Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-17
NINE MODJEsKA.
Her Checkered Observation-Disclosures
Of a Polish Gentleman.
Nov York sun.l

~ AAA ~
New York, recently gave some inter-
esting statements concerning the
career and opinions Of this actress,
whose life possesses much of the ele-
ments of romance. He said NV
first meeting with the actress known
to the American public as Helen
Modieska dates far back. Our meet
ings since have been accidental, inter
rupted by long intervals of time, and
coinciding strangely with eventful
changes in her artistic life. Scarcely
two of them happened in the same
country and under similar circum-
stances.
Il remember her we'll, as a slight,
dark girl of seventeen. She was then
thought to be consumptive, and she
lived with a company of strolling
players in a cottage belonging to our
family, in an obscure town in Aus
trian Poland (Gallicia). The players
appeared as dilapidated as the old
house wherein they had found shelter,
and as poor as the little town which
they tried to divert. Whatever pecu-
mary success they enjoyed was due to
the sick girl-Miss Helena Benda
her histrionict talent was sufficient even
at that early period to arouse our
sleepy towns folk and attract them to
the play. The girl was the talk of the
place. Strange being our gossips
used to say, commenting on her, how
can you reconcile her i'll health with
the passion which she displays night
after night on the stage? Is she not
so weak hat she has to be taken to the
theater in a carriage? Does she not
faint occasionally between the acts ?
Has she not been brought back to her
mothers house in hysterical fits?
And yet how she affects us during a
performance Such was the gossip of
our good neighbOrs, who could not
realize that talent aud the sense Of
duty may occasionally DEFY physical
infrmity. | recollect, also, that the
sick and OverWorked girl was an object
of wonder to myself, then a boyish
cOllegian, whose heart throbbed with
the awe supposed to be evoked by
supernatural beings whenever her
emaciated form, light dressed, and.
dark, lustrous eyes appeared among
the ill-trimmed shrubs in the little
garden ATTACHED to the cottage, and
who wept nightly among the gods
Of our cheap, dingy theater, over her
representations OF distressed heroines.
Several years after these events |
visited the ancient capital of Poland
ON a pilgrimage common to the people
of our country, who go, like Moham-
medans to Mecca, to view the monu-
ments Of the past. A friend proposed
a visit to the Grand Theater to see
the great actress Of that imperial play
house. The name of the star being
that of her first husband, who was
dead, was not familiar to me. The
Grand Theater enjoyed a peculiar
position, being considered more in the
light Of a national temple than a house
Of amusement, because it happened to
be the only place of public resort,
several churches excepted, wherein
the use of the national language was
tolerated. On this occasion the ia
yorite actress appeared in the part of
"Uphelia," and was received with
great applause. | recognized in her,
to my establishment, the invalid Of our
garden. She had recovered her health,
had become the brilliant star Of. an
imperial theater and was the object
OF the admiration and esteem of a
great city, as she had been an object of
interest to our small community. She
would never play in the presence OF
the car. When he visited Warsaw
she feigned sickness nor would she
ever receive a gift from the court or
accept offers to remove TO st. Peters
burg and play in Russia. At the same
time she opened her salon to young
authors Of talent, encouraged the INTO
write plays, listened patiently to the
reading Of their first efforts, exerted
her influence to have their better
productions represented and created
a school Of playwrights, including men
Of considerable merit, whose work.
remain unknown beyond the SlayoniC
world, because their language is moi
used in any Independent country.
Several years have passed since
my first visit to the Grand Theater
Rambling on the picturesque banks o
the lake Of Zurich and around beau
tiful Lucerue, | again met the lead.
ing Polish actress. She was detained
in Switzerland nursing her sick anC
only Sol. She had married again int,
one Of our exclusive and ultramon
tame families. Well aware of tn,
views Of her new relations, | coul,
not help admiring the strange skill 0
that woman in subduing antipathie
and preiudices. She had gained thei
love and esteem as easily as she haI
formerly extOrted the favor Of he
t stern manager. Ny astonishment wa
consequently unbounded when m
next accidental interview with Helen
r Modjeska happaned a few years later
on board Of a steamer ready to sal
+ from New York to Aspinwall. | wa
? preparing for a journey to Warsaw
e whence abe had just arrived. A vol
a untary exile. size bad given up a 6n
position to proceed with the remnant
/ OF hGT husbands fortune to Los An
n geles, California. She was in th
2 company OF her family and a fe.
friends, They proposed to form
y small intellectual colony near LC
d Angeles, spd displayed very eItraya
CANT notions concerning bucolic life
the far West. Her defeated look an
nervous behavior reminding me oP III
3 ehild girl in our garden, BETRAYED he
anxiety as to the result Of their yer
tuFe. Nevertheless, no ropresentatio
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