The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-03-26

and on boxing night he went without
q hitch. And he could dance. Yes,
must say that for him, although the
most miserable chap in private life ,
ever knew.
Seemed to have something On hi
mind, which is IN awkward thing fo'
3 man with little on his body. Why1
Because there's no counter balance.
never knew him to give any Of our
stage hands pint Of beer, and yet, II
they had turned nasty they could have
played an ugly trick upon him any
evening. His line of business need not
have made him down IN the dumps.
Far from 1t. Why. remember heavy
father In our old 'stock" for three or
four seasons who was so affable "off. "
and cracked such jokes you might have
thought he did nothing but rescue
maidens In distress, and had a double
call at every performance.
We could not have been running the
panto for more than week. and the
harlequin-still melancholy-Was jump
ing In splendid style, yet every bit as
cautious about our men catching him,
und evidently glad when the job was
over. l recollect he had to do the dives
through a pawnbroker's shop window,
reappear from the wings. rush Oh and
jump again, clown and pantaloon max
ing q show Of striking at him. but never
hitting him. Finally he ho5bed up
through trap and posed with the co.
lumbine, just as the clown was being
marched off by the policeman for tripe
stealing. The jumping went with 8
rare rattle and was one Of the best fea-
lures in the harlequinade. On the
night I have In mind, the poor chap
went through his work-including the
ilornpipe and a twirling trip with CO.
lumbine-as well as be had ever done
1t, until the scene I am telling you
about came on. You see the pit stalls
right behind the orchestra? Well, he
was on the stage and Tipping his wand
before the chase commenced, when all
Of sudden he catches sight Of face
there, and looks as though he was going
to drop. could see him turn pale
under the rouge on his cheeks, and for
a minute I fancied he was geing to fall
down. "HulloaW thinks l. "what'a
up" Then on comes the clown, sing
ing out "Fatherp' to pantaloon. They
catches sight Of harlequin, and points
at him, and that was the cue for Span
giles to make his first leap through the
pawnbroker's window. must say ht
went at 1t like bull at china shop.
The gallery applauded, and In half
minute he should have come on again
to take the second jump. Clown was
waiting with the poker to aim blow
at him,a pantaloon made ready to
pretend to be knocked over by his heels
as he went through. The band was
playing shurry," and the two hands
behind were on guard to catch him.
Half minute slipped by and no harle-
quin appeared. But the stage mana
ger commenced lowell, to say things,
and ran behind to see what was the
matter, wondering whether young
Spangles had slipped or lost his shoe.
or something. But devil harlequin
could he And.
The audience began to hiss, and tht
clown, who was no good If he had a
wait to fill, was calling out: "Now,
then, where are you-how much
longerW At the end Of a another
couple Of minutes-though it seemed a
good deal more-the house was shout
ing out nasty remarks and beginning
to make row. So the stage manager
hurries on the swell with the white
trousers for the clown to chiyy about.
The people hissed more than ever. Bless
your heart! an audience always knows
If there Is a screw loose, and we had a
duce Of job to finish up the evening
without a harlequin. Where was he?
Ask me another. Nobody ever set eyes
on him from that day to this. 1t was
his last leap in this town.
We discovered afterward that he hac
bolted clean out Of the stage door in his
war paint, run to his lodgings-they
were only into the next street changed
his clothes, left the place in quarter
Of an hour and disappeared forever.
You see, the face he saw In the pit
stalls was the face Of the wife he had
deserted four years before, leaving her
with three children to bring up. He
knew that she had tracked him at last,
anu his leap was leap for liberty. A
strange story? Lor', the world Is full
Of them. A startling what? 1 know
what you mean, only you didn't pro-
nounce 1t properly. Yes, it was start
ling denouement can excuse the poor
fellow now for being so melancholy
and nervous, but my opinion Of harle-
quins In general Is lower than ever
London Daily Telegraph.