The New York herald., 1922-12-17
Actress Oft a Wanderer in Strange Lands

roads. burnt UP vegetation and only the
natives themselves relieve 1t with In
spirations Of color In the form of cleo
trio blue or flame red shawls and scarfs.
And of course, the sky is g brilliant
blue.
The picturesqueness of the scene, re-
member, was rather lost on our stage
manager when he saw those same super
cilious camels tramping blandly over
some of our Merchant of Venice" flats
and found that they had chewed I'D one
Of the caskets, which had to be immedi-
ately replaced with the aid of a local
carver and little gliding.
In the intervals OF coping with
dramatic difficulties in Quetta one could
spend many happy hours In the caravan
serais, bargaining with grave old drivers
for bit of Persian carpetry or In .he
bazaar. feasting ones eyes on the piles
of scarlet pomegrantes. or buying yards
and yards of Persian silks out of sheer
love of the colors. Then. too, one can
motor out and look at the solemn,
purple. Afghan hills--only not too far,
as the Afghan has a nasty habit OF
practicing nrusketry on stray Europeans.
1t was at Quetta that the local printer
christened us THE famous Comedy and
Domestic Company" 1t was In the ma
tive quarter at Calcutta that we were
billed: Come and see this famous COM
pany play The Merchant of Venice.
Look at the impossible cast: Jeanette
Sherwin and Charles Quartermaine.
1t was at Quetta. too. that we saw
our first Indian Nautch dancer. She was
a Kashmiri and we expected wonderful
things. but alas she had, out of respect
to us, put on an old black sequin even
ing dress over her native costume. Her
hair was as European as she could make
II and at her waist was red bandanna
handkerchief with which she wiped her
brow in the intervals OF the stamping
and swaying of which her performance
seemed to consist. We were not inn
pressed
OF Agra and the Tai Mahal I have the
happiest memories. We went more than
half prepared for disappointment, but
from the moment when we saw the dome
of the Tai rising like q cloud Ia the
clear moonlight above the tree tops we
moved In an atmosphere OF enchantment
and beauty impossible to describe. We
made use of that occasion to become en-
gagged
In Delhi we spent happy days visiting
the wonderful old forts and palaces.
also, alas. the terrible relics OF the
mutiny. And there. In the Chaudnl
Chowk we found the moonstone OF our
desire for my engagement ring. and I'm
the qheer old goldsmith's quarter of
the bazaar we persuaded kindly old
Mr.. Ram Chundra as to how we would
like Il set-and you can imagine the
excitement In our little company of
thirteen aliens in a foreign land when
we displayed H.
After India we wandered further East.
TO the places with the wonderful names:
Rangoon, the most colorful OF them all
Penang. all one great, luxuriant tropic
garden: Kuala Lumpur famous for It's
Spotted Dog Club and its cocktails:
Singapore. where I revelled for the firs;
time in the fruit of the green cocoanut:
Hong Kong with its peak and mirac,i.
lously beautiful harbor Shanghai, again
Of interest to the men az having the
club with the longest bar In the world
Tientsin. n kind OF Eastern manufacture
ing town. all mud and chImneys. with
nothing to commend II but its name and
its delightful European community and.
last but not least. the ever wonderful
Pekin. where you are shut inside that
great wall with all tho decayinr glories
OF a dead civilization and a new one
growing up over lts corpse.
Then back TO India for another year
TO revive old ecquaintances and re-.
cement old friendships, and always and
eternslly, ms II seemed 10 VS. by that
time, to produce new plays.
We had many comic interludes. There
was the time when we produced Romeo
and Juliet" al native theater and tho
native manager suggested that. as a
compliment TO the English classical
piece. his orchestra wo III play English
classical music, and In weak mombnt
we agreed. The orchestra copalytcdAo