The daily gazette., 1876-05-29
ANNA DICKINSON,

Inc pain VI the play WrlIer To-Day is
not easy. If he writes good play
omebody says it is hers, and immedia-
sely sues him for literary piracy. If he
writes bad one, the newspapers praise
it. and nobody goes to see it, He can
console himself with the reflection
that the times are not much more
merciful with the debutante. If she is
pretty, she has no brains; if she has
brains, she lacks beauty, or stage
training. or something. 1t requires
courage to go upon the stage in any
capacity except that of sccne-painter,
or as the sure who cries, "My Lord the
King, the carriage waits!" The scene
painter we always praise, for the supe
| we have the tenderest admiration, but
for the writer we have little beside
severity, for the actor criticism. Oc-
casionally however lofty courage
animates the heart of the man or wo+
man, who snatches with aspiring hand
at double crowns, at twin victories.
This was done by the troubadour of
old, who sang his own songs. and the
the trial has been boldly made in these
latter days by Miss Dickinson.
When this lady resolved to go upon
the stage she looked about her for
character. She found that all drama
lists were men. No man understands
a woman. Here were women who
were good, but they were silly; here
one who was strong and intellectual,
but she was bad. Now Anna wanted
woman who was clever and amiable,
who had brains and virtue, who was
strong generous, and several o.her hing
Shakespeare had no such women.
/ Boucicault had none. There was
. nothing to be found in the whole stage
of dramatic literature to fit this wo-
man who was about to spring from the
rostrum to the stage carrying all her
laurels in her hand. There was but
: one thing to be don3, and that was to
! have the play, like the dresses, made
to order,
From stage books Miss Dickinson
turned to history, But here also the
male mind had been before her. The
women were misty and perverted
But there are minds quick to read be-
tween the lines, and in Anne Boleyn
she found the character she needed.
: AS Miss Dickinson says, THE Anne
!, Soleyn of the play is not she of his
tory, but 1t is the true woman writ
ten in spite of historians"
S And the play has had an unusual
l. success, No one says it is stolen, no
body sues Miss Dickinson for the ideas
and the newspapers praise it. Con-
cerning her success as an actress there
a are many opinions, but as she is her
:. self satisfied, as she feels in her SOU
= the assurance that all is well, we may
u look to see her in future climbing tC
6 fame upon ladders of her own making,
It and when the day for acting has
r passed by, fulhlling her promise to
s. make plays for other brave women.
+ About the four dresses there seems
to be no doubt. They were all they
50 pretended to be. There was no linen
Ie back to the velvet, no cotton in the
~ lace. They were the real thing. They
ir were not made in Paris, but in Ameri
in ca, they were made under her owI
- eye, and they cost nine thousand dol
lars, Now 1T seems to us, that in thu
~ cost of these dresses lies one mora
Of lesson of the occasion. If Miss Dick
l. inson has been anything she has beer
N Mentor, and she has never ceased t,
q instruct women and men upon thei
=, duties and their obligations; she ha
" now come down from the desk, sh
p has become the lawful example," an,
la women who once sat at her feet an,
al learned how to live, can gaze upon he
royal robes and know how to dress. :
vn There are women who have thought O
n the stage as profession who will stan
d, aghast at the necessity of dresses t
to which Solomon with all his wive
as must have been a stranger; and ther
on are others obtuse enough TO contour
B Bles principle aDd example, and wondc
eff why the preacher of the Sensibl
es should be forced to violate her ow
m. principles; ard why the wearing of
double crown of thorns should involy
,s such superlatIve dressing-but this
- one of the things Hamlet explained t
'e his friend as not being in his philosc
es' ply.
IN, That Miss Dickinson is right in NAL
to ing a claim to success ought to be
lo- matter of congratulation. She h;
his never had any patience with the III
liz successful, and has held that woma
'' of any power ought to conquer fortun
She laid no emphasis on special trai,
Aat ing, but believed that talent and d
ave sire were weapons of power. She he
ate self is a remarkable instance of her a
and seItions, she sprang like Minerva fro
,ra. the head of civil war, fully armed al
,to equal to the fray; she now walks Il
'teS stage, not as a Claimant, but as OF
mo born to- crown. .-Ne.e Century f