The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1910-06-24

Miss Barton, theoretically approving, al
though sceptical, secretly, begged money for
the costumes from the women who occasion
ally drove down to the door in motor cars.
There was to be tea at the Settlement.
Many motor cars would purr down to the
door, picking their way through the narrow
streets. These grand ladies from the upper
world must be shown now and then what is
being done with their charitable donations
And Miss Barton decided, what better time
could there be TO play Hamlet2" ltwould
surprise and please them to find out in one
generation the foreign accent was almost
eliminated, so that these little Italian boys
could roll the noblest of English numbers
from their alien tongues Could Fabio get
the afternoon Off He could his grand
mother could die, he said. Miss Barton
frowned ON the fib--but she trusted Fabo to
find a wayl She trusted the others, too,
though as she conhded to the head worker,
she feared that the mortality among grand
mothers promised to be frightfully high. And
then the rehearsals began.
Fabo was already letter perfect in his
entire part, though only scenes from the play
were to be presented His preparation con-
sisted chiefly in not getting his hair cut,
and in walking the streets with his precious
prompt book under his arm and an expression
Of brooding solemnity on his tragic face. He
walked slowly, gestculating sometimes to the
empty air. He treated the other boys at the
club where he worked with kind Of lofty
eondescension, as behtted one who was so
much nearer to greatness than they, who was
soon to speak the very words that the mighty
actor spoke. His hands no longer trembled
when he held the actor's coat. He felt a
curious kinship with him, nearer to him than
to the other boys, as if he had suddenly grown
up. And when the Great One asked him one
day, "Well, son, have you learned the solilo-
guy yet?" he answered with fine careless
ness, ooh, yes, I'm going to play it in two
weeks"
The actor shouted with laughter, and called
two other members over. "Young Roscius,
gentlemen" he said. "He's going to play
Hamlet in two weeks"
Fabio turned red under his dark skin at
their mirth "Tll show 'em yeti" he whis-
pered to himself. And suddenly he ceased to
worship the Great One. For the moment,
he hated him. He amt the only one who
can act" he said savagely
But he did not forget the lesson Of the
Great Ones acting. Fabio possessed the
mimetic instinct no less than the dramatic.
Perhaps, indeed, the two are ultimately kin;
to be dramatic is to initiate life. Save for
the immaturity Of his voice, some OF Fabio's S
speeches, sounded extraordinarily like the
actors; and where the meaning was subtle,
the ideas or the expression far beyond Fabio's
ken, this close imitation gave to his perform
ancc the effect OF uncanny intelligence, as if
the snail, tragic figure, with its long black
hair were in reality shrunkcn man. Miss
Barton at rehearsals listened in amazcmcnt,
and kept her counsel There promised to
be a surprise, indeed, at the tea.
And there was. The motor cars purred
extensively down the avenue, picked their
way between push carts and children through
the narrow streets to the Settlement, and
deposited elaborately gowned ladies at the
door Young men came, too, jauntily swing
ing canes, young men who did not have to
kill a grandmother to get the afternoon oil.
In the large, bare rooms there was buzz OF
/. talk, the unaccustomed swish of silk, the odor
/, of delicate perfumes contcnding with garlic.
And when Miss Barton announced that the
, Shakespeare Dramatic Club would present
, scenes selected from Hamlet" there was
J general autter Of surprise and interest =
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