Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-13
A STORY ON ROBSON.
Told by His Former Partner on the
Stage, VIM. H. Crane.


Stage, VIM. H. Crane.
From the New York Tribune.
William H. Crane told very good story
on his old partner. Stuart Robson: zone
day Lawrence Barrett started out from his
house for a drive" said Mr.. Crane. at
happened that his coachman was full, and
in Harvesting had fastened the bit IN the
near horses mouth In such way that an
accident would have inevitably resulted. AS
the horses were very spirited II might
easily have been fatal in its nature. Mar
shall Lewis was driving along the street at
the time, and his expert eye took In the
condition OF Barrett's rig. Realizing the
immlnence of the danger, he turned his own
horse in to the sidewalk, and, jumping out.
caught BarrettS horses by the head and
brought his carriage to q stop. Seeing the
state the coachman was in, he then pro-
ceeded to tell him in words of hectic va
riety what he had done and what ought to
be done to him. Barrett, tragedlan al
ways, said to Lewis: My man, my man,
you seem excited. Why what is the mat
ter? And upon Lewis explaining he fell
upon his neck, and after assuring him that
he could never forget the debt Of gratitude
he owed to him for preserving his life in
vited him to come to his house. Lewis was
a thoroughly good fellow, but essentially a
mans man. He knew little and cared less
about the society of women. and devoted
the most of his time to horses, for which
he had a passionate fondness- Some little
TIME AIleTWaru, however, he Ola call upon
Barrett, and there met his daughter, Miss
Mile. At this time Miss Barrett was an
extremely beautiful woman, as she Is to-
day. She was much sought after. and al
though Lewis had known her for q long
time he had never happened to notice her
beauty before. He became Immediately
struck, and could think of nothing and talk
about nothing but Mile Barrett. In the
light of Lewis fondness for horsefesh and
dislike for the sex in general and the num-
Der and character Of Miss Barrett's suitors
this devotion struck everybody as extremely
ludicrous.
did the Joke appeal more strongly than to
Stuart Robson, whose delight 1t was to talk
to Lewis about 1t. Why don't you go in
and marry her Marshall? he used to ad-
wise him in that squeaky voice Of his. I'll
tell you what I'll do. If you Will marry
Mile Barrett the day you are made man
and wife I'll give you 5000 This thing
went on for some time. until, to everybodys
establishment and Robson's chagrIn, Miss
Barrett accepted Lewis. Lewis manner of
breaking the news of his engagement to his
daughter to Lawrence Barrett was charac-
teristic. In heartbroken tones Barrett ex-
claimed. when told, Why, me boy, me boy,
you don't know what you are doing; you
are robbing me of my only daughter
:" Not at ALL replied Lewis, Shaping him
on the back, I'm giving to you another
son.
'And then he escaped before Barrett re-
covered his breath.
time and We all. with the exception of Rob-
son. attended. He sent his daughter Alicia
In his place. and before going gave to her
his check for 5000 drawn to Marshall
Lewis order. Robson's instructions were
emphatic, however, that on no condition
was she TO separate from 1t until Lewis and
Miss Barrett were irrevocably pronounced
man and wife. When Alicia returned home
Robson called her to him and asked IL she
had given Lewis the check. Yes, father
she replied. What did he do and sayT in
quired Robson. impatiently. Why, father
he was so overcome by II that he cried for
a minute after l gave 1t to him.. Cad
squeaked Robson, was that all? Why,
cried for an hour when I wrote it,"
Eugene Field heard this story, and used
it in his famous ''Sharps and Flats COL
umn, fathering it on Nat Goodwin. Nat
was very cross about It, because, as he
| said. Barrett hadn't much use for him, any
way and after he had read Fields story in
print the first time he met Goodwin, Bar
| retts roman nose stuck straight up in the
| air, and for him Goodwin had ceased To he
| in the land OF the living