davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05
MY OLD SCRAP BOOKING by Dr. W. E. Evans

placed them to stay for all time among
my treasures have a number of such
books | have Just turned from my
stage scrap book. In it are preserved
sketches of actors clippings on the de-
velopment of the drama in literature, the
growth of the theatrical idea, and mat
ters OF a similar nature. / shall con-
dense a few sketches, and in my own Ian
guage give the reader the benefit of
some of my gathered information.
THE FIRST LADY TEAZLE.
In Sherdans "School for Scandal Sir
Peter Teazle was a very old bachelor
before he married, and when he did marry
he selected for his wife a country maiden
who proved to be vain, extravagant,
fond Of pleasure and selfish. She was
brought from the quietude of the country
and set down in the midst of the swirl
of London society. Sir Peter was always
teasing her about her manners and her
humble origin, and yet he was in reality
proud of her wit and beauty OF course
pass over the affair in which Joseph
Surface figured. When Sheridan wrote
The School for Scandal he was the
owner of Drury Lane theatre in London
and, being a practical theatrical mana
ger he cast about for the very best
person to represent his Lady Teazle,
and finally chose Mrs. Frances Abingdon
Mrs. Abingdon had grown up in the
slums, and was known far and wide as
"Nosegay Fan" Her full name in those
days was Frances Barton. Her father
lived in Vinegar Court, and her brother
was an ostler while fan was a street
flower girl. In this capacity Fan be-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

good morning as yousmotored by on youl
way to golf.
1T was pleasant to begin the day with
remembrance of your kind smile and
friendly bow"
Mr.. Wilson' took the cares of state
with him on his visits to his summer
home but he found time to answer
He wrote to the girls he was glad to
make friends in such a simple manner.
Later in the year the girls departed
for their homes. A little later still came
the time for the departure of the Presi-
dent. 1t is recorded that he cast his
eyes vainly toward the house on the
hill after going out of his way to pass
the place
Now
The smile and bow of the President
made the day begin brightly for these
four young girls, who never met hin,
personally. On the other hand he looked
for their greeting.
At the end he looked in vain. lie was
disappointed
Are there not some In your household
or among the strangers whom you meet
who look to you for pleasant morning
greeting?
Do not dash their hopes with tho
wrinkled brow. the furrowed frown the
disagreeable word. Such have no p,a 90
in the freshness of the morning. when
Every day is fresh beginning;
Every morn is a world made new
Often as the early morning hours are
tinged, so takes the whole day it's color
The discord that is sounded in the morn
ing growl echoes throughout the hours
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

dienee, and many thought her supreme
in this pathetic character. Thackeray.
in The Virginians. makes one of his peo-
pie speak of a play that has just been
seen and say"Mrs Woffngton is divine
in it, though not generally famous in
tragedy This is hardly in keeping with
the traditions OF the stage. She was fa-
nous in tragedy. but she was SO much
superior in lighter characters that the
splendor of her acting in comedy over
shadowed her fine work in tragedy She
was supremely versatile. She was thought
by some critics to be greatest as Sir
Harry Widair, an elegant young man of
fashion Indeed, It was impossible to
determine in what sphere lay her greatest
talents, or what quality of character best
disclosed her wonderful genius As
Charles Reade says in his Peg Voting
ton. "Her glee and her pathos We're
equally catching she held a golden key
at which all the doors of the heart flew
open''
Whenever she played In her native city,
Dublin, the older people distinctly re-
membered her as a little girl on the
streets selling salads and water crosses
But this recollection was not to Peg 8
dscredit. For all Dublin had a lofty
pride in the present historic queen of
matchless beauty, of whom Leigh Hunt
long afterwards said, quoting an old
chronicler, "She was the handsomest
woman that ever appeared on the stage E"
Peg Woffingtons last night before the
feotlights was one of tragedy although
she was playing no heavier part than
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

came known to many men and women
players of Drury Lane, and in her early
years the desire to become an actress
was awakened She had a praiseworthy
desire for knowledge and an ambition
to figure in good society She would
memorize Shakespeare. and, standing
on the tavern tables she would reeite
her lines to the wonder and delight of
crowds of men. As she grew older she
became a kitchen maid, but even the
duties of this menial position did not
destroy her love of learning and her de-
sire for polite accomplishments for be-
fore she reached her height she was
able to read the French authors and to
converse in Italian. There is one chapter
in her life which so far as [ am con-
cerned shall lie concealed.
At an early age Fan Barton met a
musician by the name of Abingdon and
married him. In a short while they sep
arated, and for many years she paid him
to live apart from her. She applied for
work on the stage and was accepted
and from her unprotected life in the
slums of London she became one of the
most popular of the many clever women
who at that time appeared upon the
stage 1t was to her that Sheridan COM
mitted the first appearance of Lady
Teazfe, which she played to the author s
satisfaction and to. the delight of
audiences FOR many nights She has
been designated as ''the original and
never equaled Lady Teazle."
For eighteen years Mrs Abingdon was
a member of Drury Lane theatre COM
pany. Her acting was characterized by
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

and for being capable of the most dis
interested friendships when raised on the
basis of merit
Upon Mrs. Abingtons death Horace
Walpole wrote a poem of eommendabe
merit, one stanza of which runs thus:
Sad with the news, Thalia mourned;
The Graces joined her train;
And nought but sighs for sighs returned
Were heard at Drury Lane
PRETTY PEGGIE."
All the world has heard of Peg Wof-
fington. Her praises not only stand re-
corded in the annals of the stage, but
they may be found in poetry and ro-
nance. She was said to be the most
beautiful woman in three kingdoms. -
and was thought by many to have nc
equal in the subtle art of fascinating
those who fell under the charm of her
wondrous personality.
Peg Woffingtone was born amid the
humblest surroundings in a back street
of Dublin, her mother maintaining her
family by taking in washing AS a little
child Peg was selected to play children S
parts in the Dublin theatres, and thus
became familiar with the crowded horse
shoe in her earliest years. She chose
elegant comedy for her life work, and
was often irrestible: although she was
pronounced superb in heavy tragedy
She was one of the greatest Lady Mac.
beths of her times. and as Constance II
King John she hushed her audiences into
profound awe. In the mad scene -he1
ophelia strangely wrought upon the au
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

artistic appreciation. by elegance of car
rage, and by a self-forgetfulness that
was most convincing. Her circumspee-
tion in private life won for her the high
est esteem of the first people in social
life. Among her admirers were DR..
Samuel johnson and Horace Nalpole
Her taste in matters of dress was most
exquisite. and the "Abington caps got to
be the rage. The foremost painters of the
day found pleasure and honor i'm being
able to paint her form and face. Several
portraits of her We're painted. by Sir
Joshua Reynolds.
Having reached a high pinnacle of
fame. and wearied with the details of
stage life, Mrs. Abingdon gracefully
stepped from the footlights into the
quietude of private life after thirty years
of experience on the stage. She had ac-
quired moderate fortune and was
theneeforth able to live in digniffed
quiet.
| have before me an extract taken
from the London Magazine which says
of Mrs Abingdon "As to her private
life it is SO strictly under the guidance
of circumspeetion and decorum that mall
lee and envy stung at the prudent and
economical elegance of her situation
make daily but fruitess efforts to des-
cry some reproaehable part in her con-
duct Her fiial duty towards and COM
fortably supporting of an aged father,
accompanied with cheerful benevolence
to worthy objects In distress, are virtues
which do honor to the most.eXalted char
acter. She is deservedly esteemed for a
sc1upulous eXactness. in her dealings,
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

She comes from Princeton and was en-
ployed in the university there. She Is in
the early thirties and is of Latin origin.
She is dark. has olive complexion
and flashing black eyes. Mr.. Morgan
bought very few books in the last ten
years OF his life except on her approval
She represented him at the r. NJ Hoe
, sale. Biblophiles, curators and collectors
from all over the world were there. 1t
was sight to see this slightly girlish
woman there among the elect of the book
wogld. Everything she wanted, she got
At times she bid as high as $4,000. She
knows theshistory and value of every rare
volume in every collection in the world
If she wasn't in the house of Morgan
she probably would be at the head OF
some great library :.
She probably has passed Judgment on
more rare manuscripts and precious
books than any other woman that ever
lived. The books and papers she has
handled represent countless millions Of
dollars.
Chicago has the greatest woman mer-
chant in the world. She started as
shop girl. Now she has $4,000 OOO Her
maiden name was Molie Alpiner. Her
family was none too well to do and she
had to go to work soon after she got out
of school, She got employment in the
Boston Store in Chicago and was put In
the underwear department. She was
strictly business. While the girls on
either side of her gossiped about balls and
parties and what this admirer said and
what that one did, Mollie Alpiner gave all
her attention to patrons of the establish
ment. Most of the customers were poor
peopie-the shawl trade. They appreci-
ated the courtesy and kindness of this
unusual girl and would wait five, 10, 10
minutes to have her attend them. The
principal owner of the Boston Store was
Mr.. Charles Netcher. 1t was not long be-
fore he discovered that the Alpiner girl
was good saleswoman. Within six
months he put her in charge of the un-
derwear department.
She instilled a little of her own spirit
into the girls under her and the under
wear department became the model of
ts)1t establishment. Three years after
she went there as a shop girl Mr. Netcher
married her. They went TO live at the
Avenue hotel at first and then Mr.. Netch-
er built palace for his bride on one Of
the great boulevards. Each morning Mr..
Netcher and his wife would drive down to
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05
Interesting Crop Figures

II our farmers can make anythinx
with an average wheat yield of 13
bushels. what might they not make
with 26. the same as some of our for
eign countries asks Farm and Flreside3
From wheat We turn to oats. While
our yield per acre is 30 bushels, that of
Germany is over so; Austrias Is prac-
tically the same as ours; Hungary's
Is very little better; France comes with
S16 Winchester bushels. and the United
Kingdom with IA Our barley yield of
z6.s bushels is not so bad In compari-
son with the foreign nations, for Rus
sia's is 14.3; Germanys S5.3: Austria's
26.a Hungary's 23.4; Frances 1856;
United Kingdoms 375
In potatoes the United States takes
the lowest average of any country
III our irrigation states record average
of 11s bushels were maintained
throughout the country 1t would not be
so bad. and then 1t would be low In
comparison with foreign countries.
But our average drops down TO 50
bushels, while Russia has 1907 Germany
200; Austria. 1851. Hungary, 1887.
France, 1898; United Kingdom, 1sa.a
Big Yields of potatoes are very commoo.
in some OF those old countries.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

She has done a great deal OF work for
the city. The magnificent Hall of Rec
ords, which cost many millions of dollars.
was designed by her. Various of the arm
ories, whose castellated style adds so
much to the beauty of the city were built
by her. Her commission from the Hall or
| Records went into the hundreds of thou.
sands Of dollars.
If all tie women who have attained
prominence In business were TO be CEN
TONED in this story. IL would take palkes
upon pages of space. The few who are
mentioned here are only representative of
great number. Added to those who
are In regular business are those con-
neeted with the stage. I'm the field OF
opera alone there are scores or more or
women whose yearly incomes are what
would be moderate fortunes for their less
gifted sisters. II Is SO, too, with the the
atiical stage. This is the dav OF big
money for women, particularly the Amer
lcan woman who has talent.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

have set out to learn enough of agri-
culture to teach their fathers? They
are wearing buttons with the motto,
Can l excel my father?"
And. more
They say they are going to do it,
The scheme to teach them the newer,
better ways of farming is part of the
''beter farms and farming movement
that is sweeping the United States. 1t
aims at getting the best results from
the soil for immediate benefit, at the
same time conserving the fertility of the
soil SO that it will remain good for flu
ture generations. 1t is worthy move
ment
The boys are to be taught, as part of
their school work, enough of good farm
ing methods to give them a love of the
soil and the work in it. They first move
is the formation OF boys one-acre clubs,
each father of a student bestowing on
him that amount Of land, with guar
antee that the entire profits shall go
to the boy.
But why conhne the "Can I excel
father?' idea to farm work?
Extend it to all other forms of wor-
thy, honest endeayor.
Where father has done well son may
do better 1t is up to you, lad with all
your modern, improved education with
the example of fathers good work be-
fore you, to improve on his record
You may be sure that father will .ecl
no envy Of you and will do his best TO
push you forward if you show a desire
to gain on him. That is the nature of
all good fathers. Mighty few of them
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

I.osalind" in ''As You Like It.. With
eonsumate grace she acted her part
through four acts. but at the beginning
of the fifth act she complained of an
acute indispositon. There was change
in her appearance. Her old hauteur was
gone, and her tones disclosed a softness
and fear that was foreign to her temper
ament. She made the exchange OF dress
that is required of "Rosalind." and
passed on to the stage in the last seene-
She began to speak. but faltered She
tried again, but could not proceed Then.
in pitiful tremor. she exclaimed 20,
God. O. God.' She was about to fall
at the stage door to which she totterea
when some one caught her.
The audience applauded until she waa
out of sight, and then sank into awful
astonishment. Could 1t be possible that
the handsomest woman of her time, and
the most popular actress. had been
stricken down by the hand of death in tho
very prime of life? for she was still in her
thirties. She WAS taken to her home
where she fingered for three years, but
never again did she appear on the stage.
Her last days We're spent in directing
her self proposed charities. She built
row of cottages for the INDECENT which
were always known as the "Magaret
Woffington Cottages, besides which
she dispensed many acts of worthy
benevolence. She was buried without
ostentation. and near her old home
"Gdney Hall" stands little Georgia n
church on whose walls there is a tablet
to her memory inscribed with the line
Margaret Woffington spinster."
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

would pick out for a contractor. She
bosses every one of her jobs
A building in course of construction is
not the tidiest affair on earth, but you
will find Miss Durkin experimenting her
own work. She never subjects a con-
tract. She employs the steel workers,
the stone masons, the carpenters, the
electricians, the plumbers and the deco
rators. When she steps out of her auto
mobile at one of her buildings, she puts
a huge macintosh around her Paris
gown. She can walk a steel beam as
sure-footed as any of the cowboys Of
the air. She never has had a strike.
She has the reputation of having made
a lot of money. She is working for one
object When she has enosh money, she
is going to build and endow a hospital
that will be a, monument to her. She
means to run this hospital herself
There are Il great number of women
In a city like New York who are widow
ed or deserted and left without means
and with one, or more infant children.
These women have to go out TO work
whether they strong or weak Some
are pitifully weak. There are day nur-
series which open at eight o'clock In the
morning to which these women may take
their children and then proceed to their
work. When their work is done they
can get their children again and take
then home The hospital that Miss
Durkin wants to build and conduct will
ta. not only child but mother, and
look after them until the mother is ply
sically able to take care of herself and
her child. She believes the world does
not know the sufferings OF women and
the needs of children in cases of this
sort
Until she can satisfy her ambition she
knows no greater Joy than her present
work. Some days she puts in twelve or
fourteen hours at it. In winter she has
one recreation. On Saturdays she al
ways goes to matinee. In sumrer.
on Saturday afternoon, she goes speed
ing over the country roads in the sixty
horsepower automobile of hers and she
makes a whiz; for she runs it herself
Belle DeCosta Green has charge of the
wonderful museum of the late J. Pier
pont Morgan. In the world OF books
she stands about as does Rose Lorenz
in the world OF art. She has charge of
that wonderful collection Mr.. Morgan as
sembled that is housed in the beautiful
palace he built in East Thirty-slx street.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

| haps he feared that his name would
perish from the earth
Some men do fear such things
fhey do not know that the true, I'm
peflshabie record of man ON this earth
is not written In letters carved on stone
or bronze. but In the annals of history.
The good man lives in memory of his
benefactions to his race the remem-
orance of the bad man is execrated as
men read or hear of his misdeeds.
The words on monuments and tho
sizes OF the shafts signify very little
All visitors To Mount Vernor, the
home of Washington. pay to his menu
ofy the tribute of standing silent for a
long or short time before the modest
brick tomb In which his remains and
those Of his wife were placed
Above the tomb of Washington rises
no towering shaft "a feet high. Thu
Inscription on the tomb does not tell
of his achievements in war and states-
manship. The record of his glorious
life is not found there.
When Washington died he left dfrec-
tfons FOR the erection of a new family
vault at Mount Vernon. the old one re-
qua'ring repairs The new vault was
to be of brick. and he said "It is my
express desire that my corpse NAV be
Inferred in n private manner. without
parade or funeral oration."
There is here no mention OF n a4-foot
shaft Nor is there in the will Of WASH
inston any Indication that tho "aearly-
| beloved wife. Martha Washington
shall suffer IN any way through the
desire of the testator for posthumous
h0nore
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

and makes inharnonious the day The
cloud that disfgures the morning sky
casts its blackness upon noon and after
noon and night
Dispel its darkness with the morning
smile. It will be good for you as we'll
as for others.
THE Will of John Doe. who was
president of the Fulton County National
bank, directs that a costly monument
shall be erected over his grave, but
provides only a small income for his
widow. The specifications for the mon ;
ument call for a shaft "a feet high."
SO runs recent news item
lie wanted to be remembered by fu-
ture generations, so he ordered a lofty
shaft. giving his name, of course, AMI
the dates of his birth and death and
the record of his achievements.
And for his widow he left only a
small income"
Oh, shortsighted mani lie did NOT
know or ne ignored the fact that
TO live in hearts we leave behind
is not to die"
Probably as long as the stone column
shall last visitors to the cemetery VIII
hear the tale of his desire for posthu-
nous fame, for eternal remembrance.
Such things have a habit of surviving
The causual passerby asking abous
the high stone will hear how John Doe
lef his money for il aud Thereby de
prived his widow
Perhaps he feared that her 'Yifel..
devotion would not rect TO his mem-
ory monument sufficiently high Per-
The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-05

<<Ts pocket nerve SAYS a
cynical observer OF human
nature, "is the most sensi-
is touched the whole system auivers
in agony
He is right, is he not, concerning
some of the folks we know? Afflicted
or threatened with a loss of worldly
goods, their entire systems are shaken
as though by storms of the most ago
nizing physical affliction.
Their pocket nerves have been
wounded
Touch their nerves of sympathy, of
tenderness, of friendship or of live
and the response Is not so sharp or
acute. There are shrinking and pain,
or course, but 1t does not seem so
acute as when the pocket nerve is as
sailed
We all know the men or women with
the theoretical sympathy for The poor
and afflicted. Poor folks.n they cry
"I1ow I sorrow for themr'
But their pocket nerves are not
touched. There is no reflex action to
send the hand directly and with a
strong impulse to the wallet or check
book The button has been pressed,
but there is no connection with the
human battery, and the bell of active,
effective sympathy and charity does
not ring.
Z TOUCH the pocket nerve in a way to
affect their own comfort or we'll being
or wealth and see the different result.
There is immediate, strong action