Years Ago: A Play

"Me," who is Ruth Gordon Jones (later famous as Ruth Gordon), is a young girl living with her retired sea-captain father and her mother near Boston. "Me" is determined to go on the stage, but Mama and Papa are aghast. Papa wants "Me" to be a physical culture instructor, and "Me" loathes the idea. Papa brings the forbidding Miss Glavin to the house and that lady's enthusiasm for physical culture creates in "Me" a violent antipathy. Idolizing the popular actresses of the day, and determined not to lead a domestic life or become a teacher, "Me" gets a chance to interview a theatrical manager, and though this leads to nothing directly, "Me" has determined to go to New York and be an actress. With the tacit consent of Mama, "Me" at last faces Papa, expecting a battle royal. Papa, however, who is a man of determination, admires "My" spunk and, realizing that "Me" is determined to follow her own career, pawns his most beloved possession, his spy-glass. At the end, Papa and Mama see "Me" off to New York.