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CONFESSIONS OF A WIFE '
LAWTON'S THIRD LEADING LADY BECOMES ONE OF PAULA'S BEST
FRIENDS
" 'Are you really going to leave me,
Paula?'
"Earnest Lawton, with tears in his
eyes and despair in his voice, looked
at me across the table," continued
Paula. "I did not realize at the time,
Margie, that it was his best third-act
stuff. At that time I was not able
to realize that his rendering of the
'because I love you, baby child,' was
pleasing him not because he really
loved me, but because he saw that
he was making a great hit with his
audience, which was poor little I.
" 'I let that hell-cat go,' he con
tinued, 'and have persuaded Ruth
Dayton to come with us. She will
cause no trouble, for she is so glad
to get on Broadway that she will ac
cept anything.'
" 'Who is Ruth Dayton?' I asked.
" 'A splendid actress who has
spent most of her life in stock,' he
answered. "This will be her chance,
Paula, as well as yours, but the ter
rible part of it is that her chance has
come to her when she is old, and
yours, dear child, has come to you
when you are young and. can en
joy it'
" 'If Miss Salvan is leaving your
company, Ernest, there is no reason
why I should leave it I only said
that she and I could not remain in
the same company. I want to stay.
I love the part and '
" 'You love me a little, baby child
"I felt myself growing red and
then pale.
" 'Do you know, Paula,' Earnest
Lawton continued, 'you have never
told me you really love me?'
"Woman's natural coquetry came
to my aid and I said: 'What do you
think about it?'
" 'I don't stop to think,' he said
lightly. 'You see, whenever I think
about you at all I think how much
I love you.'
" 'Very foolish was my rejoinder.
" 'But very satisfactory,' was his
conclusion.
"Long, long afterward, Margie, I
learned that the little, foolish, child
ish things of life are what make hap
piness, that those who always look
for some great thing to come into
their lives and make them happy
miss the very essence of happiness
the power to extract joy out of
commonplace incidents.
" 'But,' I found courage to say, 'I
have been told you find your only
happiness in thinking that you are in
love with some one.'
"Ernest was the picture of despair.
'All that has gone before was but
silly infatuation,' he murmured.
'Dearest child, it seems my soul was
only waiting until it found yours.'
"Yes, Margie,-that is what he said,
and to me ! Now I can smile at it as
you do, but then it was the breath of
life to me. All my trust in Earnest
Lawton returned.
"I went back to rehearsal that
afternoon treading on air, and found
Miss Dayton all that Earnest had de
scribed, and more.
"The friendship that started be
tween her and me stood me in splen
did stead when I needed real friend
ship most and it has never waned
through all the vicissitudes in our
later lives."
(To Be Continued.)
o o
Mr. and Mrs. Young of Carrollton, '
Ga., have four children who have
only two birthdays; the elder two are
twins and the younger two, though
born four years apart, have ' their
birthday on the same day of the "
year and were born even at the same
hour.
o o
Paradise, by Tintoretto, is the
largest painting in the world, 84 feet
wide and 33 y2 feet high. It is now in
the Doge's palace, Venice,
