d failed in it and it was promised to me to keep if I could do
it _ohne probe_ (without rehearsal). I sang it for the first time,
quaking with nerves, on Christmas Day, and my nick-name after that was
"Die schoene Carmen." After Christmas we produced the "Merry Widow"
which was new then, and I was cast for the _Dutiful Wife_. There was
plenty of variety in my work. I would sing _Carmen_ on Sunday,
_Orlofsky_ in "Fledermaus" on Tuesday, speaking German with a Russian
accent, _Pamela_ on Thursday night with an English accent, and _Frau
Reich_ on Friday night with no accent at all! I dressed _Frau Reich_ in
a gown of the time of Henry V while the rest of the cast "went
Shakespearean." We were far too busy for dress rehearsals of an old
opera, and I supposed of course that it would be costumed in the real
period of the play. When I appeared on the stage, they all demanded "And
what, pray, are _you_ supposed to represent?" "I am playing
Shakespeare's _Frau Reich_," I answered with dignity--"and I am the only
person on the stage who is properly dressed." But you have to know your
colleagues well before you can make an answer like that successfully,
without their hating you for it.

CHAPTER XI

SOME STAGE DELIGHTS

We had also what is known as _Abstecher_, on off nights. That is,
performances in a neighbouring and still smaller town about once a
month. We would travel altogether, taking our costumes and make-up with
us, principals second class and chorus third. Our fare was paid, and the
generous management allowed us two marks apiece (50c) extra for
expenses! As we left at five P.M. returning at one or two in the
morning, this allowance was not excessive for food alone, but the
thrifty took black bread and sausage with them, and expended only
fifteen pfennigs (3-1/2c) for beer. Our _Abstecher_ was a village with a
cavalry barracks, a railroad station, and not much else. The theatre was
built over a sort of warehouse and stable combined, and we fell over
bales and packing cases at the entrance. The dressing rooms were tiny
boxes, with a shelf, one gas light in a wire globe, and a red-hot stove
in each room, and no window. We dressed three in a room. The stage was
so small that once, as _Nancy_, I played a whole scene with the tail of
my train caught in the door by which I had entered, and never knew it!
We were always given a rapturous welcome. Sometimes one of the
principals would miss the train and be forced to co