Year: 1873

| SuEelyy II one were 10 WIlle uOWL
| faithfully the love of ones youth
extreme youth, say from Is to II, Ol
theIeabouts-we might have volumes
of literature quite as interesting and
as wholesome to read as the records O


our maturer passions.


don't mean to mOraliZe, because
the habit of doing so in print is pretty
generally voted bore, and every one
who reads of my early experience can
point the moral for his own special
case. But let me at once confess that
in my young days not curates, for q
taste for theological study, 4. c. GU
rates, came with my later years not
soldiers, for l never, except by the
rarest chance, caught sight of red
coat but actOrs-dear, delightful
geniuses, heroes, princes, enchanters
that they seemed-were the beings
who engaged my time and thoughts
and extremely girlish affections.


1 suppose a taste for theatricals was
| bred in me, for l have often heard
my mother say the only amusement
out of her own home she ever cared
| for was to be found in a couple of
hours in her own box at the DinefOTd
Theater, with a fair company and a
good house. So it seemed quite nat
nral to her that her children should
inherit her love for the drama, and
exhibit a taste for such matters even
in their tenderest years.


For myself, I was by far the young
est of my family, and by the time my
play-going days began some of my
brothers and sisters were beginning to
abate the ardor of their stage passion ;
still, my youngest brother and myself
kept up the spirit of the thing for a
long time, and the intense enjoyment
of those evening when he, eight years
my senior, was permitted the charge
of me to witness some heartrending
tragedy or startling melOdrama was
more than words can describe.


At first it was with me the play that
charmed, the sad or exciting history
itself it was Pauline Deschappels or
Black-eyed Susan her very self, for
whose woes my heart ached, and
whose ultimate happiness drew tears
Of delight from my eyes it was Lady
Macbeth who frightened me so that /
could get no rest at night and, oh, it
was that dreadful COrsican Brother,
with the hOrrid mark on the bosom
of his shirt, who appeared before me
at all hours of the day and night, so
that preferred the cOmpaniOnship of
the housemaid, even, to my own lone
illness, and never dared sleep without
a candle alight for weeks and weeks.
Whether such lively and absorbing
interest in stage heroines was the best
thing in the world for me, L cannot
tell but at the commencement Ofmy
visits to a public theater it was the
affiictiOn of Womankind that more
particularly engaged my attention,
and I did not think so much of the
heroes unless there happened to be
something supernatural connected
with their characters. But the suffer
ings of poor, prosecuted. lovely, fascin-
ating women occupied my every
thought during the months season at
the Dineford Theater for was it not
possible, nay even certain, if my then
Intense interest in such matters grew
with my growth-and who could
doubt its doing so-that 1 some day
might tread the stage queen, or rush
on in floods of tears with my back
hair hanging down, and rescue my
| lover from death or some imminent
peril, amid the enthusiastic plaudits
of crowded audience. For, of course,
/ meant to be an actress when L grew
old enough ; and by way of preparing
myself for my future career, | and
the afOrenamed brother used to prac-
tice the most thrilling scents out of
| the plays we had most lately witness
ed, up in my little room, when my
| lessons were done. Our acting was,
in our own eyes, simply perfection.
was rather too short at the time l am
now speaking of, being only just 13, to
make much of a tragic heroine so far
as figure went and 1 used to wish
very much that my voice had been
stronger, and my nose more Roman
it, the nose, was a pug, and, being
such, was a great trial to me-but still
we got over that as well as we could,
and certainly what 1 wanted in size
and feature, I made up in manner.
Whoever might have seen me with a
big sheet draped about me, walking
with my eyes as nearly shut as l dared
have them--Only just enough opened
| for me to see 1 did not tumble over
/ the furniture-and with fiat candle
stick in my hand, rubbing that Of
Tending member, and sternly order
/ ing "outn that spot with the bad
word attached, would not easily have
| forgotten it. 1 never shall forget it.
After 1 had done that scene, my broth
! er used to do the dagger soliloquy, and
/ rolled his eyes and clenched his hand,
and looked altogether so distracted
| that privately always used to think
he overdid the part; but believe be
and 1 never quite agreed on that
point.


Then, can any one remember "In-
| gOmar ?''-Of all romantic dramas
one of the most romantic, surely.


How Fred used to take off his coat,
and twist his shirt sleeves up to his


elbows, so as to make himself look a
thorough barbarian-One point such


as that gained, we did not trouble
ourselves about other slight incon-
gruities in Our costume and myself


with "fillet, +" round my head, try
ing hard to look classical and statu-
esque, to fulfill the requirements ofcer.
tain of the scenes. The tumbler of
the washing-stand did for the goblet


and any old flowers belonging tC
mothers head-dresses did capitally to


Wreathe 1t with we could have haC
plenty Of fresh flowers out of the gar.


den, but we preferred the artificial a:
being more natural. Time has, alas


made me totally forget the end of pOOl


Parthenia's troubles but 1 know sht


came safely through them all, anC


she and her barbarian united theil


fortunes in the legitimate manner


though I cannot remember the Incl


dents attending this conclusion. Jus


about the time when we were doing


"Ingomar" at our very best, q crue


fate sent me off to bOarding-schOOl


where for two years had to live il


comparative darkness, so far as tn


light of the drama was concerned.


tried my best to introduce my owl


peculiar tastes among my schOol-fel


lows, but can scarcely say l succeeded
| The girls yvara varu diffiauIt fO tpaab