and Sue still knelt beside the slumbering child, forgetful of the time and place.

"We want the cradle, Mrs. Truehart," said Gildersleaf, entering hastily. "Scene just set

little one must be taken up."

“Then I must wake you, darling!" sighed Susan; and, with the timid carefulness which very young mothers use in touching the first living treasure intrusted to their keeping, she lifted the baby out of the cradle. The little features were drawn together as though the child were about to utter a cry; but the blue eyes opened on the mother's countenance, and the tiny puckered mouth relaxed into one of those shooting smiles which Wordsworth calls

"Feelers of love, put forth as to explore
The untried world."

The child was twelve months old, but remarkably diminutive, and its complexion had a whitely waxen hue. A blossom nurtured in the dark, that scarcely knew the sunlight and the fresh breezes of heaven, no wonder that it was colorless and feeble! The parents were too poor to pay an attendant. In their necessary absence, the infant was left in charge of the kind-hearted Mrs. Gildersleaf, but at her busy hands could receive but little attention. Often, of a bright morning, the young mother would awaken from her slumbers at dawn, and, hastily dressing herself and her baby, she carried the child to St. James' Park, and walked beneath the trees, singing in a low voice to her little one, and pondering upon her new blessings. But, though she rose with the sun, the walk was necessarily short. She had to return to

prepare breakfast, then other duties must be hurriedly performed, and ten o'clock must find her at the theatre, ready for rehearsal.

Robin could seldom accompany her in her morning ramble, for he had undertaken the duties of assistant copyist, as well as prompter. The copying out of "parts" occupied almost all his leisure moments; but he received an extra remuneration he could add

to the comforts of his wife and child. He plodded through the additional labor cheerfully. His salary was but thirty shillings per week. Susan received. one pound, out of which she had the larger portion of her theatrical costumes to furnish; thus her salary was diminished to a mere pittance. To-night the infant of twelve months was to make its first appearance on the stage-was to commence earning its livelihood!

The play was a dramatized version of Dickens' "Cricket on the Hearth;" an infant was needed for Dot's baby. The charge of supplying children for the stage falls to the property-man. The children, of course, receive a trifling compensation. Mr. Gildersleaf proposed to Sue and her husband to allow their child to commence a career which was inevitable. Both parents hesitated at first; but necessity, stronger than inclination, forced them to consent. Tina was carried to the theatre to make her débût.

The stage represented Dot's apartment, the kettle singing on the fire, and Dot seated near the cradle where slumbered her infant. A cold shiver ran through poor Susan's frame as she walked upon the stage and laid her smiling nursling in the cradle. It

seemed the commencement of life's hard struggles for the child.

At Mr. Tuttle's authoritative "Clear the stage, ladies and gentlemen!" Robin took Susan's hand, and with some difficulty led her away. She stationed herself in the little nook behind his prompter-seat. He rang the bell which gave warning to the carpenters above, and slowly the curtain rose. Sue could see her child lying in the cradle which Dot was rocking. Its large eyes were wide open. It had no cradle at home; the rocking was something new and pleasant, and the infant's face beamed with delight. Presently Dot took up the child; she did not handle it dexterously or carefully, for the young girl who played the part was not a mother. Susan started forward, and, had not Robin stayed her in time, the probability is she would have rushed upon the stage.

The child, attracted by the bright foot-lights, stretched out its little arms towards them, and laughed. A touch of perfect nature, however simple, will electrify a whole audience. The infantile action drew down a round of applause, as though the child had well performed something which it had been taught. Tina saw the clapping hands, and sportively imitated the action. Then the applause, mingled with laughter, grew louder and louder, and round followed round. The unconscious child had made a hit." How Susan's heart beat! She crept close to Robin, and whispered, "Look at her! look at her, Robin, dear !”

"God bless her!" said the hunchback, fervently; "I was thinking that perhaps she will smile just so on all the hardships that come to those who must labor under this roof, and that they will all be light

to her! But don't talk to me, Sue, dear; it's hard for me to keep my mind on the book. Somebody will be wanting the word, for they are all loose enough in their parts to-night."

No further conversation passed between Robin and Susan. He seemed absorbed in his book; and she stood by his side, with her eyes fixed on the child in Dot's arms. Various characters in the play took Tina. Still she chuckled and laughed, and turned to the bright foot-lights with outstretched hands, as though she would seize them.

At last the scene ended, and with one bound Sue was on the stage, and caught up the infant and covered it with kisses, as though it had passed through some great peril. She carried it to the old, crowded property-room, and then, when no mortal eyes were gazing upon her, she sank down upon her knees, with the baby clasped close to her breast, and prayed God to guard this little one from all harm to let her be a lamb in the Lord's fold, crown her with tender mercies and with loving kindness." Involuntarily she repeated the baptismal blessing which the minister had uttered over the infant on the last Sabbath: "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious to thee! the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace!"

to

So ended Tina's first night on the stage.

CHAPTER II.

Time and his Wonderful Works. The Seasons Dramatically Time and his Symbols. — Rough Treatment of

Evenings at Home.

Rehear-
In-

Represented. the Infant. - Maternal Fears.—Melting of a Stern Heart. Tina in Fairy Pageants. sal of Pizarro. Tina as Cora's Child. Mr. Upton. cident at Rehearsal. Comparative Value of a Child's Arm and a Tragedian's Point, in the Estimation of Mr. Upton. Interference of Mr. Higgins.— Subserviency of Mr. Tuttle, the Stage-Manager. Virtue of a Leathern Girdle. Tina and a Stray Sunbeam. - The Sphere of Childhood. - Its Ef fect in the Theatre.- Tina and her Father. -Gold and Silver Rain. The Temptation. — Performance of Pizarro.

THE "Cricket on the Hearth" was repeated a number of nights, and Tina always appeared as Dot's baby, always arrested the attention of the audience. A grand spectacle was in preparation, entitled "Time and his Wonderful Works." The wonders which Time effects by gradual steps were exhibited as taking place instantaneously, through a succession of marvellous transformations-well-executed stage delusions. The sower strewed seed upon the bare earth; Time passed over the furrows with his ironshod feet, and, lo! the ground was decked with verdure and bloom, and cities suddenly sprang up where fields of corn waved a moment before. The young lover wooing his coy nymph in a bower of roses was breathed upon by Time - the bower van