The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-03-26
THE PROMPTER.

bread and butter In such loWly way he
would have thrown bricks at him.
| A prompterl He started out in life as
first licutenantin a regiment of Prussian
cheveaux-legers. With influence which
his family had at it's command he might
have become a general, when the unfor-
tunate outcome of duel drove him from
home to foreign shores. A woman had
been the cause of tia cold, heartless CO.
quette who threw him aside as she would
cast off an old glove when he had no lon
ger position and the expectation of wealth.
In New York he had tried to obtain a
! position commensurate with his social
standing and his education. Like thou
sands of others, he failed From waiter
| in Bowery chophouse he became come
dian in a shack Of playhouse, where the
price of admission was 20 cents on Satur-
days and Sundays and cents during the
rest of the week. Fate had been unkind
to him by throwing him into the clutches
of rascally manager, who was always in
arrears with the salaries, that at best were
small and insufficient for anything beyond
the merest necessities. A few weeks suf-
feed to cure him of the footlight fever,
and the erstwhile lieutenant gladly accept
ed the offer Of a steady job as prompter in
little theater a few shades better than
the one he had just left.
The proprietor ran an eating house in
conjunction with his temple of the muses.
and was always prompt in the payment
of his dues. Hans Karl Lemkin became
prompter, and because he did not have to
hunger and thirst any longer, eating his
meals at his employer table, he remained
prompter all his life 1t ism t very strange
that the terrible shock to his brilliant ex-
pectations should have crushed all the
spirit out of him. The meager comforts
Of his existence satisfied him. If he had
any ambitions to soar beyond the narrow
confines of his box nobody ever heard of
them-yes, one.
She was woman of course. Like him
self, she had come from the fatherland.
She was child prodigy in the old coun-
try, and when she grew older some man.
ager picked her up and brought her to
America The company, of which she
was the leading woman, became stranded
on barn storming tour in Canada, and
naturally the girl drifted to New York.
Her first metropolitan engagement was OBJ
tanned in the little house in which Lemkin
did the prompting. The girl was young
and pretty and might have been a sister to
the woman who had forsaken the poor
prompter in his trouble, SO strong was her
resemblance to that highborn lady who
was his first love. At first Karl was in
terested; then he abhorred her for that
uncanny likeness, and then, poor fellow,
he fell head over heels in love with her.
She returned his love in away-her way
which was shallow and insincere. Karl
was poor; Others who paid homage at her
shrine were well provided with this world g
f,,r.
advancement, and she also needed Karls
good will while she played in the little
German company in the Third avenue
playhouse.
The prompter watched over her with the
fidelity of a dog. He carried her basket
with the togs back and forth between her
home and the theater, he took her home
at night and he discreetly got out Of the
way when others more favored sought to
entertain her.
1t was a sorry lovemaking on his part-a
sort of comfortable exchange Of affections
as far as the woman was concerned. She
had promised to marry him at the end of
the season, and that satisfied the poor fell
low and filled him with happiness which
he never expected to feel again. He had
been frugal and economical and saved q
little out of his scanty earnings. AS soon
as they were married he would go into
some business and earn a fortune for her
Yes, there was the new incentive that
would bind him to life with stronger links
than heretofore.
The season neared its end, and Karl's
happiness grew in proportion. Magda be-
came more loving and thoughtful of her
betrothed's feelings, and he had not mo-
ment's doubt that she was faithful to him.
One day he was called away from his usual
haunts by letter from his home, wherein
he received the welcome information that
a distant relative had died and left him a
comfortable bequest. He had no time to
communicate this stroke of good luck,
which came at such an opportune time, to
his sweetheart, but fastened of to be
identified with some lawyer and obtain a
power of attorney to send abroad that the
money might be collected for him.
Being unacquainted with the people and
methods of so large city at New York, it
took young Lemkin many hours before he
accomplished his purpose. When every
thing was arranged satisfactorily he set
out for home. On the way he would cali
at Magda's home and communicate to her
the happy news He pictured to himself
their wedding, their happy life in some
pretty cottage in Harlem or across the riv-
er on Hoboken heights. Way into the fu-
ture the young man sent his Dreams and
all seemed fair and bright once more
When he arrived at Magda's lodgings,
there was no response to his repeated
knocks. She may be out, he said to HIM
self, and proceeded to make himself COM
Portable on the stairs to await her coming,
He might have been sitting in the shadow
of the stairway for an hour or more, lost
in idle thoughts, when the front door was
thrown open and Magda's landlady en-
tered.
'You, Mr.. LemkinP" she said. Il did
not expect you till tomorrow. Miss Magda
thought you might come then, and in that
sase she told me to give you this note
The woman took from the pocket of her
apron crumpled letter. which she handed
to Lemkin. "She left early this morn
ing" she added; "quite early.
Lemkin paid no heed to the woman's
remark, which he did not understand. A
letter from Magda to him, whose hand
writing he had never seen, was such an
unusual thing that it stunned him. With
trembling fingers the poor fellow tore open
the envelope. He did not have far to read
him on the eve of their wedding II am
ambitious. . she wrote, "and think can
get along better without you You are
nothing but poor prompter, and that is
probably all you ever will be. love you
dearly, but love my future better For
give me. :"
The courage OF the soldier, the calling
for which he had been bred, came to his
rescue. 1T am sorry l missed seeing her,
he said to the landlsdy, "before she left
But 1 can write to her She loft me her
address in this letter"
1t was a falsehood which he spoke with
stern lips, because he did not want to be-
tray to the old woman that he had been
Tilted. Then he went away, resumed his
duties at the theater that night, and an
swered cheerily all questions about Magda
who had secured a release for the last few
days of her term.
Years have passed since then. The poor
prompter Is prompter still, but no longer
In a little obscure theater on Third av-
enue. He has moved along with the play
houses to better quarters and receives
comfortable salary from a first class man
ager whose assistant he Is, while he still
follows his calling as prompter.
Karl Lemkin has not aged much, and II
there is any change In him it Is for the
better. He wears better clothes than he
used to, and his face always has happy
smile Every night he is accompanied to
the theater by little old lady. When he
has accompanied her to seat in the audi
torium, he goes back to his prompt box,
and when the play Is over the old lady
waits for him until he comes to fetch her.
Then the two trudge home together, and
on the WAY they. always talk, They seem