The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1891-06-03
STRANDED

"Love me? Oh, no, Jackl IF you did
you wouldn't oppose what is for my
highest interest You wouldn't want
me to waste the best years of my life
drudging among such common people
when have talent which can lift me to
something better. No, Jack, you don't
love me; for love is unselfsh, and you
think only of yourself"
Jack Clavering-a strong limbed,
Saxon haired young fellow-turned to
the window, and for little while gazed
in silence upon the summer world out
side
But he saw neither the blue sky nor
the green earth. He did not hear the
south wind whispering among the bud
ding lilacs, nor the robins singing in the
apple trees pink with bloom.
Those honest blue eyes were blind
with tears wrung from the bitterness of
his spoiled and cheated young manhood.
The words of his needless, ambitious
young wife had stabbed him to the
heart.
you think only of YOURSELF"
She-his adored Kate-could say that
when he would have laid down his life
for her sakel
He turned presently.
Hero as he was, he had concealed
every sign of what was warning within
him.
II will not oppose you, Kate, if you
are really in earnest about the matter.
But it viii make great change in our
livesl Have you thought of thatY he
asked her.
~ have thought of everything" she
answered eagerly. OF course we must
sell this odious little house and lot, and
you can transfer your business to the
city while | am studying. And after
ward, when shall be established ON the
stage, you will 60 with mo wherever
60"
1.-THE life wouldn't suit me-" he said.
eff You are determined upon a career as
an actress you must get along without
me altogether. You will go the way
you have chosen, my Kate, and will go
mine"
For moment she looked grieved and
reluctant.
But the new ambition was stronger
than the older love, and such separa-
ton did not seem 80 terrible after all.
She went to him and put her arms
around his neck.
"But the parting will be without an
ger, and 1t will not be for always3" she
asked him.
1--WE part without anger, certainly"
was his reply.
And 80 it was settled.
And in a few weeks Kate had begun
her new life in the city and Jack was
journeying westward, whittier he scarce
ly knew and hardly cared
The curtain had rolled down for the
last time. The play was over
There had been no applause, no recalls.
The company had played that night to a
nearly empty house.
1t had been the same night after
night. in town after town, and city after
city.
In rose satin and filmy lace, glitter
Of jewels, the worth of which would not
have purchased her a nights lodging, the
star swept her shining court train across
the stage on her way to her dressing
room.
One Of her companions met her in the
wings. The girl was crying hysteric-
ally.
"Oh, Kater she sobbed, 'that wretch
has gonel He has disposed of every
thing he could, and he has gone and left
us to shirk for ourselves"
"You don't mean the manager?' said
Kate, aghast.
81 just do mean the manager, the
heartless scamp! He has borrowed money
on the stage properties-just enough to
take him home, suppose-and he went
away the instant he could get the re-
ceipts in his hands tonight And here
we are in this horrid place without SO
much as dollar among us all"
1t was all too true. Their manager
had forsaken them, leaving the unfort-
innate company stranded in that remote
little western town.
While leaving the theater, in the ex-
element Kate happened somehow to
become separated from her companions.
She walked on, thinking some of them
would overtake her. And presently she
stopped on a bridge spanning a narrow
stream which flowed in sluggish cur
rent through the rambling little city.
She had stood there long time wait
ing, gazing down into the dark rolling
water and absorbed with her Respondent |
thoughts, before 1t occurred to her that |
the others must have preceded her from |
the theater building.
And there was little probability that
any of them would come back to search
for her
But what did it matter?
1t was calamity in which each one
must help herself or himself
And doubtless they had all by now
settled themselves somewhere for the
night, at least.
They had all of them, even the little
soubrette who had sobbed 80 disconso-
lately, been members Of the profession
longer than she.
They were used to it's ups and downs.
its shifts and expedients. And most OF
them had experienced exactly the same
predicament before.
Now, in her distress and perplexities,
Kate concluded that they had forgotten
all about her.
There isn't one of them who cares
enough for me to miss me, to wonder
what / will do, or what will become OF |
me-" she thought, as she stood there on
the bridge alone in the night gloom.
"And this is the career / once fancied SC |
full of pleasurel This is the end Of my
dazzling hopes, my lofty ambitionsi
Well, tonight is but the emblem of it ALI
In love, in everything which makes
ones life sweet and blessed, | am in
deed-stranded."
Perhaps it was only natural In such