Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-09-04

one man scene. Livery Eye ~ FlNttcu Oh
the figure in black, every line is listened
to with anxious, throbbing interest, but
here the old mans failure was more no
ticeable than ever. In addition to being
| more or less inaudible, he had the misfor
tune to trip slightly as he ran down some
steps, following the ghost 1t seemed to
upset his nerve. Perhaps it reminded him
that he was an old man, that his sight,
voice and hearing were all imperfect.
But the house treated him with great re-
spect In his movements there were still
some traces of the great artist but as scene
after scene followed the tedium became al
most unbearable.
The old man had lost that indescribable
art, the secret of all acting-sympathy
He believed he was impressing the house.
whereas in reality people were yawning.
His physical strength was unequal to the
task He made long and ridiculous pauses,
| and people thought he had forgotten his
| lines.
BY degrees the audience became fidgety.
| At last a voice in the gallery called out, not
unkindly: Hurry up, Guy. You are too
long"
Oddly enough, that seemed to break the
spell.
1t suddenly flashed across the poor old
fellow that he was not success, but ter
rible failure. He tried to keep his wits
about him, but the shock was too great.
He began to forget his lines.
At last the curtain fell on act two amid
the sound Of mingled applause and kissing.
1t was scarcely to be wondered at.
There were many in the house who had
Aeb
| he was tradition, not a reality, and they
| had no more respect for him than any 9TH
| or actor.
In vain the older members of the audi
ence called "Order!" and "Shame!"
| There could be no doubt that the verdict
was failure, and the old man went back to
| his dressing room leaning on Aliens arm.
| His head was bowed on his breast, and he
trembled in every limb. He knew now
that he had presumed too much on his
strength that his return was a mistake.
But the question which tormented the
manager and his friends was, How would
the evening end? At present only two
acts had been finished. There were still
three to follow Would it end in scene,
| in a dasco?
It is not too much to say that the entire
audience suffered agonies. They bad come
out to be amused and exhilarated. They
We're being tortured. Nothing but feel
| ing of respect and sympathy kept them in
| their places, but the evening still had a
| surprise in store for them. In the third
act Guy Ashlyn seemed to recover himself.
His Improvement was scarcely noticeable
at first, but before the difficult scene with
| Ophelia was over he had settled down to
| his work with some sort of confidence.
| 1t was not the Guy Ashlyn Of old, as the
critics remarked sadly, but at least he wa
| audible. He spoke his lines crisply al
| began to show something Of his old de-
| cision.
| AS the play proceeded the improvement
became more marked. Encouraged by the
applause, he began to throw some Of his
old fire into it. What was the secret of it?
How was it that all old man of nearly So,
| who had shown distinct signs of collapse,
had suddenly gathered up his strength so
| as to act almost with the finish of his
| young days?
The contrast between this and his fec
bleness in the earlier par. of the play was
SO great that the public scarcely knew how
| to show it's approval sufficiently.
| Every one had dreaded tiasco. They
were witnessing triumph.
Some half dozen old actors, sitting in
| the front row of the stalls who had been
friends of Guy Ashlyn in hisyouth, looked
at one another in puzzled amazement
At tho fall of the curtain on the fifth
act, in response to terrific cry of ASH
lynn tho actor came slowly forward
But it seemed that he had spent his
strength, for his Acknowledgements was of
tho briefest, and he was evidently glad to
retire behind the curtain, where Grace
was waiting for him.
A number of friends were there eager to
speak to him and full of curiosity, but the
girl waved them back.
"Please don't speak to him." she said
firmly. "He is quite exhausted and must
get home as quickly as possible. -
Then she slipped her arm through his,
and, with dropping head and hesitating
feet, he allowed himself to be conducted to
his dressing room.
There scene presented itself which
would have surprised everybody except ono
or two of those who had played leading
parts in the performance and u few mem
bers Of the profession who had known the
great tragedan personally.
Guy Ashlyn was sitting by the dressing
room fire in his ordinary clothes
His head was sunk on his breast, and
two or three tears trickled down his cheeks
and fell with splash ON to the trembling,
withered hand.
Whom the two young people entered, he
looked up with faint smile.
| Grace at once locked the door, and, run
ming across to him, threw her arms around
his neck and whispered words of loving
| comfort.
1t was Allen Webster who had finished
the play.
1t was not for nothing that he had
studied for three years under the greatest
actor of tho age. He knew his every man
nerism and gesture by heart. 1t happened
that there was slight resemblance be-
tween the two in appearance. Indeed it
was the resem blance to the tragedian which
had first suggested to the young man the
idea of going on the stage. 1t was u
| gigantic task, and he had undertaken it to
save the reputation of his old master.
| As he stood painting with excitement
and exhaustion, with one elbow Oh the
mantelpiece Grace suddenly left her grand
| father, and going up to him put her arms
/ around him, too, and with blushing, tear
stained face, whispered her thanks. Lloyd
| Williams in New York Journal.