laughed when I should have looked fierce at the
inspired words of the Roman senator, it would have been a dead give away
on McCollough. As the populace of Rome I consider myself a glittering
success, and Mc took me by the hand when they carried Caesar's dead
body out, and he said, 'us three did ourselves proud.' Such praise
from McCollough is seldom accorded to a supe. But I don't consider the
populace of the imperial city of Rome my master piece. Where I excel
is in coming out before the curtain between the acts, and unhooking the
carpet. Some supes go out and turn their backs to the audience, showing
patches on their pants, and rip up the carpet with no style about them,
and the dust flies, and the boys yell 'supe,' and the supe gets nervous
and forgets his cue, and goes off tumbling over the carpet, and the
orchestra leader is afraid the supe will fall on him. But I go out with
a quiet dignity that is only gained by experience, and I take hold of
the carpet the way Hamlet takes up the skull of Yorick, and the audience
is paralized. I kneel down on the carpet, to unhook it, in a devotional
sort of a way that makes the audience bow their heads as though they
were in church, and before they realize that I am only a supe I have the
carpet unhooked and march out the way a 'Piscopal minister does when
he goes out between the acts at church to change his shirt. They never
'guy' me, cause I act well my part. But I kick on holding dogs for
actresses. Some supes think they are made if they can hold a dog, but
I have an ambition that a pug dog will not fill. I held Mary Anderson's
cud of gum once, while she went on the stage, and when she came off and
took her gum her fingers touched mine and I had to run my fingers in
my hair to warm them, like a fellow does when he has been snow-balling.
Gosh, but she would freeze ice cream without salt. I shall be glad when
the theatrical season opens, 'cause we actors get tired laying off.

"Well, I'd like to go behind the scenes with you some night," said the
grocery man, offering the bad boy an orange to get solid with him, in
view of future complimentary tickets. "No danger, is there?"

"No danger if you keep off the grass. But you'd a dide to see my Sunday
School teacher one Saturday night last summer. He keeps books in a
store, and is pretty soon week days, but he can tell you more about
Daniel in the lion's den on Sunday than anybody. He knew I was solid at
the theater, and wanted me