Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-08-22
THE UNDERSTUDY
lOriginal.1

or for the stage, paced back and forth
impa tiently; before him stood a girl to
whom he was giving lesson.
TRY once more; repeat the words as
! speak them, giving the information as
give it-thus:
20 Romeo. Romeo, wherefore art thou
Romeo?
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 a vain eff
fort to please her preceptor and who
had become completely 'rattled," tried
again and made a worse failure than
before.
THAT will do, Miss Cheever. 1t is
useless for you to proceed. To encour-
l'age you to 90 on would be to take your
money knowing that l 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 hook 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
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 a part usually given to super
she had met with little success, per-
haps it was that 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 meager living.
Miss Cheever played to an audience
disappointed at having missed a star
and obliged to put up with an under
study. She went through her part la
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 had decidedly improved,
and the critic became interested.
There's 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 a struggling actress, remembering
those he had been obliged to discour-
age. When the curtain was rung down
IN 1f IN fo1%
lieved, the women chatting about social
trifes, the men going out for a 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 a 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 histrionic
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 9
| wound.
But SOFT What light through yonde,
window breaks?
It Is the east, and Juliet Is the sun!
The man was a splendid actor and
gave them beautifully. Juliet was be-
tween two influences. On the one
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 hel
own lines:
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art tho,
| Romeo?'
Deny thy father and refuse thy name, .
Or, If thou wilt not, be but sworn m,
love,
And I'll no longer be a capulet.
Whether it was inspiration or def
ance she never knew, but something
prompted her to speak the lines in tn.
fashion Mcleod had tried to train on
of her, and she gave them with all thu
Natural feeling the part, the scene, tn
l. Ill v%oH