Divorces are not more common amongst theatrical folk than any other class, so, whatever may be said for or against the morality of the stage, the Divorce Court does not prove theatrical life to be less virtuous than any other.
The fascination of the stage entraps all ages—all classes. Even children sometimes wax warm over theatrical folk. Once I chanced to be talking to a little girl concerning theatres.
“Do you know Mr. A. B. C.?” she asked excitedly, when the conversation turned on actors.
“Oh, do tell me all about him,” she exclaimed, seizing my arm.
“Because I adore him, and all the girls at school adore him, he is like a real prince; we save up our pocket-money to buy his photographs, and May Smith _has actually got his autograph_!”
“But tell me why you all adore him?” I asked.
“Because he is so lovely, so tall and handsome, has such a melodious voice, and oh! doesn’t he look too beautiful in his velvet suit as——? He is young and handsome, isn’t he? Oh, do say he is young and handsome,” implored the enthusiastic child.
“I am afraid I cannot, for it would not be true; Mr. A. B. C. is not tall—in fact, he is quite short.” She looked crestfallen. “He has a sallow complexion.”
“Sallow! Oh, not really sallow! but he _is_ handsome and young, isn’t he?”
“Fifty-two!” she almost shrieked. “_My_ A. B. C. fifty-two. Oh no. You are chaffing me; he must be young and beautiful.”
“Grey?”—she sobbed. “Not grey? Oh, you hurt me.”
“You asked questions and I have answered them truthfully,” I replied. She stood silent for a moment, then in rather a subdued tone murmured:
“Oh yes, he has been married for five-and-twenty years.”
The child looked so crestfallen I felt I had been unkind.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” she almost sobbed, “won’t the girls at school be surprised! Are you quite, quite sure he is not young and beautiful? he looks so lovely on the stage.”
“Quite, quite sure. You have only seen him from before the footlights. He is a good fellow, clever and charming, and he works hard, but he is no lover in velvet and jerkin, no hero of romance, and the less you worry your foolish little head about him the better, my dear.”
How many men and women believe like this child that there are only princes and princesses on the stage.