The Story of My Life | Page 9

rehearsals anywhere--in the street, the 'bus--we were never
safe! I remember vividly going into a chemist's shop and being stood
upon a stool to say my part to the chemist! Such leisure as I had from
my profession was spent in "minding" the younger children--an
occupation in which I delighted. They all had very pretty hair, and I
used to wash it and comb it out until it looked as fine and bright as floss
silk.
It is argued now that stage life is bad for a young child, and children are
not allowed by law to go on the stage until they are ten years old--quite
a mature age in my young days! I cannot discuss the whole question
here, and must content myself with saying that during my three years at
the Princess's I was a very strong, happy, and healthy child. I was never
out of the bill except during the run of "A Midsummer Night's Dream,"
when, through an unfortunate accident, I broke my toe. I was playing
Puck, my second part on any stage, and had come up through a trap at
the end of the last act to give the final speech. My sister Kate was
playing Titania that night as understudy to Carlotta Leclercq. Up I
came--but not quite up, for the man shut the trapdoor too soon and
caught my toe. I screamed. Kate rushed to me and banged her foot on
the stage, but the man only closed the trap tighter, mistaking the signal.
"Oh, Katie! Katie!" I cried. "Oh, Nelly! Nelly!" said poor Kate
helplessly. Then Mrs. Kean came rushing on and made them open the
trap and release my poor foot.

"Finish the play, dear," she whispered excitedly, "and I'll double your
salary!" There was Kate holding me up on one side and Mrs. Kean on
the other. Well, I did finish the play in a fashion. The text ran
something like this--
"If we shadows have offended (Oh, Katie, Katie!) Think but this, and
all is mended, (Oh, my toe!) That you have but slumbered here, While
these visions did appear. (I can't, I can't!) And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream, (Oh, dear! oh, dear!) Gentles, do not
reprehend; (A big sob) If you pardon, we will mend. (Oh, Mrs. Kean!)"
How I got through it, I don't know! But my salary was doubled--it had
been fifteen shillings, and it was raised to thirty--and Mr. Skey,
President of Bartholomew's Hospital, who chanced to be in a stall that
very evening, came round behind the scenes and put my toe right. He
remained my friend for life.
I was not chosen for Puck because I had played Mamilius with some
credit. The same examination was gone through, and again I came out
first. During the rehearsals Mrs. Kean taught me to draw my breath in
through my nose and begin a laugh--a very valuable accomplishment!
She was also indefatigable in her lessons in clear enunciation, and I can
hear her now lecturing the ladies of the company on their vowels. "A, E,
I, O, U, my dear," she used to say, "are five distinct vowels, so don't
mix them all up together, as if you were making a pudding. If you want
to say, 'I am going on the river,' say it plainly and don't tell us you are
going on the 'rivah!' You must say her, not har; it's God, not Gud:
remonstrance, not remunstrance," and so forth. No one ever had a
sharper tongue or a kinder heart than Mrs. Kean. Beginning with her, I
have always loved women with a somewhat hard manner! I have never
believed in their hardness, and have proved them tender and generous
in the extreme.
Actor-managers are very proud of their long runs nowadays, but in
Shakespeare, at any rate, they do not often eclipse Charles Kean's two
hundred and fifty nights of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the
Princess's. It was certainly a very fascinating production, and many of
the effects were beautiful. I, by the way, had my share in marring one

of these during the run. When Puck was told to put a girdle round the
earth in forty minutes, I had to fly off the stage as swiftly as I could,
and a dummy Puck was whirled through the air from the point where I
disappeared. One night the dummy, while in full flying action, fell on
the stage, whereupon, in great concern for its safety, I ran on, picked it
up in my arms, and ran off with it amid roars of laughter! Neither of the
Keans was acting in this production, but there was some one in
authority to give me a sound cuff. Yet I had such excellent intentions.
'Tis