The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-15

why you should have cheated the law out of its just victim"
 "I am greatly worried
 You can't understand it."
 q can't" That was true anyhow.
 You turn to the glass-it Is night-per- haps you are going to let down your hair, or something like that-and you see your face"
 q see my face"
 Tn it you read the terrible secret"
 "I read the terrible secret.' "You see that you love him hopelessly. You can't stand it.
 "I can't stand it. Why can't IF"
 Hold your tongue and listen. You say, What is this that has come to me?' Then you hid your face in your hands it is a passionate gesture of betrayal, of protection and of anguish. Then the cur taJn."
 "The the curtain" Her relief at the curtain was patent.
 Now try it.
 After a methodical, unabashed stare at an imaginary mirror, a few impersonai glancesS toward the 1y-heaven, Brenda hissingly took In air for her great speech and in the melodious tones of Bread. please" said:
 "What Is this that has come to me?" Then she acted as if it were soap that had come, lathered her hands in It once or twice, and plastered them to her face, D: eparatory to a wash.
 "Gum!" mourned Kelly. It was awful.
 Az Co., 4ha biel,S Morrta ba really was in pain. His olive face went white.
 Dare we risk itT' he asked dazedly of Kelly.
 This latter had an inspiration.
 ''Cut out the hand-act," he said Let her take the things out of her hair and hide her face in that, when 1t comes down."
 We all saw the picture and approved. II Brenda was short on soul, she was long on hair; and why lead from short suit? Moreover. an audience is always wakeful over the heroine's toilet. Morris was too refined an artist to countenance anything in the way of hosiery or lace skirts, but this hair business could not possibly out rage his sensibilities, so he consented.
 Try it." he briefly ordered her.
 Eound-eyed, but obedient, she began to take out hairpins. There seemed to be seventy million of them and they com menced to bulge out In her hand like So usage. Then Nina Leavitt interfered ard skewered Brenda's tresses tempora- rily with four small daggers, showing her how to pull them swiftly from her head all at once Brenda copied faithfully, ex- cSpt in the sWiftness-being slower than the second advent-but at any rate the hair came down. It was great. That much hair in a store window on hook instead of head would have drawn crowd anywhere. AS she pulled the skew CTS, it fell, a slowly writhing live thing, first in tight bundle to he, shoulders. hext in an immense knotted coil to her waist, and finally dropped sheer to the hem of her dress, shivered out into a veil anc spread around her in moon-mist.
 ..Ah!' we all breathed devotionally.
 'That'n do," said Morris. with sadness. H. hated to take hair for soul It saved his scene however; for he was Pete.
 We'll, we rehears ed it to a finish and put 1t on. It went with shouts, being made up of splendid scenery, lots of in- cdents, few shots, little blood, heaps Of thrills and bushel baskets full of high class gallery morality. About the best ttat can be said of Brenda Is that she did not ruin the performance, and when the curtain rang down on her scene, she got q limp lanU. That IS, llST IttlI SOl ll. The hair certainly was glorious when the spotlight moon lit it up. As for the part, Brenda simply killed it and put 1t on ice for the winter.
 The play ran three weeks-quite feat for summer stock. Then, on the last night of the last week, the miracle hap pened and Brenda rose to her own.
 The first intimation of it came to us, even to those under the stage and in our dressing rooms, through the medium of her voice. It had new, compelling quality, and grappled. It flew out sud denly like a lash and touched every where It mastered the audience, too, as we could well tell from the responsive purr-r that came from them when line told. The voice had a triumphant mes sage which said; AS long as l choose to speak, so long will you have to listen. I. was mercilessly sweet. Who is it??' we asked, startled, even though we knew it to be Brenda. And, What is it?" was our next question, though we ex- ci.edly knew that, too. No girl of IS could so grip older hearts, with mere voice. unless Genius had unlocked for her the past as well as the future and aiven her the impossible wealth which her own years were too few to have fur nished.
 soon bits of applause rippled out where