Recollections of a player . A PLAYER Orleans. At the latter place we foundMiss Effie Ellsler playing at the OperaHouse, and my old friend C. W. Couldocka member of her comj)any. We lived atthe same hotel, and had many pleasantchats together. Couldock was full ofreminiscences, and could tell a story inthe drollest manner and with as goodeffect as any one I have ever met. Hewas well known in New Orleans and hada great many friends, whom it was hiscustom to meet after the performance,often insisting upon my going with these occasions Couldock would keepus all greatly amused for hours wit
Recollections of a player . A PLAYER Orleans. At the latter place we foundMiss Effie Ellsler playing at the OperaHouse, and my old friend C. W. Couldocka member of her comj)any. We lived atthe same hotel, and had many pleasantchats together. Couldock was full ofreminiscences, and could tell a story inthe drollest manner and with as goodeffect as any one I have ever met. Hewas well known in New Orleans and hada great many friends, whom it was hiscustom to meet after the performance,often insisting upon my going with these occasions Couldock would keepus all greatly amused for hours with hisexperiences of bygone days. After IsTew Orleans we retraced oursteps, revisiting many of the cities, Ala-bama being our chief attraction. CharleyHarris at this time began to complain ofillness, and although he traveled con-stantly with the company, he acted onlyoccasionally. He looked so strong andhearty it seemed hard to realize that hewas afflicted with a fatal malady. Hisabsence from the cast made such a differ-236. C. W. Couldock. RECOLLECTIONS OF A PLAYER ence in the performance that I now re-proach myself with having on more thanone occasion tried to laugh him out of hisindisposition and persuade him to act. Iremember, in one place, it was nearly timeto go to the theater, and I waited for himat the hotel where we were living, andsaid, Come along, Charley ; its time to goto the theater ; to which he replied, withtears in his eyes, For Gods sake, Gov-ernor, dont ask me to act to-night; youdont know how ill I feel. It was thetruth, for he never played again. It sohappened that a friend for whom he haddone much years before was at the samehotel, and insisted on taking him in company moved on in the morning^leaving poor Harris with his friend, andthe next time we saw him he was in theChicago Hospital. We learned that therewas no hope for his life. Some membersof the company visited him every day, andhe wanted for nothing. Throughout allhe was brave and uncompla
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecttheater, bookyear1902
