The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-07
NJ z wy or Kxs M g.
From Our o,cn Correspondent


''Hamlet"
Hamlet Is the latest Newly orkism OF any
moment, and IL Is so extraordinarily well pro-
.duced that / feel quite justified In making spe-
cial mention of il here. 1t is very easy to write
a criticism upon q representation of this kind
when the critic has the whole of the previous
day to do it in, as the critics of the big dailies
have. Imagine play terminating at 10
minutes past 12 on Wednesday midnight, and
two-column article thereupon appearing in
Thursdays mornings paper. What singular
rapidity of composition How that critic
must have toiled all day on Wednesday
When the curtain rose at o'clock, how
gratiied he must have felt to know that
the crisp foolscap in his pocket was
already comfortably filled with an autcipatory
eulogy. viii not say that have ever seen a
New York critic take from his pocket pre-
written criticism, which he bundled off to his
newspaper Immediately upon the conclusion of
the play. will not say that have seen this,
! but have hcern tell" that it is done. Well, at
any rate, the dramatic editors of New ork were
justified in anticipating praise in the of the
play of Hamlet as placed upon Mr. Booths stage.
8 1t was a series of exquisite pictures which
n evinced a profound study of history and art
In little as well great things the evidences of
s thoughtful hand were present For instance,
q the little part of the actress Is invariably in
4 trusted to a female. One of Mr.. Booths studious
innovations was to conflde it, as feminine parts
were conGded in olden times, to the hands of
boy, Master Willie Seymour. The play within
play was very differently arranged
4 from the style sanctioned by conven-
A tional usages. 1t enacted at one side of the
stage, the king and queen occupying the oppo
side side, and ''IIamlet' posting himself in the
8 centre of the stage where the play of his coun-
Z tenance, watched the king, could be per-
fecty seen. The graveyard scene, with which
the last act opens, was perhaps the most natural
and beautiful of all, the effect Of distance, sol-
tude, and the clear tone of skies being perfectly
reproduced During the performance, Mr.
n Fechter, in company with several members of
Il Mr.. Booths family occupied Mr.. Booths box, but
Fl was not recognized by the audience. Indeed,
he bore very little resemblance to the portraits
. of him which hang in the lobbies of NiblOs.
. He seemed like portly ruddy- y-faced gentleman
B of forty-fve, much better suited by nature to
Fl dine well daily at the Manhattan Club than to
u impersonate the pale and intellectual Hamlet"
But something too much of this" as ''Ham-
j let" and Mr. Pecksnif say. Let me turn from
81 tragedy at Booths to
Devotion Mt 81. Adams.
The recent services there on the eve of the
festival of the Epiphany have been very impress
: sive. Go to st. Adams, and you see Fashion
q made saint of, and style apotheosized. 1t is a
q place where, during every religious service, the
! refreshing spectacle may be enjoyed of camels
K passing through needles eyes. Saints, angels,
and the twelve apostles are usually represented,
Il believe, with their hair parted in the middle;
i and this Is the only resemblance have been
able to trace between the worshippers at that
chapel and the glorifed examples that they are
n supposed to follow. One Sunday morning, not
lOpo I wa led a epa NJ
n near the door, At the conclusion of the service
II my attention was attracted by the spectacle of
a very fashionably-attired youth who re-
mained upon his knees after the
II majority of the congregation had commenced
II dispensing. He one of those adolescents,
II about seventeen, who belong to the sugar-candy
species known as "Mother's Darlings." His
hair, shining with natural gold and artificial
grease, was bisected with Christian-like i'm
partiality In the middle. His dainty lavender
color-gloved hands were folded upon his vir-
4 ginal breast, where frills were crimped and
diamonds shone. Dusky lashes trimmed devo-
tionally down-cast eyes, and Iipe-red lips which
a woman would have pronounced kissable moved
in q Notwithstanding sort of prayer. He
looked like an opera-bouffe page'put into panta
looms, a brilliant hermaphrodism pleading in
teresting snfulness. Two young ladies of the
same age and attired in equal fashion, lin
gered to contemplate the wholesome sight
There was no misinterpreting those looks o.
admiration. isn't he sweet 2" whispered one
to the other, the simperlng little saint arose
''You bet !" he exclaimed, brushing the dust of
his knee and winking on them with religious
roguery. ''Dont you want to kiss me for my
mother ?" And so the scene closed; and this Il
fair specimen of piety at st. Adams.
A $3.50 Newspaper.
observe that the Independent is publishing
limited number of its most recent issue upol
satin, and that individual copies are purchasabl
at the low price of $3.50. What like about tn
Independent is the fitness with which it make
both ends meet, the precision with which
doyetails God and Mammon and veneers Sata
over with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
is a sort of sacred see-saw, with the world O
New York as the fulcrum and the flesh and tn
devil "teetering" at either end. Both the med
cines and the morality it puffs are quack, an
altogether it is 1rst-rate religious famil