and a drty-faced boy ia a ging-
ham shirt, whose only occupation seemed
to be to swell the ranks of the stage army,
brought up the rear. Their weapons con.
sisted OF an old hammerless gun, a piece of
lath, broom stick and cane, each sur
mounted by an old rusty bayonet. This con-
quering army finally passes beneath our lady's
window, and the audience sees what seems TO
be hundreds of bayonets passing the easement.
In reality these four formidable soldiers are
showing each other past that window in rapid
succession, the first returning and falling in
after the last, thus continuing the onward
march, while the stage manager swears at them
continually because they don't hold their bayo-
nets straight. And fair Edenia is in a state
OF rapture. She leans out of the window and
frantically waves her handkerchief to the
''dear, brave, manly fellow" as she calls him.
From our position we were unable to tell
whether the ''dear, brave, manly fellow" was
the stage carpenter, the supe or the light ma
nipulator. "How charming he looks in his new