The Feliciana Democrat. (Clinton, La.) 1855-186?, 1855-06-02

rest was called before the curtain, when he
addressed the audience as follows:
IL need not tell you, ladies and gentle
men, that l am grateful for this large u.s.
semblage, who have come here to honor me
with their presence tonight, and | am also
gratifed to remember that among my troops
Of friends there is a military troop here
who have done me the honor to grace my
humble name by associating it with their
soldier-like corps. This night, ladies and
gentlemen, ends my labors inside Of the
theatre for the'season. call them labors
for none but he who has experienced the
toll Of acting such parts as have been
called upon nightly to represent to you,
can have any idea of the degree Of labor
both mental and physical, required in the
performance Of the task. They who mis-
take the actors life to be one Of compare
tive case, mistake the fact most egregiously.
Ny experience has shown me that it is one
of unremitting toll. In no other profession
in the world is high eminence SO difficult to
reach as in this; and this proposition be-
comes selfevident when you remember how
many Of rare talents and accomplishments
fail to mount the histrionic ladder, and how
few how very few, attain its topmost round.
(Applause.) My earliest ambition was to
obtain distinction on the stage, Nand while
yet mere child, shaped my course to
reach the wished-for goal. / soon became
aware that distinction in any vocation,
but particularly in this, was only to be
achieved by hard work, by laborious toll,
and by an unfailing self.reliance. loud
aplausc.) l resolved.
s1stAT - with such jewels
As the aspiring mind brings from the caves Of know
ledge,
To buy my ransom from those
Twin gaolcrs of the daring heart
Low birth and iron fortune.
/ resolved, therefore, to educate myself;
not in the education only which belongs to
baby schools, and which is comprised in q
knowledge of mere words, but in that other
education of the world which makes words
things. (Applause.) Iresolved to educate
myselfa as Garrick and Kemble and Cooke,
and last, and greatest Of them all, Edmund
Kean-had done loud applause) The
selfsame volume from which the Bard of
Avon drew his mastery, lay open before
me also-the invaluable volume of Nature
-(loud applause. land in the pages of
that great book, as in the pages of its great
epitome- the works of Shakespeare conn
ed the lesson Of my glorious art Applause.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, if l tire you,
please say so. (Cries of" Not at ALL" "Go
on" and cheers.) The philosopher-poet had
taught me that
The proper study of mankind is man.
And in pursuit Of that study l sojourned
in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as in
the length and breadth of our own boundless
republic. (Cheers.) To catch the living
lineamcnts offashion mixed with the prince
and with the potentate, with the peasant
and with the prelate, with the serf and with
the savage. (Cheers.) All the glorious
works of art belonging to the world, in pain
ting and in sculpture, in architecture and in
letters, | endeavored to make subservient
to my calling. loud applause.) And how
successful / have been in those studies I
leave to the verdict ofmy fellow countrymcn
-Qong continued applause ito my fellow
country-men who for quarter of century
at least has never denied me their suffrages.
(Vociferous applause.) Ladies and gentle
Hull, HuNC opOhcu IiluS Ilucll, HOC 10 III
dulge in any feelings Of pride, or to crafty
any sentiment of egotism, but | have done
SO in the hope that the words which | have
uttered here tonight may be the means, per-
haps, ofinspiring in the bosom ofsome young
enthusiast who may hereafter aspire to WELD
the sceptre Of the stage-to inspire in his
bosom feeling Of confidence Cheers
applauseO some poor, friendless boy, per-
chance, with an ardent wish, imbued with a
lofty genius and with all those refined sen.
sibilities which are inseparably connected
with genius, that he may not falter in his
path on account Of the paltry obstacles flung
across it by envy, hatred, malice, and all
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. applause) but
that he may with vigorous heart, buckle
On the armor of patient industry, with his
own discretion for his keeper, and then, with
an unfaltering step and with an mistaken
iirmness, despising the malice Of his foes.
"clmb the steep where Fame's proud temple shines
affair."" ''''
Be- Bachelors are not entirely lost to
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