The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-19

auditorium awaited the coming Of our
patrons. There was a smell of scarce
dried paint in front of the curtain and
of scrubhing soap behind It, but all was
bright and fresh, and the house was soon
packed with brilliant audience.
Every important occasion seems to have
its touch of the ridiculous. and so had
this one. The hustle" the big wire ar
fair extending to the bottom of the
skirt. had reached its hideous
apogee of fashion at that time; yet what
possible relation could there be between
that lettering monstrosity and grace or
sentiment or tragedy? Surely l thought
this girl pupil, brought straight from
convent school to country home, might
reasonably be bustleless: and l should
look so much smaller-so much more grace
full But, Mr.. DAILY? Never-never! Would
he consent to such a breach of propriety?
Fashion-h!s soul loved! He poured over
her plates-he bowed to her mandates!
My courage having failed me. when l
hurried to my room, 1 put on the OBJ
noxious structure. But one glimpse of
that camel-like hump on the back of
Alike" and the thought of the fall in
the chair, made be desperate. tore
the mass of wire off and decided to keep
out of sight till the last moment, and
Inen MAKE q rush IOi llt SbdSSs
Ready. Miss Morris?'
Ready 1 answered as the question
was asked from door to door.
In a few moments the call-boy came
back again Are you ready? Every one
is out there but you"
ooh, yes" / said, showing myself to
him. but still not leaving the shelter of
my room, and 1 heard him saying, Eyes,
sir, she's all ready. 1 saw her."
The curtain rose. Only few lines
were spoken before my entrance. dared
wait no longer Heavens, no, for there
was MIR. DAILY coming for me. I gathered
up my skirts as bunchily as 1 could and
ran out But l could not deceive Mr..
DAILY, In an instant he missed the neces-
sary camePs hump.
Good heavens and earth"' he shout
ed. You've left your bustle!'
| broke into a run '"Wait!' he cried
loudly. He dashed into my open room,
caught the big hustle up and dragging
it like a great cage behind him, came
plunging down the entrance to me, cry
ing, "Wait! Watt" and waving the 9TH
err hand commandingly above his head.
l heard my music. l sprang to the plat
form I had to enter from. That's mel
l cried. "Waitw he ordered. and reached
out to catch me. l evaded his grasp and
skipped through the door, leaving but
fold of my skirt in his hand. l was on
the stage, and joy, oh, joy! 1 was with
out a hustle!
Mr. DAILY did not like being laughed at
but when he glanced down and saw the
thing he was dragging behind him, after
the manner of a baby's tin wagon, he
had to laugh at himself. And verify there
were others who laughed with him. while
the scandalized dresser carried the re-
- gfn
There is no manager, star nor agent
whose experience will enable him to
foresee the fate awaiting an untried play
very curious thing is that what is call
ed IAN actors play'-one, that is, that
actors praise and enjoy in the rehearsing
is almost always a failure. While the
managerial Judgment has been reversed
so often by the public that even the most
enthusiastic producer of new plays is apt
Ito hedge a bit with: UNLESS l deceive
myself, this will prove to be the greatest
play, etc" While the mistakes made by
actors and managers both, anent the
value of certain parts. are illustrated suf-
ficiently by e. II. Sothern, c. w. Coul-
dock, Joseph jefferson, all three of whom
made immense hits in parts they had
absolutely refused to accept, yielding only
from necessity or obligingness, and to
their own establishment finding fame in
presenting the unwelcome character. And
to the misjudged Lord Dundreary,"
ASA Trenchard," etc. that night was
added the name of Alike"
And the audience accepted the joyous
little maid almost from the first girlish
love betraying words she spoke. And yet
so sensitive Is an audience at times, while
still laughing over her sweet ignorance,
they thrilled with a nameless dread of
coming evil
AS the play went on and the impetuous
grief of the child changed into proud self
restraint, while her agonizing jealousy of
her adored mother developed, Mr.. Daily,
with wide, bright eyes, exclaimed: II
must have been blind-Stone blind. Why,
Alike is the bone and marrow, the heart
and soul of this play"
Poor, loving, little base-born! pathetic
little marplot! Seeing herslf as only a
STUN bling block to others, she sought self
effacement beneath the gentle waters Of
the lily pond. And early in the last act,
as her drowned body, carried in the arms
of the two men who had loved her, was
laid before the starting eyes of the guilty
mother and the loving, forgiving, plead
ing letter of the suicide was read above
her, actual sobs rose from the front of
the house. 1t was a heart-breaking scene.
But when the curtain fell-oh, what
NnlTbWlHo broke lOOSe III ludl Htlle tuSd~
teri The curtain went up and down-up
and down. And then, to my amazement,
Mr.. DAILY sgnalled for me to go before
the curtain, and l could not move. He
stamped his foot and shouted:
Come over here and take this CALI!
and / called back: 81 can't. I'm all
pinned up. so / can't walk"
For that my skirts might not fall away
from my ankles when l was being carried
across the stage, 1 had stood upon a
chair and had my garments tightly
wound about me and securely fastened,
and, unfortunately, the pins were behind
and / was all trussed up, nice and tight
and helpless.
Mr.. DAILY came tearing over to me,
and down he went upon his knee TO try
to free me. but muttered "d-n?' told
me he could not find the pins, and the
applause-on the precious APPLAUSE
that was being wasted out there. Sudden