actors that are carrying round furniture and electric light stands and
things.

They got a parlour in a humble home where the first scene is to be.
There's a mother and a fair-haired boy of twenty and a cop that's come
to pinch him for a crime. The play at this point is that the mother has
to plead with the cop not to drag her boy off to a prison cell, and she
has to do it with streaming eyes. It was darned interesting. The boy is
standing with bowed head and the cop is looking sympathetic but firm, and
mother is putting something into her eyes out of a medicine dropper. I
whisper to Vida and she says it's glycerine for the tears. She holds her
head back when she puts 'em in and they run down her cheeks very lifelike
when she straightens up.

So mother comes forward with her streaming face and they're all ready
to act when the grouch halts things and barks at the boy that he ain't
standing right. He goes up and shows him how to stand more shamefully.
But the tears on mother's face have dripped away and have to be renewed.
She was a nice, kind-appearing mother all right, but I noticed she looked
peeved when this delay happened. Vida explains that glycerine don't
damage the eyes really, but it makes 'em smart a lot, and this actress,
Miss St. Clair, has a right to feel mad over having to put in some more.

But she does it, though with low muttering when the grouch calls "All
right, Miss St. Clair!" and is coming forward to act with this here
second batch of tears when the grouch stops it with another barking fit.
He barks at the policeman this time. He says the policeman must do more
acting.

"You know you have a boy of your own," says he, "and how you'd hate to
have him arrested for this crime, but you're also remembering that law
is law and you're sworn to uphold it. Try to get that now. All ready,
Miss St. Clair--we're waiting for you, Miss St. Clair!"

I'd watched this actress the second time her tears was spoiled and her
expression didn't fit a loving mother's face one bit. Her breath come as
in scenes of tense emotion, but she hotly muttered something that made
me think I must of misunderstood her, because no lady actress would say
it, let alone a kind old mother. However, she backs off and for the third
time has this medicine dropper worked on her smarting eyes. Once more
she comes forward with streaming eyes of motherly love, and I'm darned
if this grouch don't hold things up again.

This time he's barking