A Star for a Night: A Story of Stage Life

Elsie Janis in a few of her characterizations.
NEW YORK WILLIAM RICKEY & COMPANY 1911 Copyright, 1911, by BRUCE EDWARDS Copyright, 1911, by WILLIAM RICKEY & COMPANY Registered at Stationers' Hall, London (All Rights Reserved) Printed in the United States of America PRESS OF WILLIAM G. HEWITT, BROOKLYN, N. Y.
Produced at Charles Dillingham's Globe Theatre, New York

Stick a pin in the map of southern Indiana, half an inch to the left of Lost River, and about six hours from the rest of the world, as time is used to measure railroad journeys, and you will find a speck called French Lick Springs. Hidden away in the hills, so remote from the centers of civilization that only wealthy inebriates and chronic invalids can afford to visit this out of the way, yet expensive, spot, French Lick has other attractions than the natural beauties of its scenery and the health-giving quality of its waters. For while the sick and the ailing may be tempted to the Springs in the hope of gaining health from the bad-smelling waters they drink, and dozens of florid-faced men invade the little town almost every day from the big and distant cities in order to get washed out after too much indulgence in alcoholic stimulants, there are others who go to the Springs simply for the excitement of a little whirl at the gaming tables, which rumor says abound there, but which a shrewd deputy sheriff invariably reports to the local grand jury, Non est.
The town itself is a tiny hamlet. There is a post-office, a railroad station, a few frame buildings, and the hotel— the hotel, because it is the only shelter the town affords to the weary traveler. Patrons who have stopped at the City Hotel in Marshalltown, Iowa, or the Commercial House in Joplin, Missouri, may wonder how such a tiny town supports such a gigantic hotel, but the rural spectators at the railroad station, who have seen the trains on the little branch road bring in Pullman after Pullman loaded to the roofs, know that no small part of the great outside world comes here for rest, recreation, and rehabilitation. Drinking is under the ban here—that is, if you must drink, you must drink the sulphur water. And every one who has tried to mix alcohol with the water of the Springs knows the evil consequences thereof.