The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-09-30

N1I4 h6TO1<AlOR.
Advice to stage-Struck Girls.
! Ella Wheeler Wilcox writes in the New
York Journal: Almost every day some
/ girl writes me or tells me by word OF
mouth her desire to become an actress.
Wives with good homes impart to me
! their secret regret for lost career.
1 know a beautiful old lady who has
/ brought child into the world whom
thousands of people rise up and bless;
other mothers say to her. How proud
you must be to think you are the mother
of such a child"
| Yet this woman goes into the valley Of
old age with the cry on her lips-'I
ought to have been an actress. I had
the chance in my youth, and I was a
fool not to accept it,
She has every comfort and luxury and
attention which make declining years
| happy, and she has robust health. Yet
she believes her mission in life has failed
because she is not a retired actress.
Not one retired actress in one thousand
has health, luxury and peace to crown
her dying day. The great majority have
to depend upon "benefits"-a polite form
of charity-or upon public institutions for
their comforts when they cease to be
drawing cards for theatrical managers.
I wish all these troops of stage struck
young women could have heard a young
actress conversation few weeks ago.
She went on the stage at the age Of
sixteen. She is perhaps twenty-six or
twenty-eight now. She married an actor
who draws a good salary and never lacks
an engagement. She has appeared in
excellent companies and has been given
leading roles in good and successful
plays.
Yet her face was gray with despon-
dency, and in her eyes there dwelt a
look akin to despair as she talked to
me Of her plans for the future.
"Oh, 1 have been offered some very
good roles" she said, "by several man
ayers. am not quite sure which
shall accept. My husband opened last
night in New York; the play he is in
scored a great success and will run there
several months. Then 1t will go on the
road. I shall go out with some COM
pany later. I fancy 1 will spend por-
ton of the winter in New York. But
do not expect to see much of my hus-
band. Yes, it is too bad, because we are
! quite happy together, and the one thing
! in life we desire is a home.
81 am so very, very tired of travel
and separation and homelessness. 1t is
useless to try and have a home when
your work is on the road. A few weeks
/ in summer is all my husband and I see
of each other. Even when we are in
the same company-which happened one
season-we have but three or four hours,
rarely that of the twenty-four which
can be called companionship. The re-
hearsals and the night and matinee ap-
! pearances consume the time not given
to sleep Then the travel and the hotel
life are so unpleasant. I often wish 1
had chosen any other work in the world
But 1 was only sixteen. and full of illu-
sions, when 1 began. Yes, L have had
success; that is, I have always been in
demand by managers, always received a
good salary, and always have my share
of applause and cutain calls
But what does that amount to If one
has no home, and sees no hope of a
home in perspective?'
Here is another object lesson for the
stage struck mainden.
An actor, who is famous in two worlds
!
beautiful brilliant and successful actress
They command handsome salary, and
have been able during several years to
appear in the same companies. They
have played long seasons in New York.
and have then made a tour of the States.
Applause, admiration and a good in
come from their work has been theirs.
Yet so monotonous has this life Of
travel become so wearisome and unbear-
able the dwelling in trunks and hotels,
that the handsome and gifted young wo-
man has absolutely refused to pursue
her career; and as there are more than
two dependent upon this couple for sup
port, the charming artist whom multi
tudes in all parts of the civilized world
have given curtain calls, has, in the
flower Of her youth and career stepped
out of the ranks of professionals and
opened a fashionable boarding house.
'I so want a home" she cries. 81
am willing TO work and endure all sorts
Of cares and anxieties if 1 can only have
a home. Life is not worth living if my
husband and I must go on eternally in
this awful treadmill of a theatrical ca
reer-with no fixed habitation. There are
no compensations in this life which re-
pay for the sacrifices we have been max
ing"
Think Of that, my stage struck damsel
and ponder on it.
All I can hope to do by these words
is TO set some career-mad young woman
TO thinking seriously before she enters
the most arduous of professions. to which
she may devote her best energies and
years with no results.
The value Of life is determined by twr
things-the happiness we get out of 1t
and the influence we leave on others.
Unless one or the other is satisfactory
life will be a failure
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
WOrsted Combine Again on Foot
New York. Sept. 29.-It Is reported tina
.theh Worsted consolidation, which wa
among the many deals taken up last yea
, but abandoned. is again on foot. TIL
Textile Manufacturers Journal" say
, that S. Walker James. the leading spiri
in the movement has received a cable
gram from his representative in London
in effect, that arrangements had bee'
made for the funds and that the organi
cation Of the worsted company was nog
] assured. When the consolidation wa
/ undertaken q year ago a capitalization o
S6S 90 eco was prcpased