The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-02
EDWIN BOOTHS APOLOGY.
he Made Handsome One When He
Discovered His Error.

0@oNCNSAC 4 Liz A<@AO4s
During the early SOS, relates ]. H.
Rogers in the New York Times, 1 oc-
cupied rooms. or, to be strictly truth
full, a room in the old Studio building,
on Tenth street. 1t swarmed with art
lists of all descriptions, and a more de-
\ ightful set of good fellows never got
! together under the same roof. There
was not single discordant element.
and the gatherings held from time to
time in the different studios will remain
with me among the most valued mem
cries of q somewhat eventful life. on
these occasions people from the outside
world frequently dropped in; other art
lists, literary men of the bohemian sort,
with perhaps an actor or two on the
of nights. all men whose presence gave
an additional flavor to the mixture, IN
til it came to be like the old Century
club punch" joy to be remembered,
and too subtle to be analysed
One evening Edwin Booth was pres
ent, and, finding the company congen-
ial, made himself so agreeable that
was very sorry when an engagement
took me away at a comparatively early
hour. The next evening 1 dropOed into
the Century club for a little gossip, and
found Mr.. Booth there. He was the
center of a. group of men with whom
was on such terms of intimacy that
ala nOL hesitate 10 JOlfl JItIIl. L he uSuctL
greetings were passed until / came to
Booth, when ! received a look that went
through me like cold steel. Supreme
contempt was never so expressed before
Or since Just one look, and then, with
out further notice, he turned his back
on me and began to talk to the other
members of the group. OF course, there
was nothing to be said. and L got away
as soon as possible. Presently, how
ever, L began TO be angry. This is not
simply a cut, thought l. but a premedi-
tated insult. l became furious, and
was ready for an explosion then and
there. But just at that time Lau1t
Thompson came up and took me one
side.
How in the name of common sense"
said he, did you come to play such a
practical joke on Booth?" Now. OF all
disagreeable creatures, I detest most
heartily the practical joker, a creature
to be kicked out of any respectable
community. L resented even the inplf-
cation, and refused to stooD so far as
to deny that 1 had ben guilty of such a
thing, expressing in good set terms my
opinion of those who believed it. 1t
seemed. as it came out afterwards, that
during the previous evenings entertain
ment, which took place in Thompson'S
studio, a man about town who had been
dining heavily, thinking to get a joke
on both OF US, took the opportunity
offered by my departure to play
shabby trick on Booth and throw the
blame or re
The upshot of the matter was that in
a day or two came a note from Booth
asking me to accept his box at the
Winter Garden for a certain night and
meet him in his dressing-room between
the third and fourth acts of Hamlet"
OF course. L accepted the invitation,
and in due time appeared at the door
of the little dressiug-rOOm on the left
of the stage at the Winter Garden the
atre. On entering 1 found, to my sur
prise, all the members of the group
that had witnessed the scene at the
club. Booth, who had just come off
the stage, and was in full costume,
made an apology SO handsome that I
blushed as L received it, and went away
full of admiration for the man who
knew so well what was due to himself,
and, when the necessity came, could
make an apology so ample that it left
the recipient in his debt.