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"They owe us money, don't they?" I said fiercely. "They know Dad's in the Klondike, don't they? They know what a fine woman you are, don't they? They know I'm your daughter, don't they? And you don't think I'd know how to go about it? Well, I can talk— which seems to be more than Sherman can!"
She knew I would never simmer down, so, reluctantly, she turned the bills over to me.
I asked myself what an actress did on the stage when she wanted something. She cooed like a dove; she raged like a lion. She smiled or burst into tears. I wanted to be an actress. Here was my chance to get some training.
I came in fighting. I wras the fightingest fourteen-year-old bill collector ever seen in Altoona. I persuaded, I threatened, I was demure, I was a holy terror— and I collected enough for us to live on till Dad came home.
I'd like to say he arrived with his pockets lined with gold. What we received were tales of wild adventure and, tied up in the corner of his pocket handkerchief, a small nugget for each. I soon traded mine for a set of jacks.
Once having seen Ethel Barrymore, the idea of becoming an actress gave me no rest. When the household was asleep I acted out scenes from lurid novels, alone in my room. Besides wanting to act, I wanted to sing. I felt I had the soul of a prima donna, and I sang loudest of anybody at church. My voice had two notes: high C and low C, with a sheer abyss in between. I did mighty well with "Onward, Christian Soldiers." That's why to this day it's my favorite hymn. I associate it, too, with a hat.
It was my first store-bought hat. I paid five dollars for it out of my own money. It was a thing of beauty. Of bright green straw trimmed with red velvet geraniums, it made me feel rich as a queen. That hat was a greater attraction on Easter morning than the choir or the preacher's sermon. There wasn't a man jack in that congregation who didn't look at me, and I felt that the ladies' glances carried with them a spate of envy. I said if a hat can get the attention of this many people, I'll never go bareheaded.
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