The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1910-02-25
EMMIE LOUIS

BY PHIL SIMMS

/ ~ #a Il
Emmie Lou was all right until the
opera house. After that a certain
coldness sprang up between her and
Alpheus Boggs, and it was even said
the engagement had been broken on.
Alpheus never had been accused OF
being handsome. Also he had bunions
and big feet, and clerked in a hard
ware store.
LOnsdale Won Ruville was a different
sort of a person. His feet were small
and bunionless, while his eyes seemed
made for love glances and flashing de-
f1ance at those who would oppose him.
He was leading man with the Fenton
Stock.
Emie Lou was entranced. Every day
she watched him. How he could fight.
How bravely he met all corners with
his slender sword, and how easily he
v%anquished them all!
One day Bette Scruggins remarked
in Emmie LOUIS presence that she had
heard it said playDactors were very de-
ceiving. But Emmie Lou merely
shifted.
But with the Fenton Stock was one
woman who agreed with Bette, and
she a little timid creature who played
"A Villager,' or First Voice." was in
private life none other than Mrs. Ions
dale o Ruville, Or, to be more exact,
Mrs. Ebenezer Rumph, which was the
leading mans other name.
She knew what it was to go days
without a kind word: what it meant to
feel the weight of his fist upon her;
what it meant to be ignored, sneered
at, forsaken.
Miss Janet Rannie, leading woman,
pretty and blonde, was the wife of the
heavy, Thomas Ragsdale, most popu-
lar man in the cast, and whose name
off the stage was Dennis O'Hagan.
Lonsdale was sweet as pie on Miss
Rannie and made no bones of it. Miss
Rannie laughed at him. Thomas
looked on but said nothing, trusting
implicitly in his pretty wife.
It was the last week of the engage.
ment, and D'Artagnan was being given
the braVest Interpretation he'd ever en-.
joyed. Lonsdale was his handsomest
and the women in front were calling
him all the deal names in the categ
DRY. Emie Lou had shaken hands with
him the day before at the aftermath
nee reception on the stage, and out
in front was now in m~omentary dan
ger of taking wings n flying right
into the air in sheer happiness.
Tho arrl,,co woe Iooforipr u-ho,
the curtain went down. In a darkened
corner of the stage Lonsdale me Miss
Rannie. He caught her by the wrist
you've played with me long
enough" he whispered holly into he1
ear. You don't are for that chung
husband of yours! YOU"
"Brute," Miss Rannie cried, an6
tore herself from his embrace as the
stage manager came up.
The great duel scene was drawing
nigh. The audience was holding its
breath in anticipation. How D'Artag
nan would face them and Stay then
n by one!
When, just before he took his cue
the stage manager whispered some
thing into R%agsdale's ear, he became
livid, then purple.
With a bewitching smile Lonsdale
crossed swords with the heavy. Thu
first stroke and parry sent a thrill
through the audience and likewise
through Dennis O'Hagan, for thu
heavy was not the actor, Thoma!
Ragsdale, any more.
You puppy!" he cried, loud enough
to be heard in the street, you would
insult my wife, would you, 70,
whelp!"
And with that he grabbed Lonsdal'
Won Ruville by the nape of the necl
and with the fiat side of his swor,
fguratively caned the leading maj
into a FRAGILE.
Take i'm off! Take i'm off!
bawled Von Ruville in terror, droppin.
his sword. Hes killing mel"
He fell to his knees in abject fear
and O'Hagan's musketeer boots start
ed a tattoo on his back that lasted a.
far as the stage door. Then the cur
tain fell, with the audience roaring.
Just as matters had been adjusted
back of the footlights, SO had they GU
in front. Everybody came to Sc
things in their right light.
Detectives Queer Error.