Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1919 — TO BE WITH CHAUTAUQUA [ARTICLE]

TO BE WITH CHAUTAUQUA

MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL DUVALL WILL APPEAR WITH CHAUTAUQUA THIS SUMMER. .. a J Mr. and Mrs. Samuel 0. Duvall will leave Rensselaer next week for Indianapolis where they will report to the managers of a chautauque company, by whom they will be engaged during the coming season. Mr.Duvall accepted the terms offered by the Chautauqua management while he and Mrs. Duvall were in Indianapolis Saturday. He had several other splendid offers from New York theatrical firms but decided that the one which he accepted afforded the better opportunities. Sam arrived in Rensselaer Saturday evening after an absence of almost two, years spent as an ambulance driver in the war zone. During that time he almost constantly in the thickest of the fighting along' with Verne Davisson another Rensselaer boy. His experiences were dangerous and varied, but he came through unscratched and his section played a prominent part during the drive of General Foch, which never terminated until the armistice closed hostilities. The experiences which have come to the Rensselaer boy were of the kind that come to but a very, very, few during a lifetime, and the sensationalism of them is bound to be a magnetic attraction to the lovers of chautauqua programs. It was while the French army was in Noyon, a town which had been in the. hands of the Germans for many months, and where Mrs. Duvall was a prisoner for thirty months, that Sam met Miss Laura Benoist, who later became his wife.

The experiences of Mrs. Duvall eclipse even those of her husband and the 'events that have, crowded their way into her life during the past three years have been as interesting as any recorded during the entire war. She is cultured and refined little lady, possessing many accomplishments and is able to speak fluently in Italian, Spanish, English and French. Following her release from the Germans, she was employed by the French government as an in-, terpreter in Paris and continued in that capacity until a few weeks ago when she and Mr. Duvall left for America. Mrs. Duvall states that in the future she is going to spend her spare moments ii\ writing a book of her experiences. There can be no doubt but that when it is placed on the market, it will meet with a The Duvalls will undoubtedly prove one of the greatest attractions ever offered by a chausfuqua company and the novelty of their act should attract the public throughout the chautauqua circuit.