The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-10
LETTER THAT CAME--LATE.
CHORUS Girl "T0oK SOMETHING"
AND COLLAPSED.

AND COLLAPSED.
Usea 10 sing at the Metropolitan. ana ono Of
the Great Men In the Opera Took n Fancy
20 HHer-Now In Burieuaue-Hnd Been watt
Ing for . Letter with n Foreign stamp.
One of tho chorus girls in an uptown theatre
was not In her place last night. She has not been
In the theatre since one evening early last week,
when she was suddenly overcome before the
third oct of the performance. She was taken
home in q carriage. Chorus girls are frequent
ly overwhelmed, and tho circumstance never
attracts any particular attention. But there
were features of this case that made It inter
esting.
This girl had never sung in anything less
digniehd than grand opera. Her experience
had been confined to the Metropolitan Opera
House, and that had been brief. Three years
ago when the management advertised for Ameri-
can chorus girls, she was one of the applicants.
At that timo she was employed in a department
store downtown. Her only opportunity to get
up to the Metropolitan to have her voice tried
was in the interval allowed for luncheon. On
tho FIRST day advertised for the applicants she
did without the luncheon and hurried up to the
opera house. But it was too late. Louis Saar.
who was hearing the girls, had gone away.
But l can't come tomorrow earlier" she
said, with the tears in her eyes, 'for l got away
WI tN 70 willy 10 u Ehhu u Wv y
want to get a chance with tho other girls"
The man to whom sho spoke was touched by
her disappointment; She was pale and poorly
dressed, although she was pretty. So he told
her to come back as early as possible on the fol-
lowing day., He promised to have somebody
hurried bach. to the store. But she was late
again, Her absence had been noted. When she
missed for leaving the building.
Nobody had to wait for her the next day, She
irst to step up to The i piano in i the middle Of the h
stage and do the best she could. There were
But the girl was sightly, and her voice was fair,
but there was nothing IKE tho amount of work
not have looked happier II she had been, en-
gagged at 81 900 a night and q percentage of the
gross receipts. She was an exception to The
majority of the fat, mustached women in tho
chorus, and her face became familiar to the regu-
She grew stouter during the two succeeding
seasons that she sang in the chorus, and her
her name was frequently mentioned with that
Of one OF the singers In the company. But no
famous. high.pTiced singer. remote from tho
rest OF the crowd about the opera, inaccessible
s sRat f no Would hn faYi X love NS0S %iyh ever a cb s%PpU siFl
while women threw him violets from the boxes.
Sometimes in the freedom Of manners about
smiled consciously, but denied Nothing "sii sne Away saS
: barous to the foreigners, the singer is said to
have shown his preference more openly. but
happy and dressed well.
This summer for the first time she took q
!. as well as she had on tho great stage Of the
Metropolitan, sang as well, and was conspicu-
: S fSjd tb haed tSnt had Sn not m alrssd friSS esr5 and f. db she
. Of showing presents which he had given to her.
. and she promised to read to the girls part of a
looked over The 6asSf6 o. letters s! stuck ai i the the
the rest OF her comrades who always make it a
' point TO examine the letters as though they ex'
r pected TO find a check for $40, 600 among them.
5 They are really trying to see which of the girls
t gets letters.
n All OF her letters were sent to the theatre, fol
/ she lived at home. and it was with one Of the
4 family that she went home every night. The
t gil looked at the rack and questioned the door
keeper until, unaccustomed to 30 much trouble
It from a new gir;,, he ns! refused 80 to answer her qpes
h ever she mentioned the subject Of the letter.
Has he written YETI one of them asked hel
o She had just been struggling with the door
% burst into tears. Then the rest Of the girl
helped her into her clothes, and they were al
, Just before the curtain rose on the last act q
n messenger anne into the manager's office
n i "Shs Won't S6 shG Be f able to is f EnS Sn again into tc.ni hf SAID
% What is itf' asked the manager. who's
- oomnoSnTe was not to be disturbed by anything
49,. So, y, .S hei" Va ~ 'ho 80 -"
u Usual thing, | guess. She's lying on tn,
N floor in her room there. It's the new girl from
!" the opera, and she's knocked out completely.
@. She was. During the last act TIE girls cam,
" to her during whatever time they had to spar,
NJ and helped her out OF tho few clothes she has
"a on. Being few in number these had to be pu
10 on tight. One OF the chorus girls was at tn,
l. door when the manager sauntered around t
\ see what had occurred.
~ Not this time" the girl guarding the doc
IN said to him. she hasn't been drinking. She
9; took something, hut it wasn mt. booze. She
I'd been expecting a letter that didn't come. That
re what's tho matter"
Il; Her father called that night, and the girl wa
'd taken home unconscious in a carriage. A ply
$, sicinn's corti1cate-somcthing she had bccom
er familiar with during her experience at tn
IL Opera House came down by u messenger tn
c: next day. The doctor said merely that sh
OF was very sick and could not come to the thu
I'd atre for some time. Tho doorkeeper gave tn
IN messenger a letter to take back to the girl. ]
OF bore a foreign stamp and a foreign postmarl
y. But the girl has not yet come back to her plac
IA in the chorus.
r. Been wondering II I didn't make a mistak
Dc sending 1t up to tho house, reflected the doo
ne keeper yesterday. Maybe it came to he
n father, and she amt seen 1t yet"
90