A few memories

82 A FEW MEMORIES
seats gallery." Not until then did I recognize my own signature on a theatre pass, probably given to a servant a year before.
I doubt if Lady Macbeth or Galatea would ever have been added to my repertoire but for General Sherman's constantly expressed wish that I should study and enact both characters. His kindness to any one at the foot of the great hill of fame was proverbial and universal. He never forgot his own difficulties in mounting it, and always stood ready to lend a helping hand to those struggling to reach its summit.
It is impossible to determine the effect of a play or character either upon the public or one's self until it is essayed. A well-known fact it is that a play which reads well frequently fails when acted, and vice versa. Disliking Galatea, and thinking the character unsuited to me, I expected failure in undertaking it, and met with success. Deeply impressed by the part of Lady Macbeth, which I had never seen on the stage, I hoped for success in it, and met with failure. My performance, however, was well received by the general public, though it disappointed my best critics and myself.
I believe that Lady Macbeth is not only the