CHAPTER XXXI 



MY MARRIAGE 



My Monologue — My Engagement — What a "Buck" is 



I WAS rather disgusted after that New Orleans trip, 

 and I settled down in New York again, buying a new 

 car and going racing with varying luck. My court- 

 ship of JNIiss Julia Sanderson had lasted a long time, 

 and eventually I was married to my " first and only 

 wife " on 21st August 1907. I had taken a flat in 

 45th Street and furnished it. The real happiness 

 which followed was the best solace possible for dis- 

 appointments, and all those pleasant days, months 

 and years helped me to think that after all there was 

 a great deal left in life. My wife remained on the stage 

 after we were married, while I had started a big billiard- 

 room containing eighteen tables with John McGraw, 

 the great baseball player and, at the time of writing, 

 manager of the " Giants " team. This business oc- 

 cupied a great deal of time, as I was sometimes up 

 looking after the show for half the night. Still it was 

 a good place and the profits were steady. 



Soon after my billiard enterprise an offer came to 

 me to appear on the vaudeville stage in a monologue 

 entertainment. The inducement was great : fifteen 

 hundred dollars a week. Certain facts were related to 

 the dramatic author and manager, Geo. M. Cohan, and 

 he put together something which I learnt by heart. 

 There was no question of stage fright in advance, but 

 as the time for my first appearance came round I had 



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