Show I Bw n STORY sf OtY IY f TI q L I I 1 I I I I T BEGAN BEGA my ray business bus ness career as a a aI I I builder of sewers sewer In n this ti humble pursuit industry and ad frugality count count as a they do in other serious walks of life Eventually I was wa able to secure seure eon n tracts tract for Important Important underground works work At present some hundreds of my men are employed not n t far from Murray Hill HI blasting out huge caverns in the interest of rapid transit transitA As A my name happens to be Smith of whom there tere are several others In the directory it Is not extraordinary that I should come to be ha identified as Subway Su way Smith Nevertheless I am Bot ot oblivious to tote the te charms of or nature and art I love lave loveto loveto to see the th sun rise as a I go to my la labors labors bors hors and it is my delight to attend all aU first performance of oC comic opera It I was on the night of ot the production of that awful fiasco fasco The Everlasting Girl that the astonishing and painful spectacle was witnessed which I 1 am about to describe At the conclusion of the wearisome act which sealed the doom coom oom of the piece I passed into the lobby jobby of oC the theatre intending Intending to go home Here I was accosted by bya a young manor man iran manof of or my acquaintance who writes for the press presS Dont be in Ina a hurry hurr he said Walt ai half hal a minute and youl get your mon man moneys moneys eys worth As my friend of the press spoke he waved his hand in the direction of ot a gentleman who was vak ing about nervously rd eyes and a face as white as his shirt front frontIs front frontIs Is he he I was asking when my companion seized my m arm and Inter Interrupted interrupted Here they come came Dont miss miss a a word At Chat tha moment g ent four faur ent m n nl nIl younger than the one I have hae described approached the latter with wih beaming countenances and outstretched he hands As successively they seized seize And nd wrung said the th hand of the pale gentleman they sad Bravo my Simply great Congratulations old ld man tho th best yet yet Out of sight Brown Surpasses all an your former fOter successes The greatest ever Youre toure oure a won yon wonder yonder der tier Whereupon they wrung the pale gen gee hand again nd md passed p se out Into the street The pale gentleman genteman I said Is he he Youre Yaure right broke in 11 my friend frend of the press who was chuckling audibly hes hos the thea theauthor author Author of The Everlasting Girl Gir I exclaimed Why the piece is simply rot rot Of course I see you iou OU fatted failed to L rec recognize recognize recognize the quartette who werA so fn en fn thUS in their I They were rival authors And Aid my myress press laughter ress friend nearly split his sides with wih While endeavoring endea ti t tind l nd words in is which to express my 17 indignation u a at such a wonton display of or the th f II pale gentleman genteman suddenly put on his hit t crush hat and rushed wildly out lut ut into Int the night He will wi do himself an injury injun L said Come let us follow I No N laughed my m friend of the press this the te first time it has h s hap Serves him right too When he hi I had bad exhausted his vein he should hay hav hR quit qui When he begins to warm over ovet his old stories stores you ou see what hat happens He will wl live h to laugh 4 yet vet I said warmly for tor my sympathies were ver I Inow now all an with the pale man He uHe I will wil ill find somewhere or ar invent a new nea I comic opera story anI alii the Impossible le declared leclar the heartless hearties 3 press man Brown Brwn doe nt know how r to Invent and no unused Ie opera stories remain to be ve veSo So discussing this gentlemen of the te press wa w ml i a o elo eloquent eloquent quent we e took supper t or r and afterward I 1 walked with o where our ways parted This happened to be at the brink of one of oC my deepest street excavations It I was now long past midnight midnight and the neighborhood was deserted In the dim light of the waning waning moon the black depths of oC the t cavern seemed ghostly The huge derricks cast fantastic shad shadows shadows shadows around Look said my friend of the press pres look at the te strange shadows shado in this dim light Observe the vague vage outlines deep down in the excavation The he Il it Illusion i lusion is perfect This is no modern scene it i Is Pompeii Pompei or ancient Thebes on the Nile Nie Whereupon he bade me inc good night and went w nt his way wa It I has not been my fortune to travel abroad but I 1 had read ead of the excava excavations excavatIons tos at Pompeii PompeI and Thebes Thebe and as I pondered I felt the power of of the illusion iu illusion sion my friend had nad mentioned I be became became e came aware that any person peon of intelli intelligence gence tolerably well read coming coming to this spot at this hour bour probably would fall tal under the same spell The sensation was wa so agreeable to me whose days are filled with matters maters sor sordid sordid sordid did and practical that I walked a few steps down dow the stairs stirs leading Into the excavation Suddenly I I heard the faint echoing sound of a pick at t work on an the rock walls wals of the tunnel far below me meCan meCan meCan Can it i be possible I thought that some archaeologist wandering in the neighborhood at this hour had experienced exper nce the Ute saie same Illusion that my press ress friend fried had felt el and that I 1 now feel Some enthusiastic antiquarian spell spen spellbound spellbound bound who fancies ances that h t he hes is knocking chips chip from prehistoric remains With Wih this conviction uppermost In my mind I completed d the descent and presently confronted the object of my curiosity The sight that Inet et my astonished gaze was one oe that I shall shaH never never forget Dancing Joyfully on n the slimy floor foor of the excavation his bis evening dress cov coy covered covered ered with wih clay cay was wa the pale pate gentleman genteman the author of or The Everlasting Girl He was hugging to his bosom a slab shah of stone covered with wih hieroglyphics half halt obliterated You Yau of all al men mob I exclaimed What are you doing among these hese ruins of a forgotten past Forgotten past he shrieked in glee Forgotten past past the Idea And nd hugging the slab so fiercely to his bosom osom that it I split from rom top to bot bottom torn tom he skipped about in a delirium of or rapture At length exhausted he consented to listen to my appeals for far information respecting his discovery Youl never breathe a word of o I it to toa toa toa a living soul he urged Never On your honor On my honor Welt Well said the th famous famous librettist holding the t e broken n slab jealously bo hind hi hl back ba and putting his lips Ups close to my ear well wel 1 have found the stone tone tablets tablet on which are engraved the un unpublished unpublished published lyrics and dialogue of the first comic opera oera lever lver written And mine mine all ai mine mineI I got him to the nearest hospital without delay dela In three days he had entirely recovered his s mental balance And I shall never tease ae to rejoice that I am In a measure responsible for the fresh Impetus lately Jt y given ghen to 10 light musical stage productions on his recovery recover f shock of that t terri tern ble night the author of The Ever Even lasting Girl entered upon a new nev pe period period nod of his career carer characterized ed by a facility of oC Invention that enabled him to eclipse all al his former efforts Copyright 1301 1501 1 by W V R H R Hearst Hearst |