The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1909-03-20


found necessary. II the young man
should happen to look at any other
gum masticator Eliza Alice would
throw him glance that would bring
him to the low stool beside the throne.
Well, the people thought it would be
good thing if she did marry him; it
might cause her to take a reef in her
sails-but they didn't know Eliza Al
ice as well as she knew herself. She
was only dallying with the gospel ex-
FOUNDER because she knew Samantha
Ann would like to have him, and also
because he was the only thing In
sight
Just when the trustees began to
wonder If they would live with pa and
ma. or If Eliza Alice would insist on
parsonage, an Uncle Toms CABIN
troupe hit the town Eliza Alice heard
some one say that the girl who played
Topsy in the show had got mad and
quit, and that the manager was in
quiring If there was anyone in the
town who could take the part until he
could get another girl from the city.
1t was a case of seek no farther
right then and there. Eliza Alice
struck for the job and got 1t.
When the show wagons left that
night Eliza Alice's trunk was in one
of them, and she was on the payroll
at 80 per week. The people did not
get through talking about her sensa-
tional departure for at least a month,
and then from time to time her moth
er would drop an occasional hint of
her great success on the stage.
Nearly two years had passed when
Sim Nipple returned from a trip to
Chicago and brought a paper with a
glowing account of the great success
Of a new comic opera. An entire
page was given to describing the tai
ent and beauty of the star of the
opera, Miss Eliza Alys. and in the
many photographs old friends (and
enemies) had no troublein distinguish
ing the features of Eliza Alice, though
she was evidently a graduate of some
beauty parlor, and had gained by the
course OF sprouts she had undergone
Samantha Ann was the bright par
ticular star at a church festival that
was pulled on just after Eliza Alice
shook the dust of her native town
from the ruffles of her skirt. She not
only played the organ, sang a solo and
helped wait on the tables, but she did
most of the elbow work in scrubbing
out the church after the big event.
The young preacher was completely
captivated with this display of her all
around ability, and fearing something
might occur to switch him of again,
he Immediately began negotiations,
and before Samantha Ann could rea-
lie it she found herself duly author
lied by law to half-sole the seat of the
ministers trousers. 1t was all done
SO quickly that the church trustees
suggested they live with Pa and Ma
Smith awhile. and having. thus side
tracked the parsonage talk promptly
forgot it.
In the course of year Pa Smith
was grandpa, and the next year he
was another. The minister made a
dignified howl for an increase in sal
airy, but the church people could not
see why they should be taxed any
more for salvation because his family
kept growing.
Samantha Ann might have been in
her early twenties, but the bloom was
gone from her cheeks, there was a
stoop to her shoulders, and she looked
more like a woman in her late for
ties.
Still, with all her drudgery and toll,
she often thanked heaven that no one
had ever talked about her as they
had about Eliza Alice, and she was
glad she could walk along the street
with head high in the air, knowing
that no one was going to say some
thing mean after her back was turned.
Samantha Ann was thus well satisfied
with her condition in life until the
town decided to hold chatauqua one
year, and deputation of leading citi-
zens was sent to Chicago to get Eliza
Alice to sing at the doings In the park.
She agreed to come, but she stung
them for $3.50 for three stingy songs.
While she was in town she was en-
tertained by the local magnate's wife,
and the people who used to play foot
ball with her reputation every time |
there was the slightest opportunity
quarreled with each other In the effort |
to heap her with attentions. even the |
giving evidence by his ac-
tons that he had forgotten that she
had thrown him to play Topsy
Samantha Ann had never been
known to make a display of temper,
but when she saw Eliza Alice SO high
" honored by the Hammer club she |
went home with weli-defined upward |
tilt to her nose. When she got there |
she took one long look at her faded
lace in the mirror and then smashed