The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-05-04

all right? Were they strong enough to hold him? Were they sober? And a lot of rubbish of that sort. I have seen a few cab horses coaXed on for the wild untamed steed in "Mazeppa," and I'll take my oath they were perfect H. ons compared to that man. l fancy he must have been let down at some thea- | ter or other and this made him shy. He was @ very clean jumper, mind you, | if you once got him to go and on box | ing night he went without hitch. | And he could dance. Yes, I must say that for him, although the most miser- | able chap in private life ever knew. | Seemed to have something on his mind, which is an awkward thing for man with little on his body. Why? Because there's no counter balance. never knew him to give any of our stage hands a pint of beer, and yet, if 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 it. Why, I remember a heavy father in our old stock for three or four seasons who was so affa- ble off" and cracked such jokes you llttN tlio06iil iiN dASA "S," rescue maidens in distress and had a double call at every performance.
 We could not have been running the panto for more than a week, and the harlequin--still melancholy-was jump | ing in splendid style, yet every bit as cautious about our men catching him, and evidently glad when the job was over. I recollect he had to do the dives | through a pawnbroker's shop window, re-appear from the wings rush on and 1 jump again. clown and pantaloon mak- l ing show of striking at him, but nev- CT hitting him. Finally he bodded up through trap and posed with the col umbine, just as the clown was being marched off by the policeman for tripe stealing. The jumping went with a arre rattle, and was one of the best features in the harlequinade. On the night I have in my mind, the poor chap went through his work--including the hornpipe and a twirling trip with col umbine-as we'll as he had ever done it, 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 be- fore the chase began when all of a sud- den he catches sight of a face there, and looks as though he was going to drop could see him turn pale under the rouge on his cheeks, and for min- ute I fancied he was going to fall down ''Hulloa!" thinks I, whats up?" Then on comes the clown, sing ing out Father" to pantaloon. They catches sight of harlequin, and points at him, and that was the cue for Span gles to make his first leap through the pawnbroker's window. ] must say he went at it like a. bull at china shop. The gallery applauded, and in half a minute he should have come on again to take the second jump. Clown was waiting with the poker to aim blow at him. and Pantaloon made ready to pretend to be knocked over by his heels as he went through. The band was playing a hurry" and the two hands behind were on guard to catch him. Half minute slipped by and no harlequin appeared. But the stage manager began to--well, 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 a harlequin could he find.
 The audience began to hiss, and the clown, who was no good if he had wait to fill, was calling out: Now, then, where are you-how much longer?" At the end of another couple of minutes though it seemed a good deal more the house was shouting out nasty re- marks and beginning to make row. So the stage manager hurries on the swell with the white trousers for the clown to chivy about The people hissed more than ever. Bless your heart! an audience always knows if there is screw loose, and we had a deuce of job to finish up the evening withouta harlequin. Where was he? Ask me another. Nobody here ever set eyes on him from that day to this. It was his last leap in this town.
 We discovered afterward that he had bolted clean out of the stage door in his war paint, run to his lodgings-they were only in the nexe street-changed his clothes, left the place in a 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
 and his leap was leap for liberty. A strange story? LOT, the world is full of them. A startling what? I know what you mean, only you didn't pro- nounce it properly. Yes, it was a startling denouement. I can excuse