Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-06-24
MELLlCENT'S CHANCE.

character photographs, and her letter
of introduction in the attic room of a
New York boarding house her Joy was
unconfned. The boarding house was
east of Third avenue, and the attic
room was four flights from the street
but when one is talented and twenty,
and visits New York for the first time,
with fattering introduction to an in
fuential manager, one does not count
stairs.
On that first evening Mellicent ate
her gristly roast and wilted salad with
the air of young woman who is
assured of champagne and sweetbreads
at the weeks end, and wondered
whether 1t would be three days or five
before she signed" with the Influential
manager and engaged quarters better
beftting the comedienne of metro.
politan company.
Two weeks later Mellicent occupied
the same attic on the east side, but
boarded cheaply at a Third avenue
eating house, where one could eat
breakfast heartily for fifteen cents and
dine lu1uriously for twenty.
One week more, and Mellicent was
boiling her breakfast cocoa over the
gas jet, and washing her handkerchief
in the hathtub. and fattening them on
the window-pane to dry. In those
days she blacked her boots with ink
and stuffed her mirror frame With
newspaper advertisements for ballet
dancers and lady fencers. The letter
of recommendation. which the influ.
ential manager had kindly returned,
was streaked and worn by constant
handling, and the notice book was dog.
cared.
On one end of her bureau was box
of letters from the man who wished to
marry her. At first Mellicent used to
read and sigh over these pledges of af.
feotion. 1t was such pity, she thought,
that he cared like that for a girl who
never could marry him. Now she read
and sighed over them with difference.
1T can't come to that" she would say.
At the start there had been a certain
piquanoy in the venture. To be talent.
cd and twenty and to seek her fortune
alone in great city read uncommonly
like the first chapter of romance. Be.
sides, New York captivated the girl.
Her rounds for the day finished she
would ride from the Battery to Harlem
on the Elevated, price diamond neck
laces and silk and laces, and air her
three gowns with the best of them on
that Broadway promenade, whose gilt.
ter was constantly suggestive of foot.
lights and an orchestral accompaniment.
The agencies charmed by their abso.
Lutte novelty.
To penetrate to that private territory,
to see slip bearing her name and
address placed in pigeon hole labelled,
"Soubrettes and Ingenues," seemed tc
Mellicent unique ard exciting expert.
ence, one we'll worth hours of waiting,
and the comments, sarcastic or indif
ferent, of the manager and his satellites
ALL this, however, as said, was at the
start.
To be the heroine of a romance is
one thing, the heroine of realistic
novel quite another.
I'm beginning to suspect the truth
of all these horrid stories of ba filed
genius struggling against adverse fate,
she wrote, near the close of the third
week, to the man who wished to marry
her.
Managers all seemed in league against
her-all save one, who, from the be.
ginning, had treated her with unac.
countable forbearance. He had even
sent her tickets for new play. There
was q soubrette part in it that was
badly done. he said. The author was
a friend of his, and-well, he couldn't
promise anything, but he'd like her to
see the part.
The soubrette was bad--worse even
than Mellicent had hoped weak, com.
mon, self-oonscious.
III such people can obtain engage.
ments, then why can't ?" she said the
next morning In reporting the play
II am not q raw amateur I studied
for two years with well-known actor
and stage manager. I've played over
and over again at students matinees
and later in professional performances
In small towns. It's only chance !
want, a chance to speak dozen lines,
that's all but they won't give me even
. hearing.
Mellicent's cheeks burned. She
shook the brown locks from her moist
forehead and eyed the agent aggres-
sively.
He shook his head deprecatingly.
He was slim and blond and boyish.
with q droll, captivating accent that
heightened the effect of his dry utter.
ances.
IN tell you what it is the man
said; "Ill see Boyle at luncheon today
and put your case to him. If he re-.
ports favorably I'll let you know this
afternoon. Don't hope too much,
though. If you don't hear from me by
5 at the latest you'll know there's
nothing to expect from that quarter.
Mellicent grasped his hand in parting
almost affectionately.
Its chance" she VIII ispered, as
she climbed the stairs at the east-side
boarding house. IF I can get it, why,
I'm bound to succeed. If I lose it,
The girls heart sank.
Go home? The worn face of her
father, the shabby gowns and meagre
faces Of her mother and little sisters
were constant reproaoh to her idle.
ness. Write? A years devotion to
literature had barely supplied her with
pocket. .handkerchiefs. Clerk? Her
handwriting was bad, her accounts in.
accurate. No; tights--or suicide. -or
matrimonyl These were the only alter