The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-08-15

Copyright 1905 By Thomas h. xcKsss NJ >
~ YER In one corner OF tho little cate Z
careless and @cursory orchestra was
painfully maltreating the latest speci-
men of melodious petit larceny that had
found the heeting favor IT I'M public. 'Estelle,
Ny Prairie Belle" 1t was ana % its stereotyped
strains filtered through the thick smoke Of the
room. the property man seated across from me,
gazed In sad, wan pensiyeness into his beer and.
with the final chord that sisnned that the erches-
ira had at last done its worst, he gave vent to
deep, deep sigh and murmured, In abstracted
pathos. 'Estelle! Estelle!" and then reapsed into
another staring interval. 49,
l, wisely, forebore. to interrupt him; and at
length he came to himself, and to me.
"Oh," he said, with little start. Il guess +
must have been thinking, wasn't II" ~
I nodded. -..~.
You had all the symptoms returned. ~
"Antit funny he began; then, in abrupt tran
sition: That tune always sets thinking OF an
Estelle khowed once And when gets to think
Ing that way, goes philandering of into the
mazes of mem'ry until don't know where Tn At
never told you about Estelle, did r."
shook my head and pretended only perfume
tory interest in the sad tale of bighted love that
felt sure to come. Some people, You know,
will tell you things only when they think you don't
care much about hearing them; and the property
man was that kind. '~-$ ---"-~-.
"Well," he said, at length, reminiscently, ut was
this way. In eighteen ninety-sevenI was out with
The Queen of the Hayrem company That was a
great show. It was about Engltsh girl who gets
kidnapped by Turk and put into his harem. She
has a sweetheart and he climbs over the wall in
the second act to rescue her. ,.->.
1.-THE guy that owns the harem catches him there,
and he says to his slaves (coons they that We
would pick up in every town that We played), he
says, Seize him. and the coons grabs the leading
man and ties him hand and foot while the leading
lady looks on. weeping and waiting and wrnging
her hands and telling the coons out Of the side Of
her face that was turned away from the audience
to be careful not to walk her train she'd tell
the manager and they'd lose their jobs.
In the next act, for revenge, the Turk guy puts
the leading man into lions den and ties the lead
ing woman with a log chain where she get
good view while the lion eats up her lover But
just the lion is about to make good the leading
woman bursts her chain and runs into the den and
charms the lion with her gaze long enough to unite
the leading Then they both beat it while
the lions coming out of the Trlby that she has
put him into y hot situation, eh?'
NODDED Very I agreed.
WELL" went on the property man, I'VE is book
ed to open in Hoboken. The manager has bought
he is in my charge.
''They driving him over from New York
in cage which is loaded onto truck. They
makes almighty good time too, for the horses can
smell him land don't wonder!), and it stimulates
them to such extent that they tries seven times
to get off the ferry boat between docks; and when
finally they do get ashore they yank the wheels
of from three cabs and mail wagon and come up
to the theayter like they were pulling Steamer Ten
tn Ton,o IT,
afraid of wild ones that way. knowed q leopard
trainer to go out evening without changing his
clothes and hire cab against the wnd. And then,
when the breeze changed so the horse could smell
him-well, they was chunks of that cab all the
way from Forty-second Street to the Battery and
then some. But that amt got nothing to do with
Estelle.
when they gets in front of the theayter, they
sends in for and goes out, not unperturbed
In mind; for it amt no joke to go chaperonink
lion around the country. But when get my
lamps focused ON the poor animal who's laying
back in one corner of his cage looking tired and
discouraged and car-sck, don't feel NO other emo
ton but pity.
"IIe sure amt no beauty to look at. In the
beast deck, he's more like dooce than a king He's
got one bum eye and he's kind of moth-eaten, and
faded around the edges, and his whiskers looked
like They'd been trimmed by an Eyetalian barber
who's in hurry to get away to street festival.
He is certainly pitfu-lookfng object
I'VE gets him stored in corner OF the stage
and goes out to buy him slab of COW and some
dog biscuit. 2fL g;
when shoves this provender in through the
bars of his cage, he don't like naturally expects
come charging down on 1t with his mouth full of
growls and wild light In his windows. Instead
he merely lays where he IL, casting peevsh and
disappointed gaze upon The srlon and crackers
Then when he sees that am watching him. he
oats his eye up at me. grateful and apprecatiye,
and opens his mouth apologetically you please
and see the reason for his peculiar conduct