. Recollections of a player. gitimatesphere of acting, and he often derided me for mytemerity in looking upward. Had he confined histaunts to verbal strictures they might have beenborne in silence, for I had but little respect forhis opinions; but once he resorted to his fists todrive the ambition out of my head. He was skilleda little in the science of boxing, while I knewnothing of the practice, and I realized that there-after he would be certain to presume upon myignorance and humiliate me on every possibleoccasion. I was determined not only to put a check to hisabuse, but to pay him back i
. Recollections of a player. gitimatesphere of acting, and he often derided me for mytemerity in looking upward. Had he confined histaunts to verbal strictures they might have beenborne in silence, for I had but little respect forhis opinions; but once he resorted to his fists todrive the ambition out of my head. He was skilleda little in the science of boxing, while I knewnothing of the practice, and I realized that there-after he would be certain to presume upon myignorance and humiliate me on every possibleoccasion. I was determined not only to put a check to hisabuse, but to pay him back in full for the roughusage I had sustained at his hands. I sought Col-onel T. H. Monstery, a celebrated teacher of self-defense, and in a short while acquired sufficientknowledge of the use of my fists to compete withmy pugnacious partner; and this I did with the Recollections of a Player. 25 result that I succeeded in establishing myself inwhat was, at least to all outward appearances, aposition of respect in his A POSITION OK RESPECT. This association with Colonel Monstery devel-oped into a warm friendship, and I became anenthusiastic pupil of boxing and swordsmanship tohim, as had Junius Brutus Booth, Frank Mayo,and many such before me ; and even now when Igo to Chicago, where he resides, my old masterand I have many an enjoyable bout with the 26 Reco/Iectiofts of a Player. At his earnest solicitation I entered for thesword-contests in the New York Athletic Clubgames at Gilmores Garden in 1878, and throughhis careful coaching succeeded in winning the ama-teur championship of America. I ought to explain that, aside from a natural in-terest I had always felt in contests of an athleticnature, I had been urged forward in my sword-practice by the hope that the accomplishmentwould better fit me for a dramatic career, andby having read in Rees Life of Edwin Forrest,that the three accomplishments deemed absolutelynecessary to an actor were singing, dancing, andsw
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