The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-04-04

figures. In that trafic he has made
fortune. He has had q long while In
stock, however, an articie that he
can't sell. nor easily give away. II
Is a piece of wild ASS skin inscribed
In ancient Arabic with the assertion
that ITS owner may have any wish
gratifed except for a proiongation OF
life: and that, at the gaining Of each
desire, the piece of skin will shrink
and the wisher's term OF life will
shorten. Caesare won't monkey with
that donkey hide for himself. but -
length he finds q Raphael de vaien-
tine. who. luckless and suicidal. takes
the uncanny thing on trial instead of
carrying out his resolve to drown him
self.
And 1t works; for when Raphael
wishes that hitherto cold beauty
may warm to him. she burns with
furious love; and when he Wishes that
he may be saved from passionate In
cineration, he becomes comfortable In
temperature; but Mt each Of these an
swers to his desires the skin 10 sud
denly smaller. and he has physical
conyuision portending his payment for
the favor with q portion OF his life.
He hates Caesare for imposing the
talisman on him; and the next time
that the antiquarian boasts OF his
own reward sof strength In old age for
not weakening to women's' wiles In
his earlier years, the owner OF 1.e
magic skin decides to blow In another
section Of his life on vengeance.
MY wish Is that Caeearo may fall
In love madly with a chorus girl" says
Raphael. land lose his wealth. health
and life on account OF her."
Raphael 10 tortured by the CUSTOM
airy spasm, and alarmed to see the
magic parchment contract as usual; but
is joyed to note. also. that the anti
quarian at once selects q destroying
show girl.
of robe in his Paris shop and borne
himself with dignity. Now at sea-
shore resort he Is clad in the latest
clothes OF a French beau: his hair Is
cut close and his beard shaven down
to a iaunty mustache: and the actor.
N. Sheldon Lewis, seems to have aimed
at a grandfather OF Mansneld's degen-
crate Baron Chevrial In aspect. He 10
a pitiful embodiment of seniFe decay
in lechery. He tries to strut. but can
only totter--to throw out his chest.
but can only hump his back. He can't
be gallant to his infatuator, and 10
Jealous of the young fellows VINO can.
His fortune has gone with his health.
He retains his mental balance. though,
and deplores the money that the siren
absorbs from him along with his life
blood. Coliapsing on q park bench. ne
sends a trusty chap to guard her from
lusty admirers, while he--poor anaem-
ic, nerveless old wretch--watches.
through a field glass her Mentioning
couuetry in q game of, tennis. She Is
flirting. That rouses his Ire. He
brushes In his palsied hands O bunch
of her dressmakers' and milliners' ex-
travagant bills. vowing he won't pay
them with hts last remaining money:
he totters or on shaky legs.threatening
to chastise the fellows who are ma
king free with his showgirl: and in q
minute the word comes that.<with life
leeched out of him, he has fallen dead
at the spurning feet of his vampire.
Isn't 1t an odd chance by which two
such plays Of social vampires and
their victims are presented simulta-
neously in New York. not to mention
a third yet to be described7 I have
given full attention to old caesare
and his show-girl in "The Conflict"
because they struck me as the salient
figures; and they are not the crea-
lions of the plays maker. Maurice ".
Samuels, but of no less a celebrity In
literature than Honore de Balxac.
whose novel of La Peau de Chagrin'
has BEEN dramatized. @The Raphael
who acquires the magic piece Of an
ass's skin--the hero of both book ana
play--is acted by Robert Drouet. while
the two actresses who get into con-
fict over him are Helen Robinson and
Florence Lester: and those three kept
the first audience sedately attentive
to the Baizac tale--for three acts only.
Thereafter they were laughed down
and out by Samueis's up-to-dake show.
ing OF the antfquarian's metanoopho-
sis from sage solomon to q ridicu-,
lous dude Johnnie centennarian. A,
farce Of French iecherous decrepitude
hadn't been intended: nor yet bur-
lesque OF "a Fool There Was" or 'The.
Vampire; but the people chose to take
for fun as much Of the play as they
would take at all.
Contrastipgly human and gracious is