Chorus Boy In "Pinafore."
"In the center of the orchestra, by the side of a dignified, stolid business man, sat a young boy whose golden hair, breathless face, and ardent eyes attracted the attention of more than one careless spectator. The boy was Henry Woodruff, nine years of age, spellbound at his first glimpse of the actor's world. The man was his father.
"The flushed cheeks and the tingling soul were not the effects of a mere holiday treat; no, they long outlasted the holiday time; they disturbed his lessons. The memory of that one night filled his dreams, kept him awake nights, sent him to the newspapers in the hope of finding he knew not what, and finally riveted his eyes on a paragraph advertising for children for the 'Pinafore' company at the Fourteenth Street Theater.
"Then the beating heart and the eager eyes realized their own purpose, and silently, without assistance from friend or foe, the little man made his plans, started from his home, asked his way patiently from Jersey City to Chickering Hall, and finally stood inside beside the big manager, who was examining a hundred or more children who had applied for the position. In time he turned to the newcomer.
"'What can you sing, my little man?'
"With a horrible sense of misfitness he remembered he knew nothing but Sunday-school hymns, but he answered bravely:
"'I can sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers."'
"'Try it,' said the man.
"They put him on the stage, and, fired by the great desire which had never left him since he had seen those noble actors, the little fellow sang out with all his soul."