Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1864-03-30
MODERN KN1aHT-ERRANTRY.


from editorial and reportorial pens at the
advent of each new female stage-perform-
er. has, like immemorable custom, become
a part of the common law Of the press !;
vet as much of the common law has been
abrogated by statute, so might, with great
propriety, much of the sickening balder-
dash, with which the newspaper-reading
public are crammed ad nauseaa, concern
ing the charms, the talents, the nightly
performances, the private histories, and,
above all, the "private virtues" Of wan
dering actresses, be dispensed with.
Look TO the players, see them well Ses;owed,
They are the chief chrouiclers of the times.
is all very good advice in its way. The
legitimate and respectable drama is an in
stitution worthy the fostering and pre-
serving and when those who walk the
boards and strut their brief hour, in the
mock representation of real or fictitious
character, are not such rs by their whole
life give the lie to all the wise, lofty and
noble sentiments put in their mouths by
the play-wrights, the theatre is tit place
and often an instructive one for youth and
respectable women, and the actors are en-
titled to the respect due to all who devote
their time and talent to the earning Of an
honest livelihood-no more. This making
a goddess of every strolling she-vagabond
who. to use the mild phrase fashionable
at the present day, has overStepped the
stern conventionalities of our social sys-
tenn and who panders to the vilest tastes
of a not over-fastidious public, through
the medium of plays Of worse than doubt
full decency, in which decency is entirely
disreearded, is n custom that should have,
at this late day in the worlds history, ar
rived at very near the end of its tether.
Of that better and more worthy class OF
actresses, who in the pursuit of the pro-
fession they have chosen, still retain their
womauhood, we are not now speaking.
1t is a class all too few-so few and rare
are they, indeed, that they form the en-
ception; and the press and the public
speak of such actresses as have passed
through the thorns and briars that beset
the path of such, without scratch and
come forth scatheless, as naturalists speak
of rarG arts.
Yet even in the case of these:we fail to
discover anything partaking of the divine
character or anything that should set the
Press in such a fiUore, and impel them to
enter the lists and shed such pools OF ink
in wordy warfare in defense Of the incom-
parable beauty, talent and virtues of their
histrionic Dulcineas. They appear to our
matter-of-fact eye, as so many women
working for living, not one whit more
honorable, nor half as hardly and bitterly
earned as that of the half starved girl that
made the tawdry dress that bedizens the
stage queen. This lionizing, disgusting
fattery, lying biographies, humbug cor
respondence, and Peter Funk benefits, are
unmitigated gag. That the public are
under any particular amount Of obligation
to anv " Star" actor or actress, we never
were vet able to see. They are generally
full well paid for their work, and the poor
devils who work for " midshipman's half
pay" never receive any of these benefits.
We have never yet seen, or heard, or read
of any actress, male or female who pursued
his or her calling through the benevolent
motive of serving the public. Put money
in thy purse, Rodrigo" is line of Shakes
peare, that they learned BY heart, in their
apprenticeship. and the advice given by
honest Iago to his friend, they give earnest
heed to. If they have the talent to draw
good houses and satisfy the public desire
to be amused, and the people, in their tum,
pay the regular price of admission, it seems
honors are easy between all parties. When
the contract is thus fulfilled, it seems to us
that all obligation ceases. The age Of
humbug is apparently, however, at its
pt.lmiest; day and if the press and the pub
lie see fit, with one accord, to join in the
pleasant pastime of humbugging them
selves, We don't know as it is any of our
business. Tiue Ia BaeateAe.