"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."
How the Rungs Were Climbed.
He stayed in the chorus only three weeks, being promoted, first to the
part of the boatswain, then to that of _Ralph Rackstraw_, leading man, in
which capacity he went on the road. Daniel Bandmann then engaged him for
the page in his production of "Narcisse."
The next year young Woodruff was with Adelaide Neilson, in her last
engagement, presenting "Cymbeline." She took a great fancy to the little
fellow, and used to make up his face for him and give him the flowers her
admirers sent her. To the boy she seemed the wonder of the earth, and she
was continually talking about the sunshine of his hair and the earnestness
of his blue eyes.
After that, young Woodruff was for two seasons with Edwin Thorne, doing
_Ned_ in "The Black Flag"--the same Thorne who had inspired the boy with
his great ambition. His longest step forward was made in 1887, when he
joined the stock company maintained by the late A.M. Palmer, at the
Madison Square Theater, starting with _Jack Ralston_ in "Jim the Penman,"
and creating _Lathrop Page_ in Augustus Thomas's first great success,
"Alabama."
Afterward Mr. Thomas wrote for him the role of _Arthur Hubbard_ in
"Surrender," a war play which unhappily did not chance to hit the popular
taste.