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Fes, only 14 years old She surprised ht hours I only made it for the last hour Set up and bathe right away, but I said no Not for one week Her granny and reed with me, but I doubt she will do what I say Her husband, Calvin Boggs, ten years her senior at 24, has no control over her either I foundout after dark, but she’s at the MacIntoshes’ helping Big Mary with Christmas

Mercy

I pull up a chair, balance my cup of pepperray day Spending a few hours with fourteen-year-old Minnie reo Gray That was the color of everything, or that’s how I reruel for breakfast Gray sheets

The girls in my dormitory were a mixed lot and, despite their poverty, were nearly as spunky as Minnie Most were children of irants, Polish, Italian, Russian, Irish, new to the country and struggling with English When their parents died of consumption, cholera, or an industrial accident and they had no fao Some were thieves, pickpockets, or child streetwalkers Some were disabled, defective, and unwanted A few still had one parent who visited

Those were the saddest Their edtwelve hours a day in a sweatshop or tannery, still couldn’t afford to keep them at home, like the redheaded sisters from Ireland, nine and seven, who cried when their ain when she left

I’d been doted on, growing up in Deerfield, so I nearly drowned at first in that sea of despair, but I quickly learned to swiedwith the poor, the lonely, and the discarded embroidered theratiated irls to sleep and reading to the older ones I sang hyes," "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?," "Co popular tunes: "After the Ball Was Over," "Ta-ra-ra Booirls had been to school The sisters gave me a worn copy of The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, and I read to them at bedtime and on rainy days: "Thumbelina," "The Little Merirls who didn’t understand English were soothed by my voice "The Princess and the Pea" was their favorite

By day I was a laundress, like my mother had been, in the institution’s base, at the bottoo Tribune, just under an advertisement for SEARS MODERN HOMES, ARRIVES BY TRAIN, WITH INSTRUCTIONS AND ALL MATERIALS, was an announcement of tryouts for the chorus line at the Majestic Theatre

I ell spoken, could sing, and wasn’t unpleasant to look at, so, determined to audition, I waited until dark, then slipped out the side door with s and the sisters’ worn copy of Hans Christian Andersen It was the first thing I ever pinched but sadly not the last Under the cover of darkness, I arrived at Mrs Ayers’s boardinghouse, the last place I’d lived after my mother’s demise

"Child!" she exclaioith her hair loose, flowing down her back like black rain I’d never seen her that way before Having a ed her

"I know I’ of you this one kind favor" I’d read a line like that in the sisters’ storybook "Lend me your best dress for three hours to sure I understood that it was only for the night, and put , Mrs Ayers, now Mrs Swartz, pulled a cream ruffled tea dress with lace panels on the sleeves out of a round-topped wooden trunk It was the dress she hadthread and her new husband, a kind soul, hired a horse-drawn cab to take me to the Majestic at three

When the driver left ive them more color, stared up at the ornate Art Deco–inspired hotel, the tallest building in Chicago, and tried to pretend I was used to such places I told thewho stood out in front that I was there for the audition, then found myself a seat in the third row

A heavily e belting out "Sweet Adeline," and I was glad to have a chance to look around The colors of the theater were rich and dra wood, red plush velvet, and silver accents Box seats rose to the ceiling I was so enchanted that I didn’t hear the gentleman with the clipboard call my name

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth Snyder!" That was before I took on my alias

"Oh, me, sir!" (No one I knew ever called me Elizabeth I’d always been "Lizbeth" to my family That’s my heart’s name)

"Sheet, ‘Oh Pro tooth rolled his eyes but perked up when I sang without accompaniment, in my clear alto, "Oh, proether to some sky"

I never went back to the House of Mercy, not even to visit, and I felt bad about that, about not saying good-bye to the girls, especially the little ones, but I’d left without peret the job at the Majestic If I returned, they ht try to keep me

11

The Majestic

It was at the Majestic in ’09 that I ner, and student at the Art Institute of Chicago During rehearsals, I’d stare at his hands as he painted the canvas sets, watch his delicate strokes Eventually he asked to walk e the boardwalk and throw bread to the pigeons in Washington Park It didn’t ether

I guess I was reckless, but that’s the way of young lovers, isn’t it? I missed one period and then another few Since I’d never been regular, I wasn’t concerned; in fact, I didn’t knoas pregnant until Cassandra, irl, asked me when I’d last had my monthly