The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1899-02-22

enc at once. M1n0 you, WaS uoe bne
first to notice it. Bill Haynes-yon
| have seen Bill Haynes, captain. surely
1.-The low comedy man who made such
a hit as the count in 'The Bally Rag
ger?' No? Well, reallyi But to return.
Lay Il was Bill Haynes who first drew
| my attention to it, and there are others
! Of our old company who have noticed
it. It's dead certainty. captain; take
my word for ii. %
ssThen will take your word for it,
Mir. Vandeleur, since you are SO certain,
and am very much obliged to you for
the information. You will still further
increase the debt If you will tell me all
vou know of her. Have another c;ge"'''
Thanks, awfully. They really are
, good ones. It's a long time since I sam.
pied such box Oh, TIL tell you all I
know, although you never did see Lost
In the Great Sahara. Believe me, there
is treat in store for you. Well, let me
see. It was in some money forsaken
Scotch hole she joined Us, but which
particular accursed spot Can't remem-
her now. only know we were all pref
ty well stumped. We played to SO los.
houses, captain, and if you've never
done that you don't know what it
means. Fact was, we we're ruined by the
leading lady. We were playing The
Lady Of Lyons there, and her Pauline
was just about sickening. Even the
Scotch recognized that, and they didn't
nauch care tc SEQ her foundering about
the stage under the influence Of their
own particular still. If there is any
sampling to be done, they prefer to do it
themselves
.tWell, there we were when Mary
Western joined us as super. Dick
Lambert introduced her, remember, to
Flannery, cur manager, and he, being
susceptible, took her on straight off the
reed. Dick grew rather sick as timewent
on, and once he told Flannery he'd kick
him either up stairs or down-he did
not much mind which-if he pestered
the lady So Dick left the COMPANY
had to leave-got the chuck-a fort
night from that day, bus he followed Us
about from town to town, for every
where That May went old Dick was
sure to go @s
sThey were a curious pair, captain
as sscIrious as ever sew. He seemed
deucsd fond Of her in way, and she
fond of him, also in way, but they
never spooned, as you would have ex-
rected However, that was their con-
Germ, and not mine. AS / said before,
Miss Western joined as super, and
remarkably good one she made, so much
so that when an understudy for Pauline
became increasingly necessary she was
singled out for the job.
lone night her chance came. Pau
line was blind drunk and could not pos
sibly be allowed on the boards. Miss
Western took her place, and never in
all my life did ever see finer bit Of
acting. She literally brought down the
house, and she filed Us with so mach
of her own enthusiasm that we all of Us
clean forgot we were playing to So 15s.
Upon my life nearly fell in love with
her myself that night, and when told
her that
We'd sit beneath the arching vines and wonder
Why earth could be unhappy while the heavens
Still left us youth and love,
why, I wished we we're sitting there,
that's all Her career was made from
that night Juliet was her next success.
and that led to Maude in Hearts Are
Trumps, in which she was simply mag
nifcent. After that the deluge came.
''Miss Western vanished!
'We heard afterward that it was
letter which had bowled her over. Any
way she went and left not trace be-
hind, and Dick vanished too. Verb.
sat- sap, captain, as the ancients said
under similar conditions, and that's all
know Of Miss Mary Western, and it's
dry work talking, captain. .
took the hint, and when Mr.. Van
deleur seemed again quite happy with
his surroundings went on:
"And the man Dick? Whist did you
say his name was?"
| Lambert.
! "This Dick Lambert-can you tell
me anything of him?'
Nothing much to his good. Seemed
to be careless toddy crusher-'only
that and nothing more He had
chance many q time and oft, but he
never got beyond the First Gravedigger
in Hamlet, and deuced poor one be
! was too.
"What was he like in appearance?"
sold Red Sandstone we used to call
him Red and sandy were his colors,
sir, with an occasional patch of black
about the eye He was darned good
jndge Of horsefesh though, and he said
,a once knew Latin, but there was no
sarticular reason for believing him. He
had been bit of bruiser III his time
and had been handy with the shooting
irons in California lie lost one arm
there IN an argument.
s'Then you think Miss Western went
of with him?'