Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1903-08-12
THE UNDERSTUDY


lmpatlently, DeIore MIN STOOD q girl 10
whom he was giving lesson.
TRY once more; repeat the words as
speak them, giving the intonation as
give it-thus:
20 Romeo Romeo, wherefore art thou
Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name
Or, If thou wilt not, be but sworn my
love,
And I'll no longer be Capulet''
The girl, who had already repeated
the words a dozen times in vain ef-
fort to please her preceptor and who
had become completely ratified" tried
again and made worse failure than
before.
"That will do, Miss Cheever. 1t is
useless for you to proceed. To encour-
age you to go on would be to take your
money knowing that can never edu-
cate you for the stage. You were not
born to be an actress"
At this the girl burst into tears and
the professor turned to his desk and
began to look over some papers. The
occurrence was common one TO him,
and although not devoid of feeling, he
could not afford to waste his time cod
ding failures" Besides, there was
nothing to be said. When he turned
again Miss Cheever had vanished.
Half a dozen years passed and the
professor had forgotten his pupil as he
forgot all those whose histrionic abili-
ties were pronounced by him unworthy
of cultivation. He had ceased to give
lessons and earned a fine salary as
dramatic critic. One night he went to
see an actress who had made some rep
utation, ready to write her praises or
condemn her, as she suited his fancy.
The actress unfortunately was i'll and
her place was taken by her understudy.
The play was Romeo and Juliet" and
the understudy was the critics forgot
ten pupil Miss Cheever.
Mcleod, when he saw her, had not
the slightest remembrance of having
ever seen her before. Not so Miss
Cheever She noticed him sitting in
one of the foremost rows directly be-
meath her and recognized at once the
man who had sounded her stage death
| knell before she had ever trodden the
boards. Perhaps it was because for
| five long years since she made her de-
| but in part usually given to a super
she had met with little success, per-
haps it was that a woman does not
| take kindly to criticism. Be the cause
| what it may, she had never for
| given Dennis Mcleod. However, she
| had made the most of the training he
had given her and had come to initiate
| his methods in a parrotlike fashion
| that had given her a meager living.
Miss Cheever played to an audience
disappointed at having missed a star
and obliged to put W with an under
| study. She went through her part Ia,
boriously, and as she came to the diff
ferent points in the play in which Nc
Leod had given her especial drilling
| did her best to honor his instruction.
In this she dad decidedly improved,
and the critic became interested.
"There's a woman" he said, who will
one day make an actress" He ar
ranged in his mind the main points of
| the criticism he would hand in to the
dramatic editor of his paper, and felt
| bit of comfort in being able to thus
help struggling actress, remembering
| those he had been obliged to discour
| age. When the curtain was rung down
on the first act the audience felt re-
| heved, the women chatting about social
trifies, the men going out for Whit
of tobacco smoke.
Miss Cheever retired to her dressing
room to weep She knew that on this
first occasion Of her playing a promi
nent part she had made dismal fail
ure, and that in the presence Of the
| man who had warned her to choose an
other occupation. But, womanlike, she
| illogically blamed Mcleod for her fail.
ure rather than her want of histrionie
ability. From tears she passed to ir
| ritation and from irritation to anger.
| The curtain went up for the second
act and Miss Cheever took her place
| on the balcony. Romeo spoke those
! poetic lines beginning:
He jests at scars that never felt a
wound.
But soft, What light through yonder
window breaks?
! 1t Is the east. and Juliet Is the sun!
! The man was a splendid actor and
! gave them beautifully. Juliet was be-
I tween two influences. On the ono
hand she felt the inspiration of the
scene, on the other she was in a rage
with Mcleod, whom she could plainly
see from her perch. Then came her
own lines:
| Romeo Romeo. wherefore art thou
Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name
| Or, If thou wilt not, be but sworn my
| love,
| And I'll no longer be Capulet.
Whether it was inspiration or def
| ance she never knew, but something
| prompted her to speak the lines in the
fashion Mcleod had tried to train out
| of her, and she gave them with all the
natural feeling the part, the scene, the