stage. He had captured what is technically
known as "an angel" and was fairly well provided for another brief
campaign. His friend Smith was engaged to accompany him and to officiate
as general utility man in the broadest sense of the term. Fogg, who had
been instrumental in lassoing the "angel," was engaged to be leading man
of the new organization. An "angel" is one of those peculiar individuals
who have stage aspirations, with money to burn; is ambitious to act, or
try to, then fret a brief season behind the footlights, in nine cases
out of ten fails and is never heard of more. The "angel" is generally a
woman with a "friend." Her stock in trade to embark in an arduous
profession requiring talent, industry, patience, intelligence,
perseverance, and self-reliance consists chiefly in a good wardrobe,
cheek, self-assurance, vanity, and ready cash.

It is a well-known fact that the capital stock of an "angel" melts,
thaws, and resolves itself into disappointment after she has had a short
practical experience on the boards. The exacting demands of the
theatrical calling dims the luster that lured the deluded one recklessly
to enter the seemingly attractive circle, to appear as the make-believe
heroines of romance on the stage. A few weeks--perhaps not so long--at
one of the theatrical factories to be found in nearly all of the large
cities where _Juliets_ are prepared at short notice, _Camilles_
manufactured for immediate use, and actors in every department of the
calling are turned out by some superfluous veteran of the stage at so
much per lesson, generally in advance, fits the aspirant for a debut on
a starring tour. How many enterprises of this character have started
out, with thousands of dollars to back them, too, and returned to the
city with rudely dispelled hopes and empty purses, it is difficult to
estimate. Every season brings forth a fresh crop. The industry has grown
with the times, and the appetite for theatric fame has not in the least
diminished. The number of fallen "angels" scattered throughout the
country would cut a respectable figure in a statistical report.

It is only a few short years ago, in one of the leading theatres of the
country, a playhouse which was subsequently trampled out of existence by
the march of trade, that five _Juliets_ to one _Romeo_ made an afternoon
pitiful by the incongruity of the representation of one of the sweetest
plays of the immortal bard. Every act introduced a fresh _