National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-11

bll6 SEOntu auu piOspCiitJ vi o Oilyy dllu Cdu
only be reduced to reason and propriety by
ridicule or the shameful contrast which their
conduct presents to the more spirited
portion of the citizens. Amy influx of the
latter class is always welcome ..'.
CHARLOTTE CUSHAAN ON CHAR
.ITY.
The New York Tribune of yesterday
prints letter from the distinguished actress
Charlotte Cushman, upon the subject of
Charity and the Actors" with an intro
duction as follows:
The dramatic critic of o newspaper in q
neighboring city recently wrote to Miss
Charlotte Cushman, asking her, without
much ceremony, to give a gratuitous repre-
sentation for the benefit of the poor Of that
place, and requesting her to answer by tele-
graph "yes' or "no." To this summons Miss
Cushman sent the following sensible and ap-
propriate reply:
DEAR SIR: am in receipt of yours of the
LIST, in answer to which 1 find myself under the
necessity of saying emo" to your request that
1 would give one Of the nights of my short en-
gagement in Washington for the benefit of
your local charities. My reasons for this de-
cision are as follows:
think the time has come In which some one
should make protest against the system now
so fully inaugurated of making artists pay so
much more than the rest of the community for
charities in which they are not especially in
terested, and which have no claim upon them.
You simply ask of me that I should give from
$500 to $500 to your poor, while those more
Immediately concerned, those who are bound
by all the ties of neighborhood and common
brotherhood, think they are doing their part in
paying their quota of q dollar or two, when
they receive in return full equivalent out OF
the labor, severe enough, Of the often hard
pressed and struggling artist. Each one of
these already does to the best of his or her
ability, within the range of the claims which
fall upon every human creature alike. You
may think it indelicate, but 1t is surely
not irrelevant for me to say
here that I every year give to my poor and
needy, and my poor's poor and needy, upward
of g., 900, which consider very fair percent
age upon my income. As for myself, 1t would
take every day Of every year, If were to re-
spond to one-half the applications of this
kind that meet me at every turn; and each one
of US who are so freely called upon in these
ways, l have no doubt have not only their
regular clientele of claimants to whom they
are bound, and for whom they are accounta-
BILE, but also hosts of such applications and
claims for which they are in no way bound.
II strikes me that the whole affair is one
sided, and that word is necessary in the way
of justice. 1 am willing to place myself in
this branch, and say for all my confreres in
art-whose errors have never been on the side
of niggardliness-that It is unfair that we
should do all the work, and pay also, both
publicly and privately, as we do to my certain
knowledge.
Allow me to suggest that in place of this
easy manner of doing good, a house to house
visitation for charitable objects would place it
within the power of every citizen to help the
poor of his own city and neighborhood, with
greater comfort to his conscience than this cent
per cent. contract of so much money for so
much smusement-and the poor thrown in.
respectfully yours,
CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN.
Now that the letter has been given to the
public, and that Miss Cushman assumes
whatever of responsibility may attach to it,
we have no hesitation in saying that it was
written to the dramatic critic of THE Ma
TIoNAL REPUBLICAN some days ago, and
that its publication was withheld, first, be-
cause it was deemed to be of private ma
ture, and second, from motives of kindness
to Miss Cushman personally. No actress
In the country has been more generously
and heartily rewarded in Washington than
Miss Cushman. She has always been fa-
vorite here, and been always treated with
uniform courtesy and kindness. We will
not say that she has not in a measure by her
genius commanded all that has been accord
ed to her, but at the same time we believe
that there are certain relations Of good will
and friendship which should always exist
between actors and the public, and that if
any one in the country in her profession is
under obligations to a community Miss
Cushman is to Washington. 1t seems we
erred in thinking so, and that the lady in
question does not consider herself in the
least indebted to our city. Perhaps she is
right and that we were wrong in asking
her to give few hours of her time to o
charitable object.
There are one or two points In the letter
we have quoted to which we desire to call
attention. Miss Cushman says: "You SIM
''ply ask of me that I should give from $500
'1o $500 to your poor" &c. We did not
ask Miss Cushman to do anything of the
kind. We asked her if she would give an
extra performance, and did not propose to
interfere in any way with her regular en-
gagement. There is another point In this
e-hundred- dollar-a-night business. Does
Miss Cushman really think that she earns
it She gets it; but we beg to remind her
that she wrings it out of the managers, I'M
der the villainous ''star" system, and at the
expense Of the poor and humble In her own
profession, who. in large degree, contrib
ute to her success. and who are not paid as
much in year as she Is paid In almost
single night. She enforces her five hun
dred dollars a night, demands her pound of
flesh, and they must take what they can
get. Miss Cushman looks at the matter
from thoroughly selfish, heartless stand
point. This journal has already given more
than five hundred dollars in labor and SER
vice to the purpose in which its representa-
tive requested her to assist and 1t expects
to double that amount before It is all over
We shall not gain single cent in the whole
The generous response Of
Miss Clara Morris, who, probably, Is not
one tenth as rich as Miss Cushman, who
has not received the one hundredth part as
many five hundred dollar bills In our city
as Miss Cushman has, stands out in bright
and shining contrast. Miss Cushnan has
rushed her letter into print, and we give
her the full benefit OF 1t.
The May Atlantic viii contain poem by Mr..
James Russell Lowell on Agassiz, written IN
the measure Of his Commemoration Ode. The
length Of the poem-eleycn pages Of the mag
azine-and the range which It takes VIII at