El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-25
MQ|y AIMS StQge CQ[eeT. !
By Clara Morris.

BY Clara MOTHS
o.o~o~oso.o-oo .-o.o-eoso.-o.-o
1t was before / came to New York that
/ one night saw really fine performance
almost ruined by n single interruption.
1t was n domestic tragedy of English
raj life, and one act began with tableau
copied exactly from n popular painting
called waiting For the Verdict" which
was also the title OF the play.
The scene gave an exterior view of the
building within which the husband and
father was being tried for his life on a
charge of murder The trembling old
grandsire leaned heavily on his staff, the
devoted wife sat wearily by the closed
iron gate. with babe on her breast,
tired. but vigilant, faithful dog stretch
ed himself at her feet, while his shaggy
shoulders pillowed the head of the sleep
ing child, who was the accused mans
darling.
The curtain rose on this picture, which
was always heartily greeted and often.
so well il told its pathetic story "A sec
ond and third round Of applause greeted
il before the dialogue began The man
ayers little daughter. who did the sleep
ing child. contracted a cold and was al
vised not to venture out OF the house for
a fortnight. so substitute had to be
found. And a fine lot of trouble the
stage manager had. He declared half
the children OF Columbus had been
through the seve-and there was the
trouble. they all went through - there
left to Ict substitute.
But at last he found two promising little
girls-sisters they were and very poor
but the mother vowed her children must
he in bed at o. theater or no theater.
Yes. she would like to have the money,
but she'd do without it rather than have
a child out of bed ut all hours. At first
she held out for 8 o'clock, but at last
yielded the additional half hour. and to
the great disappointment of the younger
child the elder one was accepted for the
odd reason that she looked SO much youn-
ger than her sister.
The company had come down from
Cleveland. and there were the usual
slight delays attendant on a first night.
but the '.bouse" was good, the star"
Mr.. buchanan, was making a fine inn
preston. and the play evidently a
go" The big picture was looked for
ward to eagerly. and when it was ar
ranged we had to admit that the pale,
pinched little face OF the strange child
was more effective as it rested on the
dogs shoulder than had been the plump,
smiling face of the managers little one.
The curtain went up, applause followed
those behind the scenes crowded to the
the hands of the clock stood at $40 nor
heard through the second burst of APP
plause the slam of the stage door behind
the very small person who entered and,
silently peerng this way and that, found
her stern, avenging way to the stage and
that too favored sister basking in the
sunlight Of public approval.
The grandsire had just lifted his head
and was about to deliver his beautiful
speech of trust and hope when he was
stricken helpless by the entrance upon
the stage of boldly advancing small
person OF most amazing appearance Her
thin little legs emerged from the shortest
of skirts. while her small body was well
pinned up in a great blanket shawl, the
point OF which trailed fully Il quarter Of
yard on the floor behind her. She wore
woman's hood on her head. aud from
its cavernous depth. where there gleam
ed n pale. malignant small face. a voice
issued-the high. farreaching voice of Il
child that triumphantly commanded:
you. Mary Ann. you're ter get up ont
of that an come home straightaway. an
you're ter go ter bed too. Mother says
500 And the small Nemesis turned on
her heel and trained off the stage. follow
ed by laughter that seemed fairly to
shake the building. Nor was that all
No sooner had Mary Ann grasped the
full meaning of this dread message than
she turned over ON her face. and, Scrnm-
bling up by all tours. she eluded the re-
straining hands of the actress mother
and made a hasty exit to perfect shrieks
OF laughter and storms of applause, while
the climax was only reached when the
dog, trained to lie still long the
pressure of the child's head was upon his !
shoulder, finding himself free. rose.
shook himself violently and trotted off,
waving his tail pleasantly as he went
That finished il: the curtain had to fall
A short overture was played, and the
curtain rose again without the complete
tn bleau, and the action of the play was
resumed. But several times the laugh /
ter was renewed 1t was only necessary
for some one person to litter over the lu- i
dicrous recollection and instantly the /
house was laughing with that person. |
The next night the managers child, |
swathcd in flannel with mouthful of /
cough drops, held the well trained dog /
i'm his place until the proper moment for /
him to rise, and the play went on its way
rejoicing.
And Just to show how long lasting is /
the ASSOCIATE ton of ideas | will state that /
years-many years-afterward l met a
gentleman who had been in the audito- L
rum that night, and he told me he had L
never since seen blanket shawl, wheth-
er in store for sale or on some broad /
back that he had not instantly laughed i
outright. always seeing poor Mary AIMS Il
obedient exit after that vengeful small Il
sister with her trailing shawl.-Critic.