Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-12-28
THE Asenlnesss u s+pIIEE rIHE STAGE.
Confessions of Theater-Going q
EpOoney.
n.o.. Al NJ. VII. o.II

COufessiOns of n Theater-G DIN x
spooney.
From the New York World.l
Here is Just the difference between
the poor wretch that Nilsson caused to
be arrested and such admirers as you
!; and I-not that he loved her any more,
but that the eonfonnded donkey loved
! her too exclusively; whereas, II we are
: the whole-souled fellows that think we
are, We, loved Scott-Siddons, Parepar
Rosa, Lydia kIhompson, the Majilton
and Lucille Western with an equal and
enduring passion far above bouquets and
bravas. Indeed, such is the liberality
and strength of this generous passion of
ours, that dare say it could find some
thing in Markham and Harland to
admire, If any one would convince us
1t were worth the trouble; and that IL
has been to somebody current literature
too well attests.
/ think my hearts idol was Jenny
Lind or Fanny Ellsler. OF course no
body thinks now that Jenny Lind was
transcendently beautiful. But every
body did once, and / among them. Then
/ gave my souFs alteration to tAlboni
and Grisi, and mooned for three weeks
over Fanny Kemble, and took to minia-
tures OF Bertuccarralas for youthful
feryor have seen her this season play
ing the harp in Maretzeks orchestra,
with plaintiye practicability, as if il
were possible TO call her Orpheus out Of
his comfortable box and away from his
new Morse love, back to the golden time
again.
| n,,k q sanik morl1,t4 oo
Then / think l had Lucy Weston s
name pricked in my arm, and took to
Burton's strongly. lAh, there was volup-
tuousness. She unrobed herself like
another Phryne before the newspaper
judges at the Fifth Avenue last season
1t was the necessity of burlesque We
were all there. But our passions had
cooled. Voluptuousness had grown to
a magnifcence that could not be meas
ured by admiration. 3RUg
Then | gave myself to Lucille West
era Dreaming on Tuesdays, Fridays
and Sundays Of her rich, dark beauty
and Hebean form and recalling the tones
of her voice, which were almost as dear
TO me then as the. old oaken bucket that
hung in the well, and what is more were
suggestive of it.
After that loved Agnes Ethel, pas
sionately, madly, for fourteen days. She
always seemed to me when she was on
the stage land | never saw her off it,
and don't want toy as if she wanted to
be an angel, and hadn't taken chloro-
form to accomplish her purpose. l al
ways felt, too, that it would be wise for
me to try and convince her that she
was an angel already, and / never did
But it was that dreamy, ethereal sweet
ness that took me captive 1t was the
tenderest passion Of them all, and must
have given a plaintive key to my whole
after life. At the end of fourteen days
the rosy dream faded. Then Lolita came
along and cast her eireean spell over me.
was her willing slave for two weeks
and half All the richest treasures of
my heart and imagination were heaped
at her feet. OF course she never knew
| it. Why l even told myself that
my eternal happiness : depended
on my having just such a kit
ten for my household pet | got Lum-
ley to go and sketch her upper lip, which
is the cutest thing Of the kind ever
saw. l and an old gentleman by the
udluc Vi Nldpp WtTN ElNdiS. We hcut
night after night and glared at each
other, but had the best of him, for |
loved Parepa-Rosa and Bonfanti and
Aimee at the same time, and he didn't.
No one knows how sweet the commun-A
ion OF souls ct the Academy when Pa
repa and met--she in short dresses on
the stage, and in long in my regular
box
Such is the bliss of pure love. frE
Another peculiarity of it is that it
| isn't selfish. rather wanted the whole
world to love her, aud that led to an alb
surd remark of friend of mine, who had
mean spirit and admired q chorus
singer, that if Parepa were a maid Of
sixteen summers, and would promise
never to appear in Martha or the Daugh-
ter of the Regiment, he would be willing
to marry her voice.
What an impossible, not to say abb
surd, idea.
don't see how any one can help low
ing Parepa -t' ~ Hiit .'c
Somebody once said there were corn
and wine and oil in Alboni's face but
that old love of mine never shone with
such vital but placid gladness and
wholesomeness as does Euphrosyne. or
course / don't expect the, young men to
take the horses out Of her carriage when
she comes here, for know that our
young men are not robust nor yet to
steal her slipper las the wild young no.
blemen did when Sontag came there),
aud drink her health out of 1t, for know
that our young men drink moderately. |
These things are not to be thought of
now. But if they could see her at the |
table, unconsciously showing the hoyden-
ish spirit of schoolgirl and the quick |
6nesse of a statesmen, a woman of mag |
nificent physical health and extraord- |
nary practical sense, with the clear, |
sparkling eye and ruddy complexion of
youth, and the voice of a choir, they |
must say with me: Here is a stage |
beauty Of no ordinary mold. You may |
not know it but Phrepa Rosa is the only
artist who has sung here since Jenny
Lind, whopossesses the same respiratory
power.
If beauty grows from organic health,
you can see how muchof Il there shoaid
be here.
never encounter that old story about
the deleterious Influence OF the stage, |
how it itunderusiHssthe health and morals,
but | think with certain degree Of
pride Of Parepa-Rosa and Nilsson, two
Of its sturdiest srnaments, women who |
do more sotual hard work than many |
laboring men, but who bring to it all the
strength, elasticity and joyousness Of
conquering divinities, and manage to |
gladden. the world in the doing of it,
Surely there is a higher kind Of stage /
beauty here that is worth & thought and |
some passing admiration.
But there are plenty such, and fee
that | have not loved Charlotte Cush. /