The Washington times., 1914-10-09
Hires Out for Society Plays for
Two Seasons, Until Wander
ing Manager Catches Him
Acting on Sly.
Bv GARDNER MACK.

The ancient alcheniist who whiled
away so many weary hours search
ing for the methods Of transmitting
base metals into gold would have
turned green with envy IL they could
see the ready manner in which many
modern -lystics transform the power
of speech from a liability TO an as
set Mystic is precisely the word
to use in this connection too. How
many times have most Of us set our
teeth firmly in our neither lip ana
thought of the long ride home In the
cold while little Ermentrude recited
a soldier of France lay dying In
Algiers,' etc.-never thinking that
We were witnessing the first plunge
into fame of the wonderful creature
We would pay two dollars to see as
Camille" years later. Not one or
us, And how many OF us VINO
have heard an k,nglishman say
..Shawn't' or "fawncy" at those
points IN . conversation that only
an E.nglishman would ever think or
interiecting such words-how many
of US have ever thought these very
words might be put to work by the
man emitting them with such non
chalance at a salary idi peH Otu
dreams? Again the answer Is not
one OF US. And yet such things
have bcen-are being-and can al
ways be,
ANY time an Englishman with
no known asset but an accent and
a yearning for food can force that
accent into the public prints Inc
way Victor Morley did when ne hrst
started out-anybody can do IL
Morley made IL WOTk.
You've all seen and heard Nor
lev. Of course? He's due here next
week as the leading figure In our
Best Girl" at the Columbia Thea
ter He's got a whole lot to him be-
sides the accent, too. But Morley
didn't know he had any OF these
things at the start. and neither uid
the manager who first gave MIN a
lob. You see. Morley didn go On
The stage because he wanted to. 1t
Was the only route 10 the dinner
table that was available at time
when he thought he'd almost forgot
ten what a regular dinner taDle
looked ike. He's regular bf!-
isher. Morley is. In some way ne
tho kind you read about-in thc
matter Of accent. for instance. Ana
IL, otber ways he isn't the kind YOU
read about. but the kind that you IL
find the world full of II you get
about very much. and the kind that
have made this little old world
Iot better and a lot more whole
some lust by their being In II. too.
Morley was born in Hants Ihat
is what he'll tell you. or course
not being English. you ""ulh halt
said Hampshire-yoL never get ="
familiar with such a fine old county
as that But the English are an
farent They commenced calling Il
Hants as a sort Of pct name. way
bacL IN tho davs before they learned
how to spell their language cor
rectly. In those days they used .
call the county Hantsnire.
thev did. But as soon as Noah Web
.IieE .Ter WI Trote his dictionary they
learned how 10 spell it risht-like It
Is TO-DAY. Anyhow. Morley cane
from Hants. His father was a good
old English country gentleman OF
the famous Morley family. lhiS
family believes in pursuing pencN-
rul professions. Law and menlclh'
were the only two things that nc
old gentleman could see for youhS
Victor when he reached the age
uhen he vas supposed to choose
nrofrssion And so when he CAM
nut of old Trinity with his deSTe"
no was sent to the Tempt" 10
study and wait to he called 10 ne
bar. In England. YOU know me
Young aspirants for h"nors IN "a"
law wait until they arc called ="
tho har and don't rush in by the
regiment like they do hero.
After Morley had waited around
o.Iito long time. with no distln-
guished looking tipstaff in wig nhn
gown running out to page hllh. ,i'
Secided to see something OF the
world. and telling the clerk ned re
hack in a brace OF years in case
anyone called. he left the Tempo
and started around the woTld. he
made fine start-but the finish In
Eeu. York is one OF the things that
h. doesn't like to think about. He
was Cat broke And he hadn't
hing he could use to obtain lodc-
ing or a dinner. At least. he didn't
think he had. He was standing on
corner thinking about his condition
when a policeman told him TO move
on Now Morley is A regular BTU
isher. He turned to that policeman.
looked him over with look OF pure
London scorn. and said: "Fawncy.
lust like that, The policeman re-
turned the look for just minute,
ard then his face cracked into
smile-the smile deepened into
chuckle, and the chuckle gurgled
into a laugh. which. In turn. be
came a guffaw. Then Morley said