The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-03-03
sn.t any wonder here i. some kicking Talk

The hotel keeper. who takes boardcrs
for 81 a week. charges us 81 so a day and every
thing extra. and everybody In town thinks
W" have money TO burn and charges us two
prices, Ten dollars a week won't GO very
far. at that rate. Neither will twenty. e-
pecia.ly II most OF II has 10 he scnt home
TO keep the home folks going
Then II the company gets stranded. there
yol are! Dozens Of companies ran aground
last season You ought to hear the stories
the girls that were with them brought in
Tell me some Of them" suggested the
reporter
oh. ] never got stranded
Neither did L. said the black broadcloth
girl
Never did either" chirriped the chorus.
oh no. we never began nj the bottom
laughed the plump Mouse We were born
great. we were. The day ] was sixteen.
a procession Of Influential managers came
TO IVY house. with a brass band. and got on
their knees TO me They lust begged me
10 ioiu their companies. offered me all kinds
Of money. None ~ them could bring out a
ncw play lnless 7 was in tho chorus ! had
n dreadful time deciding which Offer 10 take.
but I finally agreed 10 $500 a week and a
steady New York eng cement. Oh. rats"
Everybody laughed
I've heard other girls who didnt have
my luck tell about being left high and dry
ut the end Of the earth. though. " said the
plump Mouse Maybe I could remember
some Of the stories. II I tried hard
on, yes. We all could tell stories we've
heard" said the other girls.
Well. now that it's thoroughly understood
tina none Of the testimony il photographed
fire away" urged the reporter
II knew n girl who went ont with A comic
opera Company years ago" began the plump
Mouse "Shc wasn't so awfullv strong. but
Of courses, he couldn't let anybody know that,
because She had to have the money. and
there wasn't anything else doing They
worked tho one-night stands until the whole
crowd was ready 10 drop. and hts girl used
to wonder each night whether she'd DO able
To pull through until the curtain fell. but she
didn't say anything
BY and by they got ont in'o Wyoming,
and AT last they stranded in a li''le bit Of n
town. Some Of the crowd had moncv enough
To get out. or stun to pawn, or somebody they
could telegraph TO; but the girl Didn't have
anything or anybody. and she was too blamed
proud to beg"
Don't see WHY she hadn't laid NJ some
thing she'd been working" commented the
official Mouse severely.
Great heavens, child You know we'll
enough working doesn't always mean getting
paid. Nobody but the teno- ana tn soprano
had been paid for three week We'll. this
girl spent the few cents sh" had and hen
,h" didn't eat for n day or two
Some Of the other girls were waiting. too.
hn' she knew hey didn' have much to hoil
on with ami She Gldn'' want 10 AK 'hen Cor
anything So She thought she'd go 10 n dance
hall in the town and maybe "ha could do 4
dance there. or get something 10 90, though
good many Of the crowd had worked that
RACKET. She started out AMI co' rs fa- as
the door Of the saloon. md then she jus;
keeled over. That was the Last she knew for
two weeks.
When she cane around sho WIS in the best
room in the hotel. and n nurse and doctor
were taxi ng care Of her. and a lin. OF bunco
mon and miners and cowpunchers calling
every day 10 know how She was and paying
her bills. All he rest of the company had
gone.
The men in the saloon had picked her up
and hauled in n doctor, aud when lie decided
she was starved and worked to death and n
for "a bad sickness. they just passed IN. hat.
She had the time OF her life, when she began
70 get we'll, and the men bought her a ticket
10 New York and put $50 in her bas, and most
Of them proposed TO her.
oh. come now. Rroaned one % the audi
enca. You read that in a book
40. she didn't" said A blonde. whose
memory had a long range. I remember
about that AZ the time. Saw her when she
came back. That was playing In luck. though.
knew a girl who did chamberInaid WORK NJ
an ,rkan-aS hotel for two months before sue
could get back to New York.
"And ! know one who dan oil and sang on
the street corners with N" low comedian NJ
the show and worked her way bach from town
TO town that way
We'll. down in Texas. when The comrany
went brok. there was just GO in IA" Treason
and walking was bad Their" were two more
men than women in the show, and each man,
with two ex receptions. agreed To rake together
enough money by hook or crook 10 ge' one
Of the girls and himself 10 New York. say.
the stunts those boys did would have made a
Texas steer laugh.
They tried everything. from taking on thcii
coats and doing comedy sketches in barrooms
IN saving wood. They positively sqns'7ec
money out OF iron hltching posts Some oi
them got money from home ambient all they
didn't need. Others worked their way to-
ward New York by degrees, earning money
on the way.
A lot Of the ganS had theatrical friends
In New Orleans. and when they got up there
could make a raise. But We all got home
mean they all got home, and those fellows
we're white through and through.
There's another thing that's v"r . Tor a
girl than getting stranded with a COMPANY,
said the official Mouse, But, Usually. only
very green girls get Let in for that. some
body down South or out West sends for . glrl
and an irresponsible agent here books h"'
and sends her along. The agent tells h"'
the Job Is all rght. and she is fool enough 10
believe him.
When she gets 70 the plcCe She fnds t'
the lowest sort NJ thing. hut she probably
hasn't any money and il in a s'rlng" Ilace
a long way from home. and n 81" cant ce'
money some other way she'll have 10 take
the act for awhile.
Why, my own sister got lot In Tor mat.
was avav, and she was y green llttl" thing
but mother went with her TO tn" agent Vow
vor'dhave thought that he vouidhav" known
she wasn't that sort. when ~h" took n NICE
looking old mother with her. Nn'lldn N"n'
But he sent her on to Madame.
She landed there with NJ money 20 speak
of. and the frst night she saw what Oh" was
up against. Even a grecnhorn could soc