The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-18

place while storm was raging, physical force
only could restrain her from rushing forth,
like Poe, into the driving tempest, and there
holding incoherent converse with her dead.
On the sands at Long Branch, on the deck of
O California steamer, midnight and storm
more than once found her crouching and
raving in spasmodic dementia
HER RELIGIOUS VIEWS.
Writing from Milwaukee, in the summer of
1861, she said:-
'sMy religion is the Great and Almighty
God, creator of all in heaven and earth.
What do you believe in more or less than that?
The forms end dogmas of no church cling to
me; but an Unborn reverence and eternal be-
lief in and love of God lift my praying heart
in the purity of steadfast faith. can accept
any.church creed, too, that will not reserve
from me the right to open my heart to God
as the Father and Maker"
Is will be noticed that the writer seldom
mentions her profession but to deplore it;
and her several determined efforts to gain
livelihood by other vocations should be ac-
cepted in her defense After her failure to
gain appreciation as reader in New York,
and equally futile endeavors to support her
self wholly by teaching and writing, the ad-
ditional necessity of such vindication, through
the law, as should prove by divorce that she
had been justified in wearing the name Of
one who had publicly repudiated that right,
compelled her to seek the playhouse again for
q, means to that end. The usual routine even
there did not avail, and she was driven to
, such coarse, masculine assumptions as MA
zeppa" and the French Spy" for the measure
of public patronage commensurate with her
direst needs. That in her better nature there
was ever q bitter protest against the un-
womanly work; that she always regarded it as
the bar and bane of every aspiration towards
honorable rehabilitation, is proved by these
extracts from the letters of four successive
years.
QS61 )-'I tried to get the situation of
primary teacher in the school at W, last
week, but failed; not from lack of capability,
but merely because / an actress This
hateful name bars me from every congenial
and honorable position in life; it bars me
from rest and God; it stands as one of the
barriers between you and me; and yet some
body says to me, How strange that You do
not love the stags"
0862. )-.'You smile at nay idea of entering
convent but do not write that it is utterly
impossible, or against your judgment. 1 feel
that am very ignorant and, with all my de-
spondency, am thirsty for knowledge, and
ambitious to forget the cramped life / now
lead ] wish to purify it for something
better. Is there no way? Of course, can
work great deal-do any kind of work but
would suffice-and study to redeem and sane
tify myself wish to be something more
and something better than am now. have
no opportunity to do more than have done,
situated as / now am, wandering about the
country, unsettled and dissatisfied. / want
to begin life again, as it were; or, rather, by
study and religion, build up the old life
worthily to God. cannot do it on the stage;
the world will never permit me- And, then,
fha rrrroun dir nf such a life will drva ma
mad-they are such complete antagonisms to
my better self. l want to get out into pursr
atmosphere. L must"
Of '.Mazeppa"- the notorious impersonation
which was once her public glory and her
private shame:--
(1S63. )-''Was it matter of choice with
me to play the character? Was it not through
the noblest impulse of woman that did it?
Was not working for my duty, my right,
and my honor? Let the motive Justify the
act. The stage, at the very best, is painful to
me-more so than words can express; but l
know that it is my doom, even until L die; 30
I'll try to be patient. Had the manuscript of
your Modern Stage been submitted to me
before publication, I could not have drawn a
Just pen across one sentence or word in it.
That it smites harshly across a hidden chord
in my own feelings, does not mar the GER
tainty of its truth and the justice Of its can.
dor.H N
(1864, )-'I dreamed, night before last, OF
playing 'Mazeppa, and of falling from the
2 horse, feeling acutely the th-wound, and
hearing my own voice moan out a low death
cry; then of darkness and undefnable chaos
and of waking in new world There my
first thought was to look upon my hand fol-
my wedding ring. to make heaven sure.
seemed to hold it in my hand, broken tc
pieces! Still again, last night dreamed the
very same. What, oh, what must think oi
it? Should it be 30 willed that am not sparei
to the fulflment of hope, you must detest thii
abhorrent profession with tenfold the disap
4 probation you now feel for it. Never write
line favorable to any one or anything con
nected with its death-dealing and damnine
charnel-house. Leave its criticism to othel
pens; defile not yours; for you will know th'
cause of my death you will know why w
were separated.
etleiic HOW SHE BECAME AN ACTRESS. AZ
l'I remember my wild, unrestrained child
hood; no guiding hand, no reproof, no ad
vice.; nothing but praise and worship. AL
though child, was mistress of the house
hold A thoughtless father-God rest hi
soul, who gave me strange booka to read
made me the companion of his restless pur
suits. Can it be wondered that my natur,
assumed marked Individuality and self lreli
anoe, and lost the gentler graces which gair
q pure love for my sex2 Aud in those day
habits of extravagonce we're contracted. Botl
my dear parents were thriftless and thought
lass Of the morrow, Ny good, tender pothe