Evening star., 1925-05-22
The Spring Flight
BY INEZ HAYNES IRUIN.
Copyright. 1925. ny the Mccall Co.

lean yellow fellow of caAaverous
and mustached mien. He made sud
den gesture and instantly they all
Chanted in unison: AN upstart crow
that with his tigers heart wrapped
in a players hide, supposes he is as
able To bombast out of a blank verse
as the best of you" They ended with
a vigorous Hail. Will of Avon, hail!'
Shakspere grinned as he shook
hands with them-Burbag &c and Bea u
mont, Fletcher and Hemminge.
How beats the tigers heart" the
man in the corner asked cheerfully,
still bending 10 his work.
Fiery as of yore." Shakspere aver
red, shaking his disengaged hand. "On
my word, Tom Haywood" he declared
to his interlocutor, and be God my
witness, when | departed for Stratford
last Spring, l left YOU scribbling in
this corner and on my return l find
you busy at the self-same spot. How
many plays have you writ in these
twelve months?'
Five" Haywood declared laconicsI-
ly, stopping to visit his long thin. out
standing yellow mustaches and to i'm
pale Shakspere with a humorous
glare from his cadaverous face. And
acted in all of them-and I've turned
some verse beside, And according to
MOI another heroic poem, J pray
thee, Tom" Shakspere said with the
outhanded gesture of one Tending off
offense.
Before Haywood could reply, the
rafters rang with the long sustained,
boisterous derision of his compa MONS.
And So instead of answering. he hept
on TRANQUILITY writing until they had
stopped. Keep mp those alarums," he
.
night"
Come close TO the fire, WILL Ben
Jonson ordered, ''apd lets see how the
rural air likes thee" The oompa NY
resumed their places in a crescent
about the blaze. Hemminge placed a
stool for Shakspere at Jonson's
right. We lack cheer" Jonson ex-
claimed, first peering into the depths
of the enormous taHkard which he
held in a colossal paw and then shak-
ing II with a circular motion. What
no, boy!' he called. AS there was no
immediate response, Boy! Boy" he
doomed in successive roars. And when
the door opened on a peaked, smirched
slice of scared boys face, Bring US on
wine. boy, Canary now, of the best
and plenty of it. At once! You hear?
I'll cut your gizzard out before your
eyes and roast it at this very fire else" +"
AS the door precipitataly closed, he
turned on Shakspere an enormous
face, all rounded leathery contours
from which emerged at the chin a
straggle of black beard, picked with
white, and above the forehead a
scratch of hair, black and stiff as
wire. Somewhere between the tive and
in the deepest folds of the leathery
skin were set the mere black wrinkles
that were his extraordinary eyes. Tell
us of Stratford, VIII. By God. bully
boys, ! long for green fields. The
city tires and drags me. Some day,
Will Shakspere, III take you at
your word and come 10 Stratford on
a visit. Twas but yesterday Drayton
and ] spoke with longing of that flu
ture junket."
Come, Ben, do" shakspere en-
treated. New Place has rooms We
use not. Come, all of you." He
on stools before the fire. their empty
mugs beside them, their eyes on him.
Then the smile crooked, shrank, dis
appeared as another consideration.
more acerb, curdled it. But talk We
not of Stratferd, l pray thee. It's yon
accursed country quiet I've run away
from. Give me talk of London. Odds,
how I've thirsted for it! What's new
here? No pretty chatter of court and
politics and 1t please you, lads! l
yearn for gossip of hussies and har-
lots. cutthroats and cutpurses, gulls
and comics"
Would you had but come a mo-
ment since" Dick Burbage answered.
THE two Toms, Decker and Middle
ton, were here and full of their new
comedy, the Roaring Girl" Knew
ye ever Moll Firth, WHIP"
Shakspere nodded dissent. But
ever I've heard talk of her." he added.
We'll, you twain have spent long
days-and longer nights, tits likely
studying the ways of that fair filthy
dame their Roaring Girl. BY Lady.
VIII, She's impaired in my expert
ence. Full of strange oaths and
stranger talk. And tales. Man, she
pours adventure as others pour out
dullness."
How looks she?' asked Beau
mont's voice from the other end of
their row And, Before God, Frank,
we've seen the jade" came Flatchsr's Q
comment from the same quarter