The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-08-10

raised to create a new witticism broke.
The fnnmakers head fell upon his
breast.
''TroubIe-trouble," he repeated vaguely
toftering where he stood.
Out Of the past behind the walls Of the
Hartford retreat he has carried the men,
DRY of his beautiful wife's last appear
ance.
Charley Hoyt's insanity is not happy.
He has still the realization that his
idol the woman who made life precious
to him, is dead.
He knows that in a little cemetery
at Charlestown, N. H, his wife and in
FAINT son are sleeping.
Because Of them he has forgotten his
jokes.
While others sing them to the worlds
applause he weeps and weeps alone.
Alas, poor Yorick!
Where be your jibes now? Your gam
!, bols? Your songs? Your flashes of mer-
| riment?
Alas, poor Hoyt!
He could sing once, songs that for
many year yet thousands will laugh at
II he sang today it should be a verse
from the old, old melody that runs this
wise:
Here lies my wife,
The pride Of my life,
And the child in the grave
With its mother"
The funmaker's idol died two wears agn.
His business till then was to make De o.
pie laugh. He did it well and easily
Sour must have been the man who could
resist him.
A Hoyt play meant an evening of fun
Hoyt play was synonymous with a.
good time.
But that was before his child lay in the
grave with it's mo Their.
That was before Charley Hoyt had been
driven insane by sorrow. That was be-
fore the maker Of jokes had dipped his
pen in tears.
! Caroline AIisl1el Hoyt was one Of the
most beautiful women of her day-a day
only two short years back.
To most playgoers it is scarcely aeces-
sary to recall her. She was a beauty ard
an actress. The former was her birth
right. When Caroline Miskel first burst
upon the metropolis as the pensive
maiden in her husbands Temperance
Town" she was a beauty without ex2er-
fence.
She was. as the poet would have her,
tall and divinely fair. She was a be-
witching beauty, with amiability IN Der
smile and graciousness in her manner.
| Her hair was golden, her cheeks were
pink, her skin was white. Those who NAV
not have had the pleasure OF seeing her
! off thestage may have fancied that pow
der and dye and rouge might so endow
/ her. But Caroline AIskel Hoyt was a
beauty who might have stepped from be-
/ hind the footights into a glare of ma
lures own making and have held her own
beneath it.
The charm Of her coloring was an ac-
cessory to the charm of her features. Her
chin captivated. her eyes delighted. her
lips allured. In the memory of men Car
oline Miskel Hoyt would have lived as
TO act.
But she was not satisfied to be glorious
merely in form and face.
She was a beauty with ambition.
beauty with ability, a beauty destined TO
be brief inspiration to the man whose
idol she was. For his wife Charley Hoyt
the playwright, wrote the most classical
comedy Of his career, "A Contented
Woman" Through it Caroline Miske!
Hoyt claimed rank as an actress.
When Caroline Miskel first came upon
the vision of genial Charley Hoyt she
was stiu a novice. He saw her in Rob
ert MantelFs company, which was then
appearing IN a play called The Face in
the Moonlight" a young slip Of a girl
with an indescribabblle charm OF face
and fascination of manner.
That night she enchained Charley Hovt
in her list Of slaves. When fate loosered
| those shackles it was 70 conhne him TO
madhouse.
on the night that Caroline Anskel first
appeared to him the playwright had in
his mind a new play II was still in the
! chaotic state that precedes writing. That
! night as pc sat IN an orchestra chair
watching The Face in the Moonlight
a little golden haired novice Inspired the
! character Of Ruth. the simple young SRI
/ in a Temperance Town"
Before he slept that night Charley Hovt
had met and engaged Caroline Miskel fer
his unwritten play. His other engage
meat with her came later. 1t came after
her appearance IN "A Temperance Town.
IN the midst OF an over whe,rning tri-
umph Before the season was over The
new beauty had become Mrs. Charley
Hoyt-
She was accounted the playwrizht's
greatest success. Her charms were so OBJ
I vious. SO luxuCiant. so lavish. that no,
hte sternest critic could dispute ,hem.
Charley Hoyt hasked IN them. From
them he received the mos; serious iasx-
ration CT his life. HIS wife's ambition =
become an actress inspired him 70 weave
the oleverest s1tire he ever wrote
From a Temperance Town" Carolins