| Show I IN POVERTY CORNER A Queer Nook in London Where Poor Actors Gather THE SIGHTS AND SCENES THERE The Resurrection of Iiuciestlne Correspondence Correspond-ence Between Juntas rfrntus Booth and His WIfeOf Covent Garden LONDON Nov 12 ISJO Special correspondence cor-respondence of Tac HentaoOn the Surrey side of the Thames just beyond Waterloo bridge is a strSnee locality where poor people and others of moderate means dwell Tne classes mix and mingle in the struggle of life and many a good story of right and wrong laughter and song folly and daring is gathered between be-tween the end of the bridge and the rail road station bearing the same name not half a mile beyond Along the streets of this locality there are rooms for rent in nearly all the houses and men and women who are a study live in them from the seedy professional of vague ambitions to the speedy girl who is doing the best she can for herself Now and then a member of parliament base little money has a room in this locality with his breaktast cooked over an oil stove for a pound a week r i and is quite comfortable In other words this section is peopled with that range of humanity with whom economy econ-omy is a necessity and the actual wants of life are often missing It i just such a community as Dickens would revel in while in search DI riCTURESQUE CH UACTERS OR QUAINT DOINGS if the Lordon of Dickens still existed but it does not Nearly nil tho old places about which he wove such wonderful stories have changed their power and purpose for the better save the Seven Dials or St Martins church Poverty Corner is the center of this locality lo-cality filled with strange beings The intersections in-tersections of York and Waterloo roads forms tho corner There is a ginmill on the tip of each of the four corners and many more in the locality where those who congregate there divide their pint of bitters with the less fortunate of their kind or drink it alone Under the rail road bridge just beyond the Duke of York a swell ginmill is a fish market where the children of tho very poor gather after the days sales are over ask for two pennies worth of fish and get all they can carry home There are dozens of queer nooks and phases of existence in all directions direc-tions where strange scenes are enacted in that rude and intensely interesting drama which is played there so earnestly with a change of bill every hour in the day and night for many times those who are seeking bread either by their work or their wits nave no place t lay their heads and make the arches of the bridges their home POVERTY CORNER is therefore the resort of many but it is chiefly and popularly known as the meeting meet-ing point for the humbler class of actors who are seeking places in the music halls I and tha lower occupations on the stage There are a dozen or more theatrical and I I musical agencies in the vicinity where I I these actors and actresses gather hoping I often against hope for even a chance to I show what they can do They arc poor many very poor not worse off than in many other avocations but tho fight for a place is very hard hero where there are so many begging for a chance t be heard There I are no conditions surroundings like it in tho United States but just after thoscason clOses Union Square about Fourteenth street will give one a faint glimpse of it but it is very faint because just beyond Waterloo bridge the poverty of tho stage of London seems to gather never relieved by the sight of a prosperous actor or actress as is often found on the Rialto in New York About 12 clock I I THIS SINGULAR CROWD assembles They sleep late when TheV they i I I sleep at all and with or without breakfast I I the conditions are tho same They Ire cjnently divide their last pennys worth of beer with each ether and keep in wonderfully wonder-fully good spirits considering what they endure Among them there is every sort of talent Chorus man song and dance ballad singer and specialists of every class Sometimes hundreds can be found there and especially lust before the holidays when the Christmas pantomimes are being put on the number increases and a manager can get almost all the people he want of any kind or description by giving the word to ono of the numerous Hawks who acts as middleman between these folks and those who wish to employ them The beginner is a prominent and unique character among this throng which does th minor work of theboards His lot is a very hard one and he waits and begs for a chance to show what lie can do and these chances are not numerous The agent hears him and if he thinks well of it he goes to a manager and asks for a hearing hear-ing for his client This i done in the music halls by what is called an extra I turn The ambitious is ambitous young person put on for trial somo nigh ana tho fact announced I an-nounced by a big placard This is notice Ito I-to the audience that it is to decide his fate I the verdict is a favorable ono ho generally gener-ally has a sure road to an engagement if it is i unfavorable he is hissed off tho singe and his career generally ends in the chorus on the street or doing the provincial towns Naturally MANT HNIQUC CHARACTERS ARC FOUND among this class and much talent comes from the curious throng that rakes in poverty corner Of course they are an improvident lot and their earnings at best arc small Want 1s constantly staring them in the face and sharpening their wit so that even tho most casual observer can get a good deal that is interesting out of t I 1 the remarkable assembly which gathers in I about the Duke of York that famous taproom tap-room on tho corner where good beer is kept with pretty barmaids to pull the I pumps Hard as is tho life that those humble people peo-ple of the stage and wouldbo stars lead it I is a vast improvement on the years ago when all players were looked upon as vagabonds vag-abonds liable not only to poverty but to all sorts of indignities The days have long since passed when they had to be called his majestys servants to protect them from outrage Some of theso poou people I find here may soma day represent a still higher advancement of stage lifo than we are even now knowing Tho hap pygolucky seeking of today may make the beginning of many good if not great careers ca-reers I am reminded by looking over theso strange people that IUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH and many other great actors sprung from the most limited conditions of life and even after they had shown their quality were willing or were forced to work for a pittance Some interesting reminiscences of the early stage lifo of some of the great actors who used to circulate about here are recalled while listening in the Duke of York to the talk among the talent gathered gath-ered there of their ambitions and prospects Story and song help to enliven the occasiont and the world is brighter to them by their racy view of it Just across the Waterloo bridge and within a gunshot of the queer placo and the queer people who have attracted my attention atten-tion is the Lyceum theatre the homo of Henry Irving and his superb company none of whom I believe ever knew or at least felt the exactions or know tho pleasures pleas-ures of Poverty Corner Not far in fact only a few turns from where Mr Irving and Ellen Terry represent the very highest I advancement of the stage of this day and do much for the humble people who labor upon it is Covent Garden theatre towards which my thought ara tending while on tho Surrey side of the Thames It is surrounded sur-rounded by a great market house where every morning tho people of London flock to buy their flowers fruit and vegetables THE SURROUNDINGS ARE MOST UNGAINLY but its history is filled with the strangest romances and somoof grandest achievements achieve-ments of the stage Were it in the United States people could not bo induced to visit i but here traditions count for so much that although it holds some four thousand it is the home of grand opera the swell concerts and large audiences I is handsome hand-some after you get inside and that is all but Covent Garden has a great past and may have a great future I seek only to use its traditions t show h win tho long ago even the greatest actors received very small compensation for their work and their road was as rough as some of those of whom I have been writing Among some old manuscripts in the possession of a friend I found this letter Madame and friend I have had the pleasure to receive jour letter of tho 15th instant and ram r-am charmed as is also my wife to hear that you arc well My engagement at Covent Garden Gar-den was signed on the Itn of this month Here I are the terms For the frt year 40 trances Sh I I 1 week the second CO the third 0 the fourth 70 anti the fifth S Thus you will see that the I terms have been changed and Instead of CO francs per week and for three years my engagement en-gagement is for live years with an increase often of-ten francs per week each year after September We have told you that my Minnie would be placed In a boardinghouse during my vacation but have had the happiness to obtain an engagement en-gagement at the IJoyal theatre Brighton beginning be-ginning in June and as ray salary nil be good Minnie will accompany I have also written to Mr Williams offering thanks Brighton Is a city somewhat like Brussells and also cay The air is the purest to be found in all England and as a sedentary lifo will not be heiUdy for Minnie at present she being ene oite Brighton will give her line opportunity opportu-nity to amuse bcreluu acne me some new irom t vance sue 01 mat monster BDnaparte who has I fear gI many friends in your city Meat here is ten to twelve cents a pounds and everything is extremely dear You have hy this time undouUtedly received by letter of the 8th instant with a written copy of tho certificate of our marriage which had starred before your Utter was received Say to my uncle and my sweet sisters that I embrace tnem as does my wife also As she will not have time to write you her long history today as the gentleman who will mal this is about to leave she will have to wait some days for your replv which I hope is now on the road Tell Mr illiams that I have bought two of his pictures ono small and tho other large Present our compliments to all our friends who enquire for us I am meantime your affcc tionate son J B Boom The letter was addressed to Mr Booths motherinlaw who lived in Brussells Belgium Bel-gium misrepresents the harsh conditions audrcprescnts conditons of liislife oven after he had obtained a good position on the stage Beginning at eight dollars a week ho was to creep up by such slow degrees that after live years of effort he was to get only sixteen dollars When this contract was made the groat actor had just come from Brussells where he had been plnving i with anEnglisn speaking speak-ing company for the oflicors of the allied armies that fought the battle ot Waterloo I was while he was fulfilling this contract that ho became famous but it would seem from his own words that his struggle was so hard that he was constantly desiring to get out of tho profession He finally concluded con-cluded to be a soldier and doubtless had some vatrue impression that he would win distinction more rapidly in the army than behind the footlights Some two years later from the date of tho letter already quoted he xvrote to his young wife then in Brussells telling her of his strange ambition ambi-tion Her reply illustrates her temper as vell a his Mv dear Tunius At all times when I do not hear from you almost to the very day expect I have a thousand anxieties but now most particularly par-ticularly so I can be reconciled to your sl Dce when I can hope your time Is wholly taken up by pleasuiable occupation but every flay and moment I feel a wish to hear Irom you when you have vexations Dearest Junlus how much unhappiness has jour last letter caused 2nd February what a wounded spirit breaths in i Why cannot I be near you to hear and understand under-stand every thought and feeling as they rise in your bosomi A word or look will oren open the I heart and by a word or look we often receive consolation or advice more grateful and moro exactly answerable to our feeling thanperhaps I I hundred cold inanimate loiters I incessantly tiondcr on the subject of that letter do not then entertain a thought that It Is poaible for you to occasion in your heart ono thought of displeasure towards you every pursuit you have must ho laudable and I can never havo so cruel a wish as you should pass a whole life in a profession that you cannot be happy in only because I had once placed my whole sum of happiness for 3 ou In tuat profession I am not one of those prejudiced people I have often hoard said a young man should never change and hno good can come of ltali that I would ask you is that It should be well considered and there should be reasonable grounds for c thinking the one to be will be productive of more satisfaction than the one that is How often do people say they have considered it only because they lave indulged their thoughts constantly In the wl > er plan how to compass such a thing I have so much of a military loIn lo-In these days that once acquainted with the prospects you have formed In your own mind I can determine whether you will be happy in I or completely miserable Ponder well dear on all the reasons which cause you to leave the profession you are Inis it neglect Injustice Do you feel more poignantly than others in the same situation 3o < Above all what the grand I aim you had in that and what it will I bo 1N that you have decided on or are meditating on Is tOnl bft1g tO an ambition to bo distinguished At present I cinnot but feel sorry perhaps with over truth I should say grieved at the bent of your Inclination Inclina-tion nor can I do less when never creature was more ardent for fame than I am for your nor felt more assured than I have done at being in the right road for genius pointed out the rttho nrtIn el path I thought and opportunity was at least partially afforded t to display these talents which not myself alone but every one whose judgment or feeling I can prize discern and value equally with myself I thought though all we desired had not jet been attained there was enough to cheer and enliven the way to wnrdit I feelthat in the army you will have nothing to encourage on but your own consciousness con-sciousness that a time shall come when you will be known or do ou really preCertbe simple sim-ple military life Oh I how little do you leo of yourself i you think you tlo However dear only make yourself sure that you do prefer it to the one you art In and I shall be content What I most prefer Is that feeling unhappy in one place wcfancy change must be for the better Were these the times of a Bonaparte and you could yourself address him there might be fame anil honor fast as such au impatient spirit could desire and feeling that I could at least bo silent Now I can neither be that nor yet can say half what I feel Write me directly Affectionately MINNIE These old relics of a wonderful past in tho history of the stage and of a great actor come back through the mist of years to Turnish not only an interesting view of its conditions at that time but an apt illustration illus-tration of the fact that in all generations among those who labor on the stage there has been a severe fight in gaining a foothold foot-hold These struggles which Mr Booths letters so clearly portray finally DROVE HIM OUT OF COVENT GARDEN THEATRE and brought him to the United States to win fame amI fortune second to few man who have ever tried the boards Some of those who gather at Poverty Corner may some day have this said of them but now the weather of their futuro is foggy While this is true there aro many bright places in the theatrical world of London I is by no means all darkness and there can bo some delightful pictures drawn of the many meeting places of actors and actresses ac-tresses in the great city where they have great chances for enjoyment as well as work FRANK A BURR |
