Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1918-03-01
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
PINK Linen FROCk
BY DOROTHY DIX.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

NXNNNNNNNNNNNN XNNNNNNNNNNX
"Wha-a-at," DRIED the Angel, who
had backed the new musical extrava-
ganza, The Queen Of the Cannibal
Isles" Lorraine torrance going to
leave the stage in the midst Of the big
gest broadway success in years? Is
she crazy, or what2"
She is q woman" replied the man
ager. sucoinctly. as IL that explained
everything. He glanced around the
little Office whose walls were literally
covered with the photographs Of
aotresses-prima donnas, tragedy
queens. eccentric old women in CON-
edy parts. dashing soubrettes. wistful-
eyed engelues--and sighed. He had
had much experience OF the ways of
women.
Such q voice." went on the Angel.
goomily reminiscent, always made
me think of birds singing in q golden
dawn. or-erersomething like that, you
know. II was 30 full of the Joy of
living. Then her gaiety and humor-
SO spontaneous. 30 fresh, and that lit
tie way she had. 80 demurely wicked,
by George. II was about the most
fetching thing I ever saw"
1T takes q saint to play the devil"
commented the manager. grimly.
And to think Of her being fool
enough to throw everything up right
now" continued the Angel. why. she's
got success-it's in her very hand"
Well" observed the manager. IF,
when Heaven gives woman tempera-
ment IL would also endow her with a
little reason. Il would have saved me
from becoming bald 30 early In life,
and would have made the show BUSH
ness safer and more agreeable occu-
patton"
What does she say?" inquired the
Angel.
The manager fished a letter out
from under pile on his desk, and be-
gun to read aloud: Sorry she can't
renew her contract with us, but she is
going to leave the stage. Hopes 1t
won't disappoint US. and that we will
have no trouble in finding substitute
for her In The Queen but she's
found out that there's something bet
ter than the tinsel Of the stage, and
more worth striving for than fame and
money"
Wish she'd tip me of to what It
is" put In the Angel, parenthetically
I'm short" continued the manager,
summarizing the lengthy letter. she
has determined to leave the stage,
and stay at home with hubby-you
know that In real life she is Mrs.
James Benton-and darn his socks
and cook his dinners"
Where Is she?" asked the Angel.
oh" responded the manager at
some little iron mine down In Ala
bama, where her husband is manager
for a company. It's a gay metropolis
that consists OF a company store,
with the post Office in one corner,
and an interesting population Of a
thousand negro and italian laborers,
with perhaps two other men beside
her husband who wear collars and
speaks English, and where the excit-
ing event OF the day Is the change OF
shifts, when the day laborers go Off
and the night hands come on. At
least that is the alluring description
that Miss torrance gave me OF the
place when she explained how she
came to leave her happy home for
New York and comic opera"
She won't stay there" exclaimed
the Angel. bringing his fist down on
the desk with a thump Good God,
think OF a woman like that being
buried alive In such a hole. She'll
be back In two months begging for
her old part, and we will make her
pay for giving us this attack Of heart
failure"
Don't count on her too much"
warned the manager. she's a woman,
you know"
While the two men In the little
Broadway Office were settling her fate,
the woman Of whom they spoke was
standing on a great pile Of Stag, send
Ing her voice out In roulade Of song
that silenced, for very shame. the
knocking birds in the nearby clean
ders At last. wearied, she stopped,
and turning TO the great ugly bulldog
that crouched at her feet she cried
whimsically:
What, Tige, not a round OF APP
plause? Don't you know, sir, that
was my big Broadway hit. and was
good for three curtain calls every
night?" But the faithful dumb ami
NAL only licked her hand by way OF
reply, and with something like a sob
she caught her fingers in his collar
and started homeward. It was all so
typical OF her fate, she told herselfA
She had wanted fame, and glitter and
glare, and she had gotten only dumb
devotion.
Five years before she had married
Jim Benton, who had taken her from
an uncongenial home. where shrew-
fish and vulgar stepmother had made
life wellnigh unbearable for the girl,
whose nature was as highly strung
and sensitive as violin. She had
loved, as well as her unawakened
heart could, the big. silent, strong
man. who yearned over her with
ceaseless tenderness. and for awhile
she had been happy enough in the lit
tie cottage at the mines where they
had gone 10 live. BY and by. however,
she begun to grow restless, to feel the
stirring within her OF unguessed
forces and powers and TO know, as
genius must always know, that It must
find expression or die.
She was intensely. vibrsntly alive,
and she had never lived. She wanted