Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1893-09-14
UP HILL AND DOWN HILL
A Story of New York Theatricals.


as the comic opera singer entered. 1t
was just after theater time, and she had
not entirely rid her face of makeup.
After her performance she must have
dressed with exceeding rapidity to have
reached the restaurant 80 soon. So said
some OF those who gazed at her while she
sat at table near mirror. She had
come in with smo Doth faced, we'll groomed
young man whose movements were in
dolent and graceful. He ordered champ
agne as soon as they were seated, and
during the ensuing hour she drank the
most of it.
One gray headed sleek old bon vivant
who sat at "a nearby table said to young
er man with whom he was eating:
II remember how hard that youngsters
father worked for the money that is now
crystallized into that comic opera singers
diamonds"
"And I remember" said the young
man, "when she hadn't any diamonds.
Her hair wasn't blonde in those days.
She was a post-office clerks daughter
and she was allowed to be out nights.
She was often turned away from the back
entrances Of theaters where she now
draws hundreds of dollars week."
"She is certainly now at the top of the
ladder" said the old man.
eff she is sensible she will keep her
head. If not-well, when one leaves the
top one must go downward. She is just
now at the doubtful period. Most of
them reach stage when admiration, wine,
jewelry and jolly company turn their
heads more or less. Then is when they
burn the candle at both ENDS. Not con-
tent with their stage triumphs, they go in
for the pleasures of the table and for
lively times. Many survive this stage
and some out of it to long lasting
period of prosperity and honor. But
some never come out of it. 1t is too
much for them. They are simply angel
feed and very few people know what be-
comes of them. It's one thing or the
other with that woman there"
"And what is to decide?"
"The presence or the absence of either
radical virtue or radical good sense"
elias she either?"
Chow should know. She is just at
the stage when the test comes"
The two men rose and left the cafe.
The opera singer continued to eat and
drink, her laughter increasing as the
champagne diminished. The people in
the restaurant admired her beauty, and
some of the women secretly envied her.
*
On rainy night, few years late :, a
somewhat red faced man in cab order
cd his driver to stop at a corner on Broad
way that he might see what had caused
crowd to gather. The man had in the cab
a companion, who, like himself, was in
evening dress.
The cause of the commotion was soon
ascertained. A fragile looking woman, in
a muddy silk dress and with shoes down
at the heel, had insisted on resting on the
step Of a drug store. The drug clerks
had objected and policeman had been
summoned
The man in the cab thrust his head
from the window. The woman noticed
him and exclaimed: "Why, Charley"
The man in the cab hurriedly said:
"Drive on, quick!" and drew in his head.
The cab ratified away.
"Who's your friend ?" inquired the mans
companion.
Well, you wouldn't think it, but that
woman was all the rage here in New York
six or seven years ago. An opera ran hero
one whole season solely because she was
in the cast. Wine and flowers and dia-
think she ate diamonds"
"She hadn't any on tonight"
"No. She probably changed them as
Cleopatra changed the pearl"
RMS.