Took Bull by the Horns.
I remember standing on the corner of Twenty-Eighth Street and Broadway, with my head just full of such anarchistic ideas, when something plainly said to me:
"If you are as darn good as you think you are, why don't you go out and get a job? There is room for every one."
I immediately walked over to the office of Jesse Williams, a dramatic agent, and said, "I want a job. I will play prima-donna rôles or old men's rôles. I want a job, and I don't care what it is."
He said, "I don't think I have anything for you."
"You MUST have something for me, and I have got to have it," I replied.
"Well, call around and see me later," said he.
"I will do anything, and if I am not all right, and don't prove satisfactory, it won't cost you a cent," I persisted.
"Well, you come around and see me to-morrow."
There was a little fat man sitting in the office—and he turned to me and said:
"Wait a minute."
Then he went over and had a talk with Mr. Williams.
Mr. Williams came out and said: "Mr. Hitchcock, this is Mr. Fred Miller, the composer of 'The Golden Wedding.'"
Mr. Miller then asked me if I could play the part of an English lord, and I said I did not know any one in the whole world who could play it any better than I could.
It was a little after twelve o'clock. Mr. Miller looked at his watch and said: "Can you catch the one o'clock train?"
"If it is necessary, I can catch the twelve o'clock train," I replied.
He then gave me a ticket to Boston, and a ten-dollar bill. It was so long since I had seen a ten-dollar bill I had to ask what it was. I caught the one o'clock train, and in two days was playing the part of Sir Tobin Tobax in "The Golden Wedding" before an enthusiastic audience in Worcester, Massachusetts, and from that time to the present day I have not asked for an engagement.
It is true I have been without ten-dollar bills—in fact, have been without most everything—except an engagement. I was a poor boy, and started out in life at three dollars per week in a shoe store. The first one-hundred-dollar-a-week engagement I ever had seemed like millions of money to me, so I never saved a cent.
I soon found out that I had to learn the value of money, and how true the old adage: "Any fool can make money, but it takes a wise man to save it." I wonder if I am growing wise?
SOME OF THE CHANCES OF MARRIAGE.
The minimum age at which marriage is permitted varies in different countries. In Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, and Greece a boy may marry at fourteen, a girl at twelve years of age. In Austria the age is fourteen for both sexes. In France, Belgium, and Germany the age is eighteen for a youth and fifteen for a girl, though the rule in Germany is modified by the special law in Saxony, where girls are required to be at least sixteen before marriage. The minimum in Russia is eighteen for the youth and sixteen for the girl.
A physician drew up an exhibit of the registered cases of 878 married women in France. Of that number there were married—
| 14 at 14 | years | 36 at 25 | years |
| 16 at 15 | " | 24 at 26 | " |
| 43 at 16 | " | 28 at 27 | " |
| 45 at 17 | " | 22 at 28 | " |
| 77 at 18 | " | 17 at 29 | " |
| 115 at 19 | " | 9 at 30 | " |
| 118 at 20 | " | 8 at 31 | " |
| 86 at 21 | " | 5 at 34 | " |
| 85 at 22 | " | 7 at 33 | " |
| 59 at 23 | " | 5 at 32 | " |
| 53 at 24 | " | 3 at 35 | " |
Of 878 women only three were married at thirty-six or later.
A HOROSCOPE OF THE MONTHS.
BY MARION Y. BUNNER.
What the Old Astrological Traditions Say as to the Characteristics and the Destiny of
Those Born Under the Sign "Gemini."
Compiled and edited for The Scrap Book.
GEMINI: THE TWINS.
MAY 20 to JUNE 18.
CUSP: RUNS MAY 20 to MAY 26.
The constellation Gemini—the third sign of the zodiac—is the positive pole of the Air Triplicity, governing the shoulders, arms, and hands. It is a masculine, common, double-bodied, commanding sign. The higher attributes are reason and sensation.
A person born in the period of the cusp, when the sun is on the edge of the sign, does not receive the full benefits of the individuality of either sign, but partakes of the characteristics of both Gemini and Taurus.
Most Gemini persons have two natures, and these are of a contradictory character. They are affectionate, generous, courteous, and kind to all. They are endowed with probity, an accommodating disposition, a temper quickly irritated but just as quickly calmed. The sign gives its subjects natural inventive genius, and with it a love of science and a talent for commerce.
In judgment they can be relied upon to give a far-sighted view, supported by argument of a very clear and convincing nature. They are intensely aspiring and energetic; are great lovers of education, and set great value upon attainments in literature, science, and art. They take a practical and philosophical view of things.
The Gemini people are usually well-formed, of dark hair and bright complexion, with a round forehead, and a cold, but intellectual and restless expression of the eyes. The physical temperament is sanguine-bilious in a southern latitude, and bilious-nervous in a northern one.
The chief fault of this sign is impatience. Gemini people are prone to scatter their forces. They are continually finding fault, and they are prone to look upon the dark side of life.
The union of these with persons born under Aquarius or Virgo will be harmonious, and the offspring is usually very bright and quick of intellect. Children born in this sign should be associated with persons who are quiet and restful.
The governing planet is Mercury, and the gems are beryl, aquamarine, and dark-blue stones. The astral colors are red, blue, and white.
April and August are the lucky months for a Gemini subject, and Wednesday the fortunate day of the week. The ancient Hebrew tribe over which this sign rules is that of Issachar. The ruling angel of the sign is Ambriel. The floral emblem is the mayflower.
June, according to Ovid, was named in honor of Juno. Others connect the term with the consulate of Junius Brutus. Without doubt, it has an agricultural reference, and originally denoted the month in which crops grow to ripeness.
At the time of the Julian reform of the calendar its days were only twenty-nine. To these Julius Cæsar added the thirtieth. The Saxons had several names for the month of June. They called it "the dry month," "midsummer month," and in contradistinction to July, "the earlier mild month."
In modern times June has been called "the month of roses," and "the month of brides." There is an old rhyme to the effect that—
Married in month of roses, June—
Life will be one long honeymoon.
A prediction which, unfortunately, has not always been carried out.
The summer solstice occurs in June. The principal days now observed are: June 11, St. Barnabas; June 24, Midsummer Day (Nativity of St. John the Baptist); and June 29, St. Peter.
Jay Gould, born during the Gemini period, was a type of the mental ability and restless aspirations of this sign. Julia Ward Howe, Emerson, Margaret Fuller Ossoli, and Alexander Pope are excellent illustrations of the literary genius of Gemini people. Queen Victoria was born upon the cusp of the sign.