The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-12-07
Men and Women.

rules every rule has its exceptions.
Men and Women.
The torch which the daring "Is'ruP' used
when he bounded into the VOLTS icave, is
exhibited in the Old South. May be it is the
very same and maybeinot.
Mr.. Edward Lear, the nonsense poet, the
author of those delightful "Jumbles," and tn,
originator of the absurd nonsense quintain, is
an excellent artist in water colors as well as
lively writer.
Carlyle has been growing at Darwin and the
scientists, and this is what be had to say to
correspondent oflthe Hartford Courant: "About
thirty years ago, book was published here
called The Vestiges of Creation. 1t ran quietly
through five editions; men read it with bated
breath in silence, and marveled at its audacity.
1t was like a pinch of snuff, and now whole
wagon loads of it are thrown down in the pub
lie highway and atheistic sneeziDg has become
the fashion. So-caled literary. land scientific
classes in England, now proudly give them
selves to protoplasm. origin Of species, and the
like to iprove THAT God did not build the uni
verse. have known three generations of the
Darwins; grandfather, father and son; atheists
all. The brother of the present famous
naturalist, quiet man who lives not far from
here told me that ,among his granfather's eff
fects he found seal engraven with this legend
-'0n,nia ex conchis'; everythingi from a clam
shell! saw the naturalist not many months
ago and told him that / had read his Origin of
Species and other. books; that he had by no
means satisfied me that men were descended
from monkeys, but had gone far towards
persuading me that he and his SO called
pIssen Of nad IIs1 ve ns
near to monkeys. A good sort of man is
this Darwin, and we'll meaning, but with very
little intellect. All, it's sad and terrible
thing to see nigh whole generation Of men
around in purblind fashion, and finding no
God In this universe. l suppose it is a reaction
from the reign of can't and hollow pretence,
protesting to believe VIII at in fact they do not
not belive. And this is what we have
Of dirt the order of the day. The older grow
and now stand upon the brink of eternity
the more comes back to me the sentence in the
catechism, which l learned when child, and
the fuller and deeper its meaning becomes.
What is the great end of man? TO glorify
dirt, teaching that men have descended from
frogs through monkeys can ever set that aside"
There is fine story going about the newspa-
pers:to the effect that Washington irving was
once greatly attached to a beautiful Philadel-
phia Hebrew, whose parents opposed their mar
riage on the score of religion, and that Irving,
having described this lovely young LADY to
Scott during his first visit to him, the great
novelist Immediately chose her as the heroine
of "Ivanhoe" This is anAexcessively pleasant
little tale; only it happens .that:Irvng first WIS.,
tied Scott after "Ivanhoe'' was written.
Mr.. J. w. Forney, Jr., says of Miss Dickin-
son as an actress: "She frts with King Henry
like a timid country LASS schooled to smirk and
courtesy, but without the refinement and the
former associations to mind her lesson.
She talks, too, of love as she might of the
weather. and if she attempts to typify the pas
sion, it is as If she were attempting to buresque
it. And yet as the play goes on one sees why
Anna Dickinson thought.she might be an &C.
tress. Her scenes with the Cardinal, with
Percy, with Cromwell, often give ihope of real
dramatic power; the audience is hushed in in
terest, but moment afterward she drops again
and drops so far that the chill of disappoint-
ment goes over us all. When Miss Dickinson
is required to act, as IN the last scene with the
dared what she has deepens. Every movement
is forced; there is nothing natural, nothing
which does not say, 4 am trying so hard to do
this Her play is remarkably well constructed
but only fairly and very unevenly written.
There are gems among the speeches fit for any
work, but there is very much that is common
place. In the hands of a true dramatic artist,
The Crown of Thorns' will live. But Anna
Dickinson is woman of determination and
pluck. She has not only the will to decide, but
the courage to carry through, if it be in any
way possible. what she tries. She will fight
her fight for prominence on the stage honestly
and fiercely, and will not give up until her own
mind is satisfied it cannot be. Her whole rec
ord proves that, and it may be she will prove us
all false prophets"
John T. Raymond was born in Buffalo, n
Y, April 5, 1885, At sever teen years of age he
made his first appearance at the Rochester
theatre as Lopez in the Honeymoon" When
he came upon the stage he was terribly fright
ened, lost his self-possession, blundered and
suffered, and gave unconsciously such good
piece Of comic actiHg that the audience was
suffased with laughter.
Stonewall Jackson's daughterrJulia is nov
pretty girl of sixteen, with large eyes, good
head, and an expression full of sweetness and
character. She is said to be exceedingly gentle,
modest and thoughtful. She issving with her
mother in Charlotte, N. c.
Adelina Patti, of all singers in the world the
"most moving-delicat," lately sang at Paris
soiree, and for the first time in the composers
hearing, the song, "Connaistu lie pays?' from
1'Mignon." Monsieur Ambrose Thomas did
not take it quietly at all; he actually cried, and
now says that tno one but the lovely Adelina
shall create the part or the.unhappv heroine of
his unpublished score "Francoise de Rimini."