, close
hand-clasp. As I opened the door of the dusty old hack, I saw the
first star prick brightly through the evening sky. Then the hoarse
voice said, 'God bless you'--and I had left my first manager."

To say that Clara Morris made a success in Cincinnati is the barest
truth. Her first appearance was in the role of a country girl,
_Cicely_, a simple milkmaid with only one speech to make, but one
which taxed the ability of an actress to the uttermost to express what
was meant. Clara played this part in a demure black-and-white print
gown, with a little hat tied down under her chin. On the second night,
she played what is called a "dressed part," a bright, light-comedy
part in which she wore fine clothes; on the third night hers was a
"tearful" part. In three nights she completely won the public, and on
the third she received her first anonymous gift, a beautiful and
expensive set of pink corals set in burnished gold. "Flowers, too,
came over the foot-lights, the like of which she had never seen
before, some of them costing more than she earned in a week. Then one
night came a bolder note with a big gold locket, which, having its
sender's signature, went straight back to him the next morning. As a
result it began to be whispered about that the new star sent back all
gifts of jewelry; but when one matinee a splendid basket of white
camelias came with a box of French candied fruit, it delighted her and
created a sensation in the dressing-room. That seemed to start a
fashion, for candies in dainty boxes came to her afterward as often as
flowers."

On the night of her first appearance, a lawyer of Cincinnati who saw
her play the part of Cicely was so delighted with her interpretation
of the small role that he at once asked: "Who is she? What is her
history?"--only to find that, like most happy women, she had none. She
came from Cleveland, she lived three doors away with her mother--that
was all.

Having seen her a second time, he exclaimed, "That girl ought to be in
New York this very moment!" and he added, "I know the foreign
theaters--their schools and styles, as well as I know the home
theaters and their actors. I believe I have made a discovery!"

After seeing her in the "tearful part," he said firmly: "I shall never
rest till this Clara Morris faces New York. She need clash with no
one, need hurt no one, she is unlike any one else, and New York has
plenty of room for her. I shall make it my business to meet her a