Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1907-04-05

make some repairs. Grandma had
gone home, and now Miss Hattie went
over to the county seat to visit girl
| friend. She and Hiram had been
! 'sout'' for the last three months. In
| stead of moping and sorrowing and
breaking his heart he had again called
! her a jay and continued his business
of buying butter and eggs for the mar
ket
/ A theatrical company playing "Did
She Love Him?' had struck the town
and excited the people. The actors and
actresses had sauntered about the
street and been the observed of all OBJ
servers. There was talk of tire
mendous cast and a carload of seem
/ cry" There was talk of farewell
tour and tremendous applause" The
| play had run several hundred nights
| in New York and the same in London,
and its author had received over a
million dollars in royalties.
| Miss Hattie Stebbins had determined
from the first to join the company. She
met the manager in a grocery where
he had called for crackers, cheese and
herring, and, to her intense joy, he
was looking for young lady to play
second lead. Her salary would be $25
per week. Her part would be to hold
| up the train of the leading lady's dress
as she entered the parlor, trim two
lamps and ask the leading lady if she
should turn the cat outdoors. The
manager could promise her no more
! just at present, as the leading lady
was insanely jealous of her part, but
later on there would be a change.
| 1t was agreed that Hattie should
leave when the company did and make
her first appearance at the next town.
She lodged her friends and was at the
depot as the company made ready to
depart at midnight. It departed in
the caboose of a freight train. The
manager explained that they preferred
to travel that way in order to view the
| scenery.
| There were five actors and three ac-
tresses. The actors were gallant
enough, but the actresses held aloof
! and threw out insinuations and made
Hattie feel as badly as they could.
There was sleep that night for all who
sat on the floor. In the early morning
the company rolled into it's next stop
ping place, and the manager took the
upper rooms at the village inn. These
included the garret. He did this, he
explained, on the ground of health. He
borrowed Hattie's watch that day and
forgot to return it.
| She went on in her part that night.
She had studied it for hours and was
letter perfect. She fell over chair on
her entrance, and she fell over another
on her exit, and, though the actresses
sneered and wanted to know if she
thought she was in a cabbage patch.
the manager took her aside and said
he never saw such acting by an am
ateur. She had only to keep on and
fall over four chairs to bring four
rounds of applause from the audience.
He wound up by borrowing her breast
/ pin.
| For a whole week Miss Hattie Steb-
| bins played second lead and rode from
town to town in cabooses. For a whole
week the actresses showed their jeal-
ousy Of her. Sometimes enough money
was taken in to pay the bills and get
| to the next town. Sometimes the print
er and the landlord were held up by
| promises Sometimes the audience
numbered fifty people, and the ap-
plause that went up the manager call
ed positively tremendous" Sometimes
| only half a dozen people sat around
| and wondered what it was all about.
| Miss Hattie had two gold rings, and
the manager borrowed both Of them.
She loaned two or three of her dresses
and hat to the actresses in the hope
of getting into their golden opinions.
! She learned to enter and to exit, and II
she fell down she learned to fall grace
fully on her shoulder. The manager as
sured her that the pinnacle of fame
was not far away, and everything
/ looked rosy, when she awoke one morn
ing to find the company gone and to
learn that the landlord was holding her
for the bill.
Luckily her father arrived at that
juneture. There was no scene. She did
not fall into his arms. She had had
acting enough. He simply took her
home. where she found Hiram waiting
for her. He had been biding his time,
and there was no scene with him Ell
ther. He simply remarked that if she
had got over being & jay he would
like to revive the marriage question,
and an hour later female head was
resting on a manly shoulder and gazing
up at the new moon with dewy eyes.
After long while Hiram gently asked:
Dearest, what does varlet mean?
You know you called me one."
"It's-it's some kind Of an animal, I
guess, and I'm sorry" she replied as
she snuggled closer.