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

proved" and the big stage that called
tor the children at their homes and
brought them back again after school,
probably dropped apart long ago.
In this stage, each with lips close to
the others ear SO as to be heard by her
above the rurnbling of the wheels, yet
| remain unheard by the others; in the
school-room, where we sat at adjoining
desks; at home or on our walks-in
fact, wherever we were together-wei
conspired. We thought it was the SIM
plest thing in the world to go on the
stage, that all you did was to tell
manager you wanted to go on and on
you went. To our childish minds that
feared nothing, there was no difficulty
in the matter at all. OF the years Of
training and struggle that an actress
goes through to achieve success, and
then only too often to fail, we knew
nothing. Children are the most de-
llghtfully unconscious creatures in the
world, otherwise the thought of what
we planned never could have entered
Our little heads. We wanted to go on
the stage, and we simply determined to
do it. In planning how, we made up
our minds that if we tried to make our
debuts in San Francisco, irate parents
would in some way get wind of it and
swoop down upon us behind thesscenes
to bear us off to home, spankings and
bed, even before the curtain went up.
So we decided to run away and surprise
our parents by coming back-famous
Gould anything have been more deli
ciously naive?
We took several weeks to put the
plan'in operation. We had heard there
was theatre in San Jose, railroad
trip of about an hour and a half from
San Francisco, and this we concluded
would be favorable spot for our first
appearance on any stage" Nothing
would have delayed us from starting at
once-if we had had the money. Not
having it, we found out the price of
two, fares from San Francisco to San
Jose, figured out the probable cost of a
night in hotel there, and then began
to hoard our nickels and dimes. That
we should allow for the cost of re-
turn trip never occurred to us. We ex-
pected, after reaching San Jose and
putting up at hotel, to visit the man
ager OF the theatre, state our object, be
welcomed by him with open arms to
hospltable stage, begin making money at
once, and in due time return to San
francisco, there, heralded by fame, to
burst in upon our proud and delighted
parents 1t was about the most curious
combination of ambition and innocence
| ever have heard of, ambition leading
us to do something that was utterly rep
rehenslble, innocence preventing us from
seeing how reprehensible it was or real
izing the terrible experience we were
preparing for our families. A kind
Providence must have been convinced
of our innocence to have allowed us, as
it did, to emerge from our escapade
wholly unframed, not at all frightened,
and utterly amazed at the excitement
which we discovered our disappearance
had caused.
Our desks were the headquarters of
our enterprise. There we daily cast up
our growing hoard of small change.
Moreover, as the small change became
convertible into dollars, and it was pos
sible to fix the date for our start, we
began to smuggle in an extra pair or
two of stockings and other small articles
OF apparel we thought we might need
and that easily could be carried or worn
over our other things. l know that on
the fateful day when we walked out of
the school, | had on three pairs of
STOCKINGS. When That day came we did
not wait for school to close, for we
knew that the stage would be there to
take us home. So we quietly walked
away at the luncheon hour If we had
been longheaded schemers instead of
two foolish little girls, we could not
have planned it better At school they
thought we had gone home. At home
they supposed us at school, and even
when the stage did not stop to leave
us after school, the natural conclusion
was that we had gone home together.
1t was not until the afternoon wore on
toward evening that it was found out
that neither was at the others house,
and frightened inquirers discovered that
we had left school early.
To reach the railroad station to take
the train for San Jose we two girls prac-
tically had to cross the city, but we got
there without 1nishan Refnre hnar i, Or