Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-01-18

WW r ELL, when that I was a
AAf little tiny girl" to paraphrase
w w the epilogue from Twelfth
~ y Night" and when my best
girl friend was just not quite so little
nor quite SO tiny, it CHANGED one day
that the wind didn't blow and the rain
didn't rain, and so the thing we had
been planning for weeks happened. 1t
was a foolish thing and naughty
king. But we were very young and
very foolish too, and, as look back on
1t now, it was SO ludicrous that the
folly of it and the naughtiness of it
are lost in the hu1nor of it. That phase
pr it, however, could not have suggested
itself at the time to two families who
Tor forty-eight hours nearly distracted,
pr to the newspapers that were printing
big headlines about us.
Yet even the families, after everything
had simmered down and all was well
again, realized that during our escapade
we had had one experience worth treas
nring, because it proved that thorough
est human exterior may hide beneath
1t asgentle and kindly nature. That ex-
periencc and is sequel are what lead me
TO tell this story. Without them it Sim
ply would have been, an escapade of
two foolish young girls. With them it
has "a touch of something very human,
and In the end something very I'M
usual-something it seems to me worth
the telling. ! presume that by this time
the reader has guessed,the nature of the
escapade to which / have referred, and
that l may venture to whet curiosity
by stating that, when we were safely
back in the folds of our respective fam
lilies, our people advertised far and wide,
but vainly, for tramp who had. acted
toward us like knight of old, and
whom, ten years later, l discovered amid
strangely different surroundings, trans
formed in appearance and in wholly
changed station in life.
/ come from "the coast" and at the
time when what l am about to relate
happened, was living with my parents
in San Francisco. I was only eight
years old--a schoolgirl There was at
that time in San Francisco an excellent
French school kept by a Madame Zitska,
and it was to her school that l was
going. No member of my family was
in any way connected with the stage,
but seem to have had an Unborn love
for it. San Francisco's favorite actress
then was Ellie Wilton. She was a
heroine in my eyes, SO it was quite
natural that when / discovered that one
of my classmates was Ellie Wilton's
niece, | singled her out from among all
the other girls at school for my fast
friend. She adored her aunt, l adored
her aunt; and think what drew us so
strongly to each other was the opportun-
ity our friendship gave us to adore her
aunt together.
My parents had no special fondness
for the theatre. They enjoyed it in
about the same manner that the average
theatregoer does, and they certainly did
not encourage me to go to it, but rather
the reverse. But Ellie Wilton's niece
being my best friend and going more
or less to see her act, was allowed to
go too. To us little girls the orchestra
stalls were seventh heavens, and the
stage realm far beyond this earth We
made no allowance for tinsel and foot
lights. 1t was real to us and we longed
to. be part of it. | believe my little
friend had thrown out suggestion at
home that she wanted to become an
actress like auntie,' and had been
promptly "squelched," and by no one
more promptly than said "auntie.' L
never dared breathe a word at home
about my own burning ambition, but
| know both my friend and myself
thought it very queer" that the hint
she had thrown out had met with such
an unfavorable reception from her
people. However, we were close mouth
ed little conspirators, and however much
we talked between ourselves about our
plans, and that was almost constantly,
we gave no one else an inkling of them.
Madame Zitska's school was Situated in
what then was known as the Western
addition" 1t now is residence section.
The house in which the school was held
in time went the way of most houses
in city sections that are being "im-.