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Show I ROBSON'S REMINISCENCE. -His Earliest Recollections of Laura (New York Times.) Stuarf Robson was in a reminiscent mood the other night, and during an intermission in-termission in "The Comedy of Errors" entertained several visitors to his dressing dress-ing room with stories of Laura Keene, with whom he played in the '60s. "She was one of the most intelligent women I ever met," he said, "and yet her most pronounced characteristic was one that is often associated with ignorance. She was superstitious to an absurd degree. de-gree. She never allowed her actors to take hold of a chair with the right hand; to study a part on Sundav was unpardonable unpardon-able in her eyes, and to carry an umbrella with a hook handle meant discharge if she caught you. "The sight of a bottle of red ink was enough to upset her for a week. On one occasion we were playing a farce called "The Lady and the Devil." An important scene of it was when she was sitting at a table preparatory to writing a letter. I, as her servant, stood at the back of a chair. 'Take your right hand off that chair,' she whispered. The stage dialogue proceeded. " 'You are sure you can find Don Rafael at his lodgings?' " Yes, madam; his servant tells me his wounds will confine him to his bed for a week.' " 'Is this the only paper that we have? Where is the ink?' "'Here, madam,' and I bent forward to place the ink within her reach, when, in my confusion at her reproof, the vessel ves-sel was upset and its contents trickled on to the lap of her satin dress. The ink was blood red. I shall never forget the ghastly look that overspread her face, and I was so frightened that I never knew how the scene ended. "The next morning at rehearsal she told me that I was doomed to ill-luck for the remainder of my days. She called the company together and gave them a de-! de-! tailed description of the 'awful scene' the night before occasioned by the voung ; man who would never make an actor. She told of a terrible dream she had had. in which some great person had been foully murdered before her eyes; how she had attempted rescue without avail: how he had fallen dead at her feet, and how hi3 blood slowly oozed into her lap. "It was two years after this that Miss Keene was playing at Ford's theatre, Washington, on the occasion when Abraham Abra-ham Lincoln was shot. Miss Keene was the only person who seemed to realize the situation. She ran to the box. and in a moment the ead of the dying man was in her lap, while the scene of her dream was being pitifully enacted." |
