A Peep Behind the Scenes

 

A Peep Behind the Scenes

By Mrs. O. F. Walton (1878)

To all outside eyes, Rosalie and her parents live a glamorous dream-life, traveling from town to village, and presenting her father's plays. The glitter and brightness presented on stage are tempting and ideal to the eyes of many, but they do not know the life as Rosalie and her mother, Norah, do. They know the life as it truly is--behind the scenes.

 One day, a kind man at a village gives Rosalie a picture of The Good Shepherd. Carefully treasuring it, Rosalie and her mother begin to learn more about the One who is seeking lost sheep. Travel with Rosalie as she encounters Jeremiah the Giant, dear Mother Manikin the dwarf, Jessie the disillusioned runaway actress, and Betsey Ann, the spiritually hungry maid.  Will Rosalie ever escape from the stage life, to fulfill her mother's wish? Will her mother's sister accept the daughter of the wayward actress?

Character Lessons:

Contentment, Salvation, Following God.

Elements for Parental Consideration:

Rosalie's father, Augustus, is a very angry and cruel man; the ill mother is fretful and cross (improves); Augustus orders the hired man, Toby, to beat the horse, and when it's plain that he won't, Augustus does, and tries to hit Toby; Norah had run away to marry Augustus and be an actress; mention of a baby's death; mentions of drinking; they meet a girl who had run away to join the circus, repented, and now is on back to her mother; mentions of the plays containing profanity (just stated, no written profanity included); people offer Rosalie wine (she declines); Rosalie is made to work at a boarding house and "heard and saw much, very much, that was so bad and unholy", and is subjected to blows (her father knows and does nothing about it); man mentioned as being run over by a van (no blood or gore), and dies. 

                                                           

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