Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1911-03-30

forgery. In their elaborate make-be-
 lfeve every night they I've through
 the story of nineteen hundred years
 ago. And every night their efforts impress hundreds with fuller real- 1 ization of humanity's debt to the Gre
 ator for the coming of His Son.
 But the greatest actors the world
 has ever produced, aided by scenes
 and setting as realistic as the earth i itself. could never create more
 dramatic situation than was set in
 the parlors of the undertaking com
 pany where lay the body of the lit tie chorus girl, at midnight Nor
 could priest or prophet more eloquent-
 ly describe the transcendent mercy of
 the Savior's sacrifice for man than
 was expressed in the simple language of the Episcopal funeral service. A
 hundred and forty stage people felt
 themselves stirred to the very depths of their souls by the emotions 1t is their business to arouse in others. And through the death of the chorus girl, whose part, in life, was not
 important, they all were impressed more forcibly of the true meaning of the great scene in their play.
 Miss Ethel M. Coleman, a chorus girl in the company playing Ben
 Hur" at the Joplin theater, WIS found dead in her room at Mo- 914 Joplin Street. Her death was due to asphyxiation from the fumes of gas stove which she left burning in the room when she retired. The action of the gas was probably rendered fa- tai by an affection of the heart, which had caused her considerable trouble.
 Miss Coleman had been member of the company for eight years, hav- ing joined it in New York in 1902. She is native of Bellview, Ontario, where her parents live, and had no relatives in the company
 When news of her death was made known to other members of the con- pany, they insisted that funeral se-- vices be held in Joplin before send. ing the body to Canada for burial. There was no time to call them all together in the afternoon, and it was decided to hold the services at mid night after the evening perform ance.
 Accordingly every member of the company some 40 persons in all, as- sembled at the undertaking parlo.s as soon as the curtain fell on the last scene of 'fBen Hurr.' The Rev. Charles A. Weed, rector of St. Phil lips Episcopal church, conducted the service The members of the chorus sang Nearer My God to Thee" ac- companied by the wind instruments of the orchestra, and Musical Direc- tor Kiesewetter and First Violinist Max Schmidt played Handel's "L'Ar- go.'
 The very air was charged with the dramatic intensity of the situation when Mir. Weed began the service. I am the resurrection and the life" he read, and the scene in which they reach the climax of teir efforts every reach the climax of their efforts every who heard. The true, Significance of the power which sealed te lepers was borne into their hearts. When the service was concluded there was scarcely an eye in the crowded chamber that was not wet.
 In the presence of death those of a profession, noted more for the gay abandon of its points of view. betrayed full meas nre of those emotions that bind all men together in common bond of From star to stage hand, they dried tears that came from a deeper source than the make-believe hearts of a, playwright's characters.
 That midnight funeral service will finger in the memories of those who play in Klaw X Erlanger's production of "Ben Hur.' And with it will live remembrance of the little chorus girl who did not live to see the heart stirring climax of her obscure ca- reer.-Joplin (Mo.) News.