an article in which merit sidetracked through envy was the keynote.
Meantime, Breese, who knew absolutely nothing about makeup, was
floundering through his preparations for the evening, in which the
learning of his lines was not the least of his troubles.

How he finally managed to "fix his face" he has no clear recollection. The
one thing that stands out in his memory is a period midway in one of the
early acts when he became conscious that he was absolutely ignorant of
what he had either to say or do next.

In this emergency he suddenly remembered that he had been told that he, as
the leading man, was to address the audience during the evening and tell
them what the program was to be for the remainder of the week, as was the
custom in repertoire companies. So what did he do, but step out of his
character then and there, and, walking up to the footlights, start to
apprise the spectators of what they would see if they came to the "opera
house" during the other nights of the Wild Rose troupe's engagement.

As it happened, there was no second performance, and Breese has now no
inkling of how that unhappy first one was ever brought to a conclusion. He
does know, however, that he never received any pay for his services, that
the company went smash then and there, and that the hotel held his trunk
for board.

By good luck he met a friend in the town who took him to his home to stay
until he secured connection with another management, and began a
legitimate career which brought him, by way of _Danglas_ and _Nortier_ in
"Monte Cristo" with O'Neill, on through the Indian and the football
trainer in "Strongheart," to _Jefferson Ryder_ in "The Lion and the
Mouse."

WAGER BROUGHT EDESON ON.

"Soldier of Fortune" Was in Box Office
Until His Employer's Lamentations
Drove Figures Out of His Head.

Although he is the son of an actor, this fact was the means of an attempt
to keep Robert Edeson off the stage rather than an aid to him in getting
on it. His father, George R. Edeson, who died while comedian and stage
manager of the Philadelphia Girard Avenue stock company, in 1899, was so
convinced that the actor's calling brought principally heart-sickness and
disappointment that he used every means to dissuade his son from taking up
with it.

As a sort of compromise, when young Robert finished school (he was born in
New Orleans, and the family now lived in Brooklyn) he went into the front
of the house and obtained a pos