FIELD-DAYS IN CALIFORNIA 



pany of friends who had assembled to hear one 

 of the most widely known of American novelists 

 read a play which she had recently completed 

 and was hoping to have presented upon the stage. 

 She read it well, with no attempt at that tire- 

 some " accomplishment " known as " elocution " ; 

 we were all deeply interested ; and at the close 

 there was a general chorus of praise and hearty 

 congratulation. 



But a journalist and critic of long experience 

 entered one slight objection. If the play was to 

 be acted, there must be a change in the opening 

 scene. "As the scene stands," he said, " the hero- 

 ine is on the stage with others when the curtain 

 rises. That will never do. The heroine must have 

 an entrance." 



That last remark was what my morning's ad- 

 venture called to mind. My two birds would have 

 missed nine parts of their dramatic effect if, like 

 the yellowlegs, they had been on the stage when 

 the curtain rose. 



They had an entrance, and I had the excite- 

 ment and the wonder of it. I think nothing more 

 like wizardry ever happened to me than the ap- 

 pearance of that turnstone, a very sizable, stur- 

 dily built body, it must be remembered, standing 

 at my feet where but an instant before there 

 had been nothing. 



68 



