Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1908-07-29
MY QUICK CHANGE

when l am requested to play q Sec
ondary part to some unfortunate gen.
tleman who considers himself qualified
by nature to play the first part. For
this l need not say l exact q double
fee, but the wear and tear of my feel
ings are more than proportionately Sc
we're.
The character that is sometimes af-
fected by these deluded persons is that
Of Sir Charles Coldstream in USED
Up" Military men in particular who
have cultivated an impassive manner
and a drawing voice are prone to i'm
agine themselves fitted for this per-
Torrance, and many a fifty pound note
have 1 had for playing helAlacksmith
to a very, very sad caricature Of that
pleasant baronet-
I was asked to do SO down at a GER
tain great mansion at Richmond n
Easter. At first I positively declined
upon the plea that l was drawing
large houses as Lord Fribbe In my
own theater and could not be excused,
ever for a single night, but the follow
ing letter persuaded me to accede to
the request:
My Dear Blathers-You must come, for
there is no man in England I can trust
to play the blacksmith to my Sir Charles
except yourself. AS for your theater,
that Is easily managed. Your Lord Frib-
BILE is over by 10 o'clock: then jump into
q cab and catch the 1880 to Richmond.
USED Up will be made our last piece
expressly to suit this arrangement, and
you can change your costume In the cab
or train. I inclose check for ESQ, lest in
my hurry and excitement on the night I
should chance to forget It. Yours ever.
PLANTAGENET.
As to dressing in the train, that was
not to be thought Of, for only imagine
II there should be no compartment
without a lady In It'll But to devote
the half hour I had to get to the sta
ton to dressing seemed feasible
enough. 1t was true that the piece in
which I played Lord Fribble was gen.
orally concluded by 10, but a few more
minutes had to be allowed for In my
case, since l always had to come for
ward to acknowledge the calls from
behind the curtain. OF course l might
have omitted this, but no earthly con
~siderations or, at all events, no con-
%siderations with respect to an amateur
performance at Richmond, would have
induced Alphonse Blathers to commit
such a discourtesy.
at 1905, then, on the night tn ques-
ton 1 hurried from the theater in the
splendid attire of Lord Fribble and
jumped into the cab that was at the
door in readiness for me, while an at
tendant placed a carpetbag by my side
smith.
Drive quick, strrah." were my last
words and 'Pn make 'em spin, my
lord' On allusion probably to the
wheels), was the obseQuious reply.
Ny periwig was still on my head,
though my blacksmith's clothes were
on my body, when I passed through
Waterloo bridge turnpike, and never
probably had the tollman betrayed so
much establishment during his official
duties as at the moment when he re-
ceived my toll.
But the next moment 1 had thrust it
into the carpetbag with the rest Of my
fine attire and became, with the help
Of a little lampblack. as genuine a
son Of the anvil as any man whose car
riage has broken down on the road
would wish 10 see.
Tho of01B IN fho N'nfoPinN mod
showed but FIVE minutes to the half
hour, and all my thoughts were con-
centrated upon the question Of whether
I should reach the station in time. I
did reach it In time, though with a
minute or two only to spare, and,
jumping out upon the platform, held
out my hand with 2 shillings In it
to the cabman. 1t is always my Gus
tom to pay such persons literally, and
at first I thought the cabman's aston
ishment was due to the magnitude Of
the sun thus offered to his notice. His
eyes became the size Of saucers, his
mouth approached the dimensions Of a
punch bowl rather than those Of a slop
basin.
"None Of your blood money! cried
he. "Oh, mother of Moses, here's a
villain been and murdered a hereditary
nobleman! Police, police"
At that fatal cry the porters, who, I
must say, had not shown themselves
very alert to take my carpetbag. began
to gather around me, and at the same
time an inspector showed himself at
the ticket office door.
THAT man is mad" said l, address
ing this official. II have given him his
fare and a shilling over, and he won't
take it."
But the cabman had by this time
swung himself off his perch. "He has
murdered a hereditary noblemanr' was
that idiots reiterated cry, which, be-
ing taken up by the porters, the pas
sengers and the passersby, presently
swelled into a tempest Of accusation.
1t was vain for me in my black
smiths garb to offer a syllable Of de-
NAL. My accuser was evidently actu-
ated by a genuine sense Of Justice, and
the fact Of my having come In a cab
at all seemed doubtless Of itself to
demand an explanation.
While I was thus In custody the
doors we're closed, the bell was rung,
and my train started off to Richmond.
Lord Plantagenet had to play Sir
Charles that night without his black
smith, and l will answer for 1t, though
not a witness to the crime, that on the
charge Of numbering the baronet he
would not before any jury of critics
have cleared himself so easily as l did
from that Of numbering a hereditary
nobleman.