, 1881-03-27

4 few weeks ago Lester Wallack was en-.
joined by Miss Geneyieye Ward from play:
Ing Forget-Me-Not.' A1r. II. C. Meriya1e,
one of the authors Of the play, writes to a
friend in England an interesting letter upon
the suit. The Spirit prints it. He says:
The printed evidence in Ward ys: Moss, which
received the other day. quite settles the ques-
n9n IN ny p Mind mn neal LITTLE Plant was ar
lawyer tthe lawyer swears) to draw up an agree-
1nent which would include the habitable globeI
and neyer tod me Of If Nc
the evening before the play came out, but In the
middle Of rehearsal, Q few days before, under
NE, 1as sad to my e wife, Who % happened to 6e
Ia the stalls THAT morning, IT wish Id never had
anything to do with this pack Of people," The
themselves to claim IN American right, under
tho word "esewhere-'' The terms of the con-
tract were ,st9dousiy misleading The authors
which seems to limit the operation Of the
contract to places where we did own 1t; no
suggestion Of America was made. aud the play
let 20 for so much night in London, SO much
less elsewhere. terms which In themselves sug-
gest "tne provinces to any one OF course,
the agreement would be supposed BY any one to
refer to the United Kingdom. ALI men1on or
America WIS studtously avoided till after the
production nf the play, when Miss Ward ill.,
formed me, the last time think ever saw her.
that she had - copyrighted the play in America
didn t the least understand Thnt she meant,
and Was rather amused by what struck me as q
piece Of "eheek. But Is we were at tho mo-
doing, us far us she could, some friendly turn to
us. OF course, it she hud behaved like ordinary
human beings, should have done my best to
help her to right in America afterwards; but,
up to that time, had not contemplated the
question ut all, one way or the other She says
Considering that she acted In England for sixteen
months cousecutiyely Immediately afterwards.
which might haye been i1detinitly prolonged II
But ut the time knew nothing on earth about
it. and she was very careful shouldn't know
AS for Mr.. Bran Stokcr, whom Miss Ward
has dragged into this matter, we gather from
Mr.. Meriyae's letter that, in a communica-
ton to the latter, he says: "No mention of
any special American right was to my
knowledge ever made on either side" Mr.
a1erivale goes on to say:
The Wards perseyerinRly try to confuse the
,a ,s5ue "a Eve m M ~ays Gf tag
the kind wanted them to buy it out. but they
wouldn't; SO lletit TO Miss Ward, in considera-
sum VI which @ to % me might be Il 1os and nd CO. ccuidns M
be more than Ei5o. Was likely to throw
Anerica in for that: l instructed her entirely
be, an utterly interruptions and evil woman,
with none OF the namby- pambiness In which
she What she is pleased to ca .conceives,. Of it
the play away it she hudln't been, and acted the
part ut first admirably. When ! saw her in an
act afterwards, when she had consulted her
own lights, her. performance bored me
OUT Of the place: It was like heroine of the
Heir OF Radcliffe with Il flavor Of crutch and
too;hpick, utterng the sentiments of Jezebel
Miss Coghlan apparently is playing the charAc-
ter exactly as it ought to be played. In letting
the play. reserved tho control OF sab-letting:
There was no purchase whatever. The second
dodge is always dragging in my poor little sister
in-lHw's name. She Was the innocent cause Of
our private differences, of course, but has moth
lug to do with the meaning Of ELSEWHERE" AS
q matter Of fact, the gtrl is very clever. md
plnyed, her scrap OF Il part char1ningly Il should
not have endangered tho play for ner or any
body. aud Miss Ward was very content till she
found she hnd to pay her small salary. Then she
got rid Of her for somebody she bad for nothing
twho was laughed at In her two little scenes
every nEghtl and KEPT my slster-tn-law's name
on the bill till forced her acting manager to
remove It. She hAsed her proceeding upon the
girl having an Irish accent; incompetence wns
Invented afterwards. But really this has moth
ing to do with the matter. What Is clear is this:
That Miss Ward may win her case against Moss
by literal and unqualified Interpretation Of
:. elsewhere" II she does I have nothing to do
but publish the pluy here in tho usual why, and
destroy all American rights In 1t for anybody.