Never did I enjoy
dancing more than at this time.
Then Mrs. Kautz, who was a thorough music lover and had a
cultivated taste as well as a trained and exquisite voice, gave
several musicales, for which much preparation was made, and which
were most delightful. These were given at the quarters of General
Kautz, a long, low, rambling one-story house, arranged with that
artistic taste for which Mrs. Kautz was distinguished.
Then came theatricals, all managed by Mrs. Kautz, whose talents
were versatile.
We charged admission, for we needed some more scenery, and the
neighboring frontier town of Valentine came riding and driving
over the prairie and across the old bridge of the Niobrara River,
to see our plays. We had a well-lighted stage. Our methods were
primitive, as there was no gas or electricity there in those
days, but the results were good, and the histrionic ability shown
by some of our young men and women seemed marvellous to us.
I remember especially Bob Emmet's acting, which moved me to
tears, in a most pathetic love scene. I thought, "What has the
stage lost, in this gifted man!"
But he is of a family whose talents are well known, and his
personality, no doubt, added much to his natural ability as an
actor.
