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Show YOUKO. BOOTJI'S FJRsf 1UCH-ARD,, 1UCH-ARD,, ' ' . ; - Tk of twferro years, ago, old Booth was piaylug an engagement at' the ChaU hart Street theater in this clty,,nnd was nnnbnticed on a certain night fofr Richard III; hff went to rehearsal in tho morning, (tntl bttvo no Indication bf tho eccentricity which- sometinfcj sclsed 'tilm, o of 'riny dfsluclfnatlon'lo perform fu the evcn'liig. He was 111, however, and, Wheu night fell. utterly rerttstdlo go to 'the theater; hls" dresscs were packed nod put Into-the carriitge'tliat , nwatled lilm, but tie was obstinately Immovable: He. 'said to lift, son, Edwin, now the Inheritor of' his father's fame, but thn a boy of sixtecit, who had played only parts likis Richmond In this very play; or Laertes In - Hamlet, and these very scldom; I'Neddy you must go aiid play Richard tot me" Tho boy thooght his father Jwas joking, but' the stwngo man of genius, persisted, and the Olhcrgenlus, not knowlngV what t'did-or t'did-or -what he was going to doygbt.into the carnage and drove to the theatre; He told , his story and, tho' manager; who knew Jiow Intractable old Booth was When he got into, his vagaries; called, for J, It. Stott, who isomctimes played a part when" the Rreat actor disappointed liis nu-dlet.ee, nu-dlet.ee, - Scott,, however, rufused; he was cast .for "Richmond, aiid. Richmond only Would he play;. The housa was crowded; theorcrturo was over: The manager exclaimed ex-claimed In aispufr; 1 " . ' i "There's no ouo'lo play Richard but you, Edwin." s "That's what my father: sent me to do." "Ate you up m the imrtt" (whicli meaiis "do yba know tho twtl") ."Yes." ' Atid wilhont'.consulttng tho youngster farther, they dragged him into the dress Injr room, made hinvtrf look as much', like hls'fathcr as posstble; drcrscd him In the paternal garments (so' that he literally stepped into his father's shoes, and worn Ids father's mantle), and without giving him time to think, without announcing to .the audience any change' in the'east. they rang up tho curtain and Edwin Booth appeared as lticlmrU III. It was n fstruitge debut for bim to makp, a a star, who littajjiicc gained so enviable a.dr-l YiWlclCf.t ' ' " "K W" r.'W Thcundiciice iobkctl amazed, but- they! were used to having Booth tltc cWertoku all sorts of. liberties with them; Htost oT them knew w.tto If wos that filled his plnec, from the ton having fenitpbrftd the .fatlicr'at .inter'vals in that- tucater; they were 'curious: to see. if anyJof the, fire that animated thcold ntutj so woiidfrfully find, been, transmitted. Tho boy went through) the piece," was applauded tit times, .and called oat ut the close of the pfay;' then Indeed lie wus'mpre frightened, than, before; thcirh'e; must "appcar' iu his owh- person,, und -leave Richard 111, bc-htud bc-htud the curtain. Hu diirediiotigo; so Scott took lutti liy the liand,vnrid led hint out, imd said to nic housb that cheered so loudly,, i'A chfp of the bid block ;" words t'latfiairo beeii proven sine, more than caiually (rue. And so. young Booth, for the rirst lime, plriycd Richard. He litis played it sjilce, hundreds of times, to audiences au-diences of fur' higher distinction, nnd more critically Inclined than those who applauded his maiden effort in Chatham Street.; but there must hiivo bccucvldeut, even then, something of the genius that chains' his auditors now; they could not otherwise have endnred five acts or a tyro. Rut it was years before he tried tho part agaiu; although tha boy must have, had liis nhpirationsj must have fell that he wus destined to baa great actor; must have studied the very words' carefully, care-fully, to bo thus ready with the text he seemed indifferent to what would have turned the hcatlsof mostyoungaclors, or great actors' sons. lie- went- homo to his father, Who merely asked, ''Did vou get through.11 "Vcs;" and that was' all the conversation that passed between the two beings of such' singular gifts and such close relationship, nud that was all that came of Edwin Booth'tf pbiying ltichnrd when he was sixteen years old.' lie did not play Itognln during the lifetime life-time of his father. iVw York Erfxtis. |