Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 129, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1914 — Page 2

SHE WENT A-PLAYING

By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART.

Everybody said It was a wonderful chance for me, but mother wasn’t so sure. She didn’t mind the stock company,' where father could take me home at night, and Anne could sit around at rehearsals; but this was different And ttien I think she was afraid of He was supposed to have as much temper as he had professional reputation, and, of course, that was colossal. I coaxed mother over at last. Tommy had the mumps, and she was so worn out with him that she gave In. The whole family had a hand In getting my costumes ready, and I borrowed Anne’s feather boa, little thinking what use It would be put to! The rehearsals were pretty bad. One morning Mr. Cunningham made me go through a six-line speech—the one where I find the revolver and take out the bullets and then snap it at him —17 times. I was pretty tired, and when he said, “Now —again,” I turned on him like a wildcat "If you make me do It again," I snapped, “I —I won’t take out the bullets!” He laughed—can you believe it? He laughed, and I fumed, and it was bedlam all around. I went home and wept it out on Tommy’s pillow—which made him think he was going to die, and his poor, comical face went all mottled. But—Mr. Cunningham kept me. That’s where the tragedy comes In. ■ 8 1

He was very particular with me on the road. Once or twice he said that some day I would learn to act, and I walked on air for days. He had his private car, and was very comfortable; but the one-night stands nearly killed me. We followed right along after a monstrosity called “The Merry Maids of Manchester,” and the bellboys thought It funny that we had no poodles, and that we didn't gather to sing in the parlor and call one another by our first names. Baldwin, the juvenile, was very nice to me, and we took long walks in the mornings, picking up post-cards to send home, and sometimes running over our scene In the second act, where my guardian—Mr. Cunningham —steps in and says: “Do you love him, Hilda? He —he is a splendid fellow.” And, of course, every one in the audience knows the guardian is In love with me and is going to Africa if I take Baldwin. The guardian is married, you see, and Miss D’Arcy played the wife. The funny thing was that Baldwin was really crazy about Miss D’Arcy, and talked about her all the time. "I wish you wouldn’t," I said one day. “I know she’s beautiful, and can act like a dream, and all that; but you needn’t rub It in.” “How about you raving over Cunningham all the time?” he retorted sulkily; which was so absurd that I went back to the hotel without speaking to him again. And then the most awful thing happened! You know the scene at the beginning of the last act —when we are all at breakfast and the wife sweeps in in a rage? Well, it starts with grapefruit, and I have a line when I taste it and say—to Mr. Cunningham:

“It’s as bitter as—as you have been —to me, this last week.”

Well, I put that stuff In my mouth, and at once the most dreadful pain began just in front of my ears and seemed to go all over me. My tongue drew up and my jaws locked perfectly tight! I tried to swallow and couldn’t, and there I sat, while Mr. Cunningham looked at me and waited for his cue.

At last he went on without my speaking, which caused a titter and made him wild. However, the rest of the act went well. In the farewell scene, where he goes to Africa to the war, I tried to warn him to kiss me on top of my head, because by that time I knew that I had the mumps and I was in a fever of fright; but Mr. Cunningham's big scene always carries him off his feet, and that night, to my horror, he kissed me twice.

Hopper, the stage manager, nearly went crazy when I told him. "Now I’ll get it!" he groaned. “No, not the mumps, but the devil! You’ll have to go on—that’s all. Wear a nightcap—anything—but don’t put Cunningham up against a new ingenue when he’s up in the air with a new Play!” “Then you’ll have to cut out the grapefruit,’’ I said with a shudder. “It will have to be bananas, and I can wear big mull ties to my garden hat in the last act and a feather boa in the second.” So we fixed it. I was not very ill, and, after all, Mr. Cunningham took the news like a lamb, even sending me some jelly his chef'had made. But a week later Baldwin stopped suddenly and made an awful face over his lemonade tn the tennis scene. I knew then what had happened; and when he came to rehearsal the next morning with his neck-line entirely obliterated, and with a silk handkerchief instead of a collar, we all knew. He was quite shiny in spots—l was never like that, thank goodness! Hopper, had to take his place, and Mr. Cunningham looked like a thundercloud. Then he sent for me. I went in tear and trembling. He was in front

of his dressing-mirror, graying his hair on top. It Is naturally a little gray over his ears. When I came in he got up very courteously and drew out a chair. “Will you wait just a moment?" he said, and finished what be was doing. The dressing-room was a litter, of course, and right at the bottom of the mirror was a picture In a silver frame. It was a girl In a black gown, and it was exquisite—the picture, not the gown. I thought that very likely It was the girl he was In love with, for, of course, he would be in love with some one. I knew what was coming before he said it I clasped my hands tight together to keep me from crying, and my feet felt numb and cold. I was horribly, awfully afraid of him, and yet I had the most dreadful Inclination to pat down his hair wheFe he had rumpled it up in the back. “Now, Miss Eleanor," he said, turning round and facing me, “I’ll tell you why I want to talk to you. You are looking 111 and tired; what would the little mother say to me?” That was the worst thing he could have said. I choked up In a minute and put my head down on the back of my chair.

“I—k-know I can’t act!” I sobbed. “But it’s mean to put it off on mother!”

“You can act,” he said very gently. “That’s the trouble. In fairness to you, I’ll have to tell you that But It’s a hard life, and —I want you to give It up. You’re too young, and you’ve been too much sheltered, to—” - *Tm twenty-one, Mr. Cunningham,” I broke In defiantly. "Even grown people get the mumps. I’m not a child; I’m as old as—the girl in that picture.”

I rushed out then, and In the first act, where I have the scene with my guardian’s wife, I burst Into real tears at the end and got a curtain-call. I was very unhappy; there were a number of things—but It doesn’t matter. One thing was certain —I hated Mr. Cunningham! I was quite ill for a day or two at home. Then, nothing terrible occurring, I tried to put the whole thing out of my mind and to forget that my theatrical career had died of the mumps. But the day before the New York opening I heard Ella admit some one. I had just time to slip a picture I had been looking at under some of Tommy’s stockings I had been mending when he came In. It was Mr. Cunningham!

I shook hands with him and tried to hide the basket with his picture and the stockings. Mr. Cunningham did not sit down. He stood by the fire and looked down at me severely. “Youlre a bad child!” he said at last; “a runaway. What made you do it, Eleanor?" “I had to," I pleaded. “It was too dreadful—every one getting sick and blaming it on me. Won’t you take off your overcoat and—and have some tea?" I was quite breathless with excitement and reaction, and I was still terribly afraid of him. My hands shook so that I could hardly pour the tea. He dropped into a chair and looked around. “Jove, what a thing it is to be in a real home again!” he said, looking human indeed with his feet out before him. “I always pictured you doing something like this —tea and mending—lnstead of roaming around the country with a theatrical company.” I gave him his tea, squeezing a bit of lemon in, and then —suddenly—he clapped his hand to his left ear, and I knew it had come. He waited until he could speak, and then all he said was “Good Lord!” He looked at me helplessly. There were only two things I could do—laugh or cry. I had cried so much that now I laughed—laughed while I knew that there would be no New York opening; laughed while the great Mr. Cunningham glared at me; laughed until he looked injured and then got over it and laughed himself. “Well!” he said, when we both dried our eyes and got our breath. “I never expected to laugh over a tragedy like this. You make me do anything you want, Eleanor.” “Oh, I hope you won’t be very ill,”

I said quickly. „ “But I shall be; I’m sure to. I always have things hard,” he replied, getting up and coming over to me. “I took you very hard indeed, Eleanor. I don’t care anything about ‘The Pillars of Society.’ I only know I want my little ward again. Eleanor, the day you left I was wild. I can’t act — I can’t live without you, dear. Why, see —you’ve put your mark on me!’’ When he said that, what could I do? Anyhow, I forgot completely that this was the greatest tragedian of his time. All I knew was that he was lonely and that I—well, that I didn’t hate him. He crushed me to him—l’ll admit that; but Anne told it as a great joke, when the engagement was announced, that as she came into the hall she heard me say: “Of course you may. I’m not afraid. I’ve had them!” (Copyright, by the Frank A. Munsey Co.>

Inadequate.

First Charity Visitor—How did you find poor Mrs. Holcomb? Second Charity Visitor—Nearly frozen! * First Charity Visitor—Nearly frozen? I thought St Andrew’s Helping Hand society sent her a lot of clothes? Second Charity Visitor—lt did; and she had them all on—seven peaks bofl waists and four slit akirta—Ufa.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

BEAUTIFUL LAKE NAMED FOR MRS. WILSON

MY IS EFFICIENT

Officers of General Staff Compare Chaos of 1898 to Now. X System Also Seen In Work of Navy— Every Road and River In Mexico Mapped by Agents of United States Secret Service. Washington, D. C.—" The difference between preparations for war in 1898 and now,” said an officer of the general staff of the army, "Is just the difference between a general staff and no general staff, a state of relatively high efficiency and chaos. There are a lot of people going around this town today who think that the army and navy are asleep at the switch, so to speak. They will awaken some day to find some foreign military observers complimenting this government on its ability to furnish fighting men, fully equipped bn short notice.” This observation was based on the assertion of a veteran corespondent in Washington, who complained that he could find no basis of comparison between the Spanish war days in Washington and the present time. “You will recall,” said the army officer, “that the Spanish war literally fell on “the war department like lightning out of a clear sky, comparatively speaking... While there had been intimations from time to time that the United States would be compelled to intervene In Cuba, sooner or later, and while chiefs of division and of bureaus In both the war and navy departments had done all they could to bring order out of chaos, the fact was that there were no central men or organizations about which the whole departments revolved except the civilian secretaries. “No one central body, like the present general staff of the army and navy, no one individual like the chief-of-staff or the admiral of the navy, was officially responsible for the efficiency of either the army or the navy. There was no one charged with the work of taking steps in advance to meet a crisis.

“In the present crisis work on the Mexican situation began in the war and navy departments when the Madero revolution broke out. From that time down to the present the staff at the war college of the army and navy has been in the closest possible touch with the situation in Mexico. The names of the commanders and their fighting characteristics have been learned and studied; the size of their respective forces has been known, particularly those of the Independent commands, whose following is largely personal in the territories In which they operate. “There is today not a road or river in Mexico that Is not sketched on the war maps of the war department, even down to available drinking water. Last January the secret service of the navy department put marine officers into Mexico in civilian clothes, and what they do not know about the railroads of Mexico and the by-paths, should those railroads be destroyed. Is not worth knowing. “Scott marched to 'Mexico City without a railroad, and the army will if it has to do so. While the railroad would help matters much and would materially expedite the forward movement, the army is on its mettle in the present crisis and will make good to the satisfaction of the people who support it. “The main test, so far as the army goes. Iles in the rapidity of mobilization of the state' militia and the volunteers. This nation does not maintain a standing army large enough to meet an emergency even such as this one. Invasion of any foreign country Is no longer an easy matter. The state militia will always find a place hereafter in the first army that goes to the front “Every effort has been made to imbue that service with the high ideals,

This is Lake Ellen Wilson in the Glacier National park, Montana, recently named for the Wife of President Wilson. It is nearly 5,000 feet above the sea level, up on the “roof of the Rockies.” Inset is the latest photograph of Mrs. Wilson. The lake was given its name by Secretary of the Interior Lane.

the spirit and the loyalty of the regular army, and the army maneuvers of recent years have done much In that direction. We hope to see the state troops literally fly to the flag, gun and knapsack in hand, when called, and the quicker they get to the border the better. “Theregular troops will embark for Mexico as fast as transports can be secured. It will be squarely up to the state troops to guard the border in their place and to follow as rapidly as possible. Behind them will come the raw recruits, and we of the army believe that they will not be so raw at that. A man who ha§ once served under the flag Is usually the first to respond in time of stress, and there are enough of them In this country now to make up she first grand army. “The military policy of this administration is the one thing the country does not know about until It becomes an accomplished fact. We are not yelling from the houseWps what our next move is going to be, but the heads of the army and navy have known for weeks and months. Every conceivable detail of the Mexican situation has been worked out. If an, officer of either service has had an idea he has been ordered to put it on paper. It has been chewed over until every man knows just what to do in an emergency.

“When facts develop which make this or that strategic move necessary the country will be apprised fit what is going on just as soon as there is no danger of spoiling the movement by publicity.

THE INIQUITIES OF RABBITS

Milady’s Rarest Furs Often Are Bunnys’ Coats in Disguise—Modern Furrier Very Clever.

Paris. —That the evils of the gentlefaced rabbit live after him has been revealed in a startling manner by the exhibition of “living skins” which has opened In connection with the agricultural exhibition here in Paris. Many of the false sables and imitation marten, to say nothing of the rarer furs that adorn milady, may be traced, It has been shown, to the Innocent rabbit By means of the clever and more or less secret processes of the modern furrier-alchemists, gold-bringing ermine and sable are produced from the skin of the domestic rodent, especially bred and dressed. An advertisement of one merchant has been displayed which frankly offers: “Six thousand eight hundred rabbits, dressed and glossed, close-shaved or natural, with dark or light background, finished sable, marten, light, dark or chestnut” An American furrier declares that most of the chinchilla seen on the streets was once the property- of the opossum and that the rare Iceland fox, when he appears over an opera cape, is very often parading in sheep’s clothing, the fur, In fact, of a common Tibetan sheep. But the finer, rarer skins, such as the royal ermine and the silver fox, can be traced to the rabbit. In a country like France, where the little rodent is a welcome guest at the table of the bourgeois, the rabbitwarren proves a profitable venture with a by-product that pays running expenses.

Goes to Court in Wife’s Kimono.

Philadelphia.—John Wilkens was forced to go to the police station in his wife’s kimono to testify against Ralph Scott, charged with stealing clothes valued at 1200 from Wilkins* home.

Aged Couple Ole From Fright.

Worcester, Maes. —Mrs. Dennis Arsenault, sixty, and Patrick Eagleton. seventy, dropped dead from fright while watching three men fighting in a trolley station waiting room.

Bulldog Causes Big Fire.

Yonkers, N. Y.—A bulldog, oilsoaked and set afire by Upping over a lamp, ran through four rooms and lire destroyed Anton’s firehouse.

ROYAL MISS BECOMES NURSE

Crown Princess of Rumania Active in Useful Occupation—Was Red Cross Nurse in Recent War. Paris'. —Crown Princess Marie Alexandre Victoria, wife of Crown Prince Ferdinand of Rumania, who is probably the most beautiful princess of Europe, is shewn here in the costume of a Red Cross nurse which she wore during the recent war when most of her time and attention was devoted to ministering to the wants of the ill, wounded and dying soldiers of her empire. It is a remarkable fact that many members of the reigning familles-of Europe as well as members of the nobility are taking up useful occupations to benefit the conditions and surroundings of those who look up to them for succor. The queen of Bulgaria, who is soon to visit "us, Is deeply Interested in hospital work and will study hospital

Crown Princess Marie Alexandre Victoria.

conditions while here. The crown princess of Rumania has endeared herself to the soldiers of her country for the work she has done in the hospital corps. In France, Mme. Poncalre, the wife of the president, Is imylng especial attention and giving considerable of her Ume and attention to maternity work among the pbor.

Breaks School Attendance Record.

St. Louis. —William McClug Paxton, ninety-four, won the state-wide contest for continuous Sunday school attendance when he produced certificates from ministers to prove he had not missed a Sunday for 64 years.

Hen Wouldn’t Lay; Suit Follows.

Sunbury, Pa.—Because the hen he rented wouldn’t lay and insisted on setUng, James H. Snyder cued Philip Bradford, owner of the fowl, for the rental and received a judgment of 50 cents.

Henpecked Husband Tries Suicide.

Chicago.—Joseph Pabalsky attempted suicide here because he was "henpecked.” He told Municipal Judge Sabath that his wife would not even nermit him to buy his own underwear.

BRAVE DEED OF TURK

HOW FISHERMAN SAVED A TOWN FROM BULGARS. By Remarkable Feat of Oarsmanship He Reached the Greek Fleet ■ Time to Save Kavala From Pillage and Ruin. Here is a dramatic story of war which shows how a brave Turkish fisherman saved the town of Kavala from massacre by the retreating Bulgarian army. It is a on the horrors due to the reopening of the war. • "I have heard from an eye-witness most striking and picturesque details as to the way in which Kavala was saved just in the nick of time from fire and slaughter,” says the Salonika correspondent - of the London Telegraph. “The mass of the Bulgar army, In danger of having its retreat cut off from the north, had evacuated the town, leaving behind only a small force of 200 men, commanded by a lieutenant, with orders to burn and sack the town next day. The terrified people had hidden themselves in their darkened houses, behind locked doors and barred windows. Rumors had gone about that , the garrison quartered in the fortress overlooking the town was laying in large stores of petroleum, and that bayonets were being sharpened and guns loaded. ; There was nothing to hope for or to do; only with unavailing curses and prayers await the coining of death in its most hideous form. “Through the pitch-black streets a Turkish boatman crept down to the port. No boat was allowed to leave the bay,- patrols faced the quay, searchlights flashed over the still and silent waters. Very quietly, lying fiat on the gray stones, he loosened his little craft, crawled In, and, with-muf-fled oars, pulled away. None heard him, and the searchlights playing all around him left him In darkness. It was, he says, as if a great hand were stretched over him, and its shadow lay around his boat. -“He cleared the bay, and with all his might and main bent to his oars. Far across the sea, 18 miles away in the bay of Thassos, lay the Greek fleet Through the long hours of the night he rowed, heedless of aching arms and limbs, rowed for his life and the Ilves of thousands who lay behind him in the quaking town. In the early morning the port of Thassos - opened before him. The great ships were there, always under pressure, straining at their anchors. "With a last effort he pulled up to the side, and the startled sailors banging over the gangway heard a cry of warning, a cry for help, rise up Into the night: ‘For the sake of Allah and for the sake of your God, come quick, for at sunrise the Bulgars sack the town.’ “At morn a thick column of smoke rose behind the promontory. What could It be? With beating, shaking hearts they watched the nose of a ship creep round the corner, a long, low, gray thing with protruding guns and funnels vomiting smoke. “It was a destroyer. At the stern floated something they equid not see. Yet, God in heaven, it was blue with a white cross! The next Instant the bell was clanging out a crazy, jerky peal, and a frantic creature was tearing down the streets shrieking ‘The Greek fleet! The Greek fleet!’ "In one moment shutters were let down, doors burst open, and a shouting, sobbing crowd rushed down to the sea. The destroyer had stopped, a boat was lowered, the captain was rowed ashore. He hardly had time to reach the ground before 50 strong arms had caught him up and 'with weeping and with laughter,’ carried him shoulder high through the cheering streets, while behind him, contentedly nodding his red-fezzed head, unobtrusively walked the simple Turkish fisherman .who had saved the town.” v

Leaving It to the Pitcher.

Not in ten years has Christy Mathewson been taken out of the box by McCraw, unless possibly under some condition where strategy demanded a pinch hitter, or a man batting from the other side of the plate, or a speedy base runner. This may surprise 1,000,000 or more fans. Box scores may be produced to dispute it But that is a case where the box scores are wrong. When Matty comes out, he takes himself out He knows when he is not right and is not ashamed to admit it. and McGraw leaves it to him. Many a time he has been known gently to lay the ball on the ground, when he felt he could not be effective, and facetiously call to some comrade on the bench: "Come out here and finish this job. It’s too large for me.” And then, as a parting shot to the grinning batsman at the {date: “I’ll be right here tomorrow, and the first time you come up, you’ll breeze.” And generally he makes good on his forecast-—Popular Magazine.

World’s Supply of Coal.

The production of coal in the United States is about squal to that of the United Kingdom, Germany and France combined. In 1912 It was 477,000,000 tons in the United States, 260,000,000 tons in the United Kingdom, 172,000,000 tons in Germany, 40,000,000 tons in France, 26,000,000 tons in Russia and 23,000,000 tons in Belgium. The reserves of coal in the earth in the United States are nearly equal to those of all the rest of the world combined, ‘ according to recent estimates.