AT THE UNION SQUARE
V. THE "NEW MAGDALEN" AT THE UNION SQUARE
VI. "ODETTE" IN THE WEST. A CHILD'S FIRST PLAY
VII. A CASE OF "TRYING IT ON A DOG"
VIII. THE CAT IN "CAMILLE"
IX. "ALIXE." THE TRAGEDY OF THE GOOSE GREASE
X. J.E. OWENS'S "WANDERING BOYS." "A HOLE IN THE WALL" INCIDENT
XI. STAGE CHILDREN. MY "LITTLE BREECHES" IN "MISS MULTON"
XII. THE STAGE AS AN OCCUPATION FOR WOMEN
XIII. THE BANE OF THE YOUNG ACTRESS'S LIFE
XIV. THE MASHER, AND WHY HE EXISTS
XV. SOCIAL CONDITIONS BEHIND THE SCENES
XVI. THE ACTRESS AND RELIGION
XVII. A DAILY UNPLEASANTNESS
XVIII. A BELATED WEDDING
XIX. SALVINI AS MAN AND ACTOR
XX. FRANK SEN: A CIRCUS EPISODE
XXI. STAGE FORFEITS AND THEIR HUMOUR
XXII. POOR SEMANTHA

_ILLUSTRATIONS_

CLARA MORRIS (1883)
CLARA MORRIS IN "L' ARTICLE 47"
CHARLES MATTHEWS
CLARA MORRIS IN "ALIXE"
CLARA MORRIS AS "MISS MULTON"
CLARA MORRIS AS "ODETTE"
MRS. GILBERT, AUGUSTIN DALY, JAMES LEWIS, AND LOUIS JAMES
JOHN E. OWENS
"LITTLE BREECHES"
CLARA MORRIS AS "JANE EYRE"
CLARA MORRIS IN "THE SPHINX"
CLARA MORRIS IN "EVADNE"
CLARA MORRIS AS "CAMILLE"
TOMMASO SALVINI
W.J. LE MOYNE
CLARA MORRIS BEFORE COMING TO DALY'S THEATRE IN 1870

_CHAPTER I

A WORD OF WARNING_

Every actress of prominence receives letters from young girls and women
who wish to go on the stage, and I have my share. These letters are of
all kinds. Some are extravagant, some enthusiastic, some foolish, and a
few unutterably pathetic; but however their writers may differ
otherwise, there is one positive conviction they unconsciously share,
and there is one question they each and every one put to me: so it is
_that_ question that must be first answered, and that conviction that
must be shaken.

The question is, "What chance has a girl in private life of getting on
the stage?" and to reply at once with brutal truthfulness and straight
to the point, I must say, "Almost none."

But to answer her instant "Why?" I must first shake that positive
conviction each writer has, that she is the only one that burns with the
high ambition to be an actress, who hopes and fears, and secretly
studies Juliet. It would be difficult to convince her that her own
state, her own city, yes, her own block, could each produce a girl who
firmly believes that _her_ talent