The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-03

actor or manager TO hear her. In the
course of it she went through rebuffs
which would have discouraged most girls.
Finally a comedian named Wouds was
taken to the house to hear her recite. APP
parently Mr.. Wouds was a southerner too,
for when she had finished he "sprang to-
ward me and, taking both my hands, said:
Let me be the first TO hail you as our
American Rachel Wouds did the girl
this much good; he induced Charlotte
Cushman, with whom he soon had an en-
gagement, to send for the girl to Cincin-
natl and listen to her. Mrs. Griffin, who
had never consented to her daughters
plan, made this journey with her, and Miss
Cushman succeeded in winning over the
mother and inducing her to give up her
life to aiding and protecting her daughter
on the stage. She also sent Mary to George
VandenhOft. Tell him from me-" she
said, that he is to clip and tame you
generally" Nandenhoff did, but that
brought the girl no nearer a debut. and
John Mccullough, was dragged to the
house, most unwillingly, and, with rude
phrases on his tongue, to see her act. He;
too. was impressed and stayed several
hours, acting with her scenes from all the
plays she knew. He INTRODUCED her to
Barney McAuley, manager OF the local
theater, and told him TO put the girl on
when he had a chance, prOphesying that
she would make the managers fortune.
| The chance came when there was an actor
in town who could not get out unless he
had one nights good business. So Nc
Auley allowed Miss Anderson, then l6. to
go on as Juliet with this actors company,
and filled the house by his skillful adver-
Using of the fact that a Louisville girl
was going to act on the real truly stage.
! That rehearsal, as Mrs De Navarro de-
scribes it, was one Of the most needlessly
cruel ordeals through which a sensitive
"she found an empty theater. lighted
| only here and there by the faint glim-
| mer of the gray day without, the
| stage lit by small gas jet, burning in
| the center, throwing a dingy light on
| the men and women gloomily standing in
| the wings! On seeing me all look
Ia 10,
whispers, which l felt 70 be unkind;
| others laughed audibly. Scarcely l6. my
! hair in a long braid, my frock reaching
| to my top-bOots, tall shy and awkward,
| ! may have given them cause for mer-
| riment; but it was as cruel, I thought,
/ as underbred, to make no effort to con-
ceal their mrth at my expense" After
! describing the boorishness of the actors
! who did all in their power to thWart her,
| she continues: AT last the rehearsal,
so full of torture and disappointment to
| me- came to an end. With one blow
/ all my beautiful ideals had been dashed
/ to the ground. 1t was rude awaken
/ ing from a long dream, and my heart
was sore and heavy as l trudged home
! through the rain, longing to hide myself
in the friendly den, and find relief in
! tears
That debut in Louisville is a well-known
/ incident in dramatic history, and it won
| Miss Anderson much praise, both spoken
| and printed. But it did not put her upon
! the stage. 1t did get her weeks en-
! gagement at Macauley's theater, a week
! in which she played FIVE or six parts in
one white satin gown and ended in debt
| to her manager. Then followed a week in
St Louis under the same disheartening
/ conditions 1t was not until she reached
! New Orleans that any money came TO her
/ and she was able to go home, discharge
| her debts and supply herself with a some
| what more fitting wardrobe for her work.
! All through these engagements and
/ subsequent one at McCullough's theater
/ at San Francisco, the actors made her
| life miserable, and the only real kind
/ ness she received seems to have been
from Mrs Chanfrau in New Orleans. As
/ she has perseVered during her TWO years
/ of lonely preparation she kept on. now
/ that she was on the stage, barns torn
/ ing. amid all sorts of difficulties except
| financial which if they had not dis
! from her Memories. When she came to
/ New York Dion BOucicault and William
I Winter were professionally helpful to her
/ and did a good deal 10 keep up her cour-
/ age and ambition.
/ In Boston LongfellOw was like a kind
| and wise father, and Gen. sherman helped
/ and encouraged her That and the en-
/ couragement of Edwin Booth nearly sums
! up an the personal aid that was ever ex-
/ tended to her from the literary and ar
! ustic life Of her own country toward
/ which she was struggling with high amhi-
! ton and splendid courage. When she
/ reached London everything changed and
/ the contrast Is not hattering to Ameri-
| cans. Literary and artistic society there
| received her as an equal and on friendly
/ how this patriotic and loyal American girl
VINO was only too glad TO wave the Stars
and Stripes impulsiVely on all occasions
| has come TO love the London life and to
/ make her home across the sea. No man
! or woman who has come out of a small