Evening star., 1898-12-24
HER STAGE EXPERIENCE

| "Aeu get Salu a w dSniHRtoii
young woman who had brief but exciting
career on the stage about a twelvemonth
ago, I'm going to endow an Institution for
the Treatment of the Hopelessly Stage
struck. I've had the disease myself, and /
know the misery Of 1t. It's slow torture.
| When you've never been on the stage, and
want to go on the stage, you are possessed
| by a yearning such as 1 imagine must
| clutch the devotee to opium or some other
| narcotic, who is locked up and deprived OF
it. When I reflect upon the fun I'm having
| this Christmas-every bureau drawer stuffed
| with surprise things that I'm going to give
| to folks-and compare it with the dismal.
| agonizng. gloomy time of 1T had around
| the Christmas season last year-when was
| on the stage-I just feel like taking the
| stump for the purpose of warning young
! women with theatrical ambitions to go out
| and hunt for plain sewing, or, II necessary,
| get right down on their knees and SCRUB
| rather than yield to the tawdry temptation
| Il had been stage-struck for seNerai
years, you know, before 1 finally got my
| chance to go out You can't imagine how
| beautifully l could recite 'Curfew Shall Not
| Ring Tonight and the balcony scene from
| Romeo and Juliet and the sleep-walking
| scene from Lady Macbeth and a lot oil
| other great things like those. Oh l was
wonderful. l knew it myself, and my
| friends all told me so. They told me that
| all / had to do was to make one appear
ance in, say. the balcony scene, or IN an
| act of Camille, to make all of the accepted
| actresses arrive at an immediate decision
! to quit the business. l possessed within me
| the capabilities to become the great orl-
| famine in the dramatic heavens. etc, etc
| really admired my friends for their depth OIL
perception. l didn't think they had II In
| 'em to perceive how wonderful l was.
"a couple of years ago l began to save
| up my allowance money for the sake OF
| making quarterly trips to New York to see
| get of the managers over
| there to star me in repertoire L made
| four such trips. 1 did my little balcony and
sleep-walking scene for a number OF beard
| ed managers, who smoked very biack ana
| strong cigars, and they all told me that,
| while / no doubt great and wonderful
| and the real thing, 1 was of such make
| up that I'd shoot over the heads Of the pup
| Hc-that the pubic wouldn't be able 10
| grasp me-that the public wasn't clamorins
| for Shakespeare, anyhow, and that Id DO
| better if I'd get my voice trained and go IN
| for opera. AS means Of encouragement
two of the managers offered me positions IN
| the chorus of their extravaganza companies
| at a weekly salary of ST., and find yourself
| OF course l withered these two with my
haughtlneSs.
| Il wasn't discouraged, however. and a
| year ago last November, when made my
| last trip over to New York in search OF
| an engagement, got one in my line true
| l wasn't given leading business, but l was
| to understudy the leading woman, and tne
| tragedian of the company playfully gave
| me to understand that, if everything went
well, l might be abe to freeze the Old
| lady out after awhile. 1t was Shake
| spearean company, you know. The leading
| tragedian was young man from the west
! and he organized his company in New York
| What a queer lot of people they were, too!
| My salary was to be $50 a week, just to be-
| gin, you know. After the company got well
| started my wages were to be raised to 500
| a week, etc. The company was to open in
Toledo, Ohio, and of course all of the mem
| bers of the company were expected to pay
their fares out to that town. L had to
| write a beseeching letter to one of my most
indulgent brothers down here to send me
| enough money to take me out to Ohio, and
| l finally got there. 1t was along toward the
| latter part of November. We rehearsed
| for week in Toledo in The Merchant of
Venice 'Virginlus.' Richard Ill, Julius
| Caesar The Fools Revenge AS You Like
all thought we were about perfect in our
| parts-at least l did. There were fully
| seventy-five people in the house on our first
| night in Toledo. oh, the gloom of it! Our
shabby, Bowery fancy bail costumes! Our
! half-intoXicated tragedian Our beery men!
| Our poor, dowdy women! About three
quarters of the audience Of seventy-five
| snicaered throughout the first part of
Julius Caesar then the SnickererS slowly
rose, yawned, stretched themselves and left
| the theater. The people who remained
| suppose, were deadheads, who wanted to get
their moneys worth. That night 1 sat
my people here, telling them what a gay,
| rollicking time l was having, how l was
bound to succeed in my art how success
| full the opening night had been, and SO on.
Heaven forgive me for that letter and for
other letters that followed! We played an
| other night in Toledo, in spite of the fact
| that the Toledo papers just waltzed into
us and tore us apart, as my brothers say,
for the opening performance.
| We'll, the next jump was to Findlay,
| Ohio. and the manager came to us before
the start was made and told us that, owing
| to circumstances over which he had no
| control, we'd have to pay our own hotel
| bills and our own railroad fare in order to
| make Findlay. The outlook was very pros
porous and roSeate, he said, and the ghost
| was bound to walk regularly. l blush to
| confess that 1 pawned one Of my rings to
pay my hotel bill and to buy a ticket for
| Findlay. How in the wide world the other
people of the company got there l don't
| know. Some of them arrived just in time
| for the performance and 1 mourn to say
! that several of 'em looked as if they had
walked from Toledo. We only played one
| night in Findlay, and the business was
| huge-fully $50 people in the house. oh,
my dreams Of flowers coming over the
| footlights, flowers being wildly tossed from
| boxes! My dreams of holding thousands
| speilbound! OF leaping to the forefront in
| the histrionic armament at a bound! 1t
| was very dismal, very. Then went on
to Lima, Ohio. Ever been there? Several
dozen of young men, who wore little round
| mats pOkeu on the DaCk OF tnelr neauS III
| order to show their plastered-down bangs,
wanted so badly to fiirt with me in Lima.
l took the leading woman's part in Lima
| Portia in Julius Caesar The leading
woman told me before the performance
| that 1 had the chance of my career-but,
! as she was plainly in condition of mental
excitement owing to the remedies she had
| taken for her headache l really could not
| place much faith in her prediction. Well,
] l did Portia. / did it so badly that could
| have laughed outright as l acted the part.
| The whole ridiculous business came before
| my eyes as in a picture, and 1 did seem
! so unutterably silly in my own eyes, in
my white cheesecloth dress, bare arms
| and Psyche knot with tinsel band around
it. Oh, so unspeakably, dreadfuly foolish!
| Il had numerous opportunities like that,
| for the leading woman often got those
| headaches of hers after that. But how
| tired 1 became of 1T all! I didn't dare
write home to that effect, though. I feared
| my brothers guying. I didn't get cent
| for my services and had to pawn all Of my
| jewelry by the time we got to Des Moines,
| Iowa. The smash-up impended there. and
| two nights before Christmas telegraphed
| to my brother to wire me money to return
| to Washington. How nice my little old
L