The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1881-12-17

S P"Pono VI actinR attne nrst 10 departed
from now-that sensationalism has crowded
the legitimate drama to the wall. It NAV
also be said, with an equal degree of truth.
iuiness, that sensationalism has invaded the
pages of the historian, the poet and the
novelist, and the sermon Of the preacher
But shall we therefore witness no more
piaysf Shall we therefore read no more
Dooksf Shall we therefore listen to no
more sermonsl If we admit this charge.
the assurance may be given that in good
tune the evil complained of will be correct.
ed and acting be restored again to what its
purpose was at the first. But at the worst,
the actor does much more good than harm,
and he can find listeners in thousands of
people who could not be induced to give au-
dience to either preacher, historian, poet or
novelist. And it may not be denied that
the actor-thOugh he does occasionally tear
passion to tatters--can give an insight to
human nature that can be given as forcibly
py neither preacher, historian. poet nor
novelist. lApplause.l He acts, in the eye
OF the world, the passion the play-writer
wishes to depict, and generally represents
vice as unattractive and virtue as a thing of
beauty and a joy forever. The mimic
scene becomes true picture of real life, in
which virtue struggles and uiumphs; in
which vice schemes and fails; and in which
" Error wrlthes In pain
And dies amid her worshippers." [Applausel
Upon the boards, the great masters of hu-
man nature-the Shakespeare of literature
who, crowned with genius, have stood upon
the elevated places of humanity--the YER
dant hill-tops and the break mountain tons
OF human Dature;-from the boards these
men, though dead, speak to the world-to
the generations as they come and go--in
the great characters which have made their
names immortal-which will make their
footsteps forever echo along the corridors of
time. Applause.
On this stage. yet virgin to the buskin
tread, and on which tonight will be told
the beautiful story of the Mascotte, Lear
"a poor. weak and innrm old man
will often tell the story of his wrongs, and
Cordelia, the dutiful daughter, will teach
the beauty of silent love-
"WhatCordelia do, Love, and be silent"
Hereon will Richard the Third, limp,
wanting
Loves majesty
10 strut before an ambling, wsnton nymph,"
but with tongue that could wheedle the
devil, and does whcedle Queen Ann, or~..l
. NJ 49, - --.:.i ...n;u,o. th ~
eral tongues.
'hs speaker quoted portion OF Richards
opening speech and acted it, receiving loud
applause, especially from the actors at the
wings.
Hereon will Cesar die, Anthony har.
-angue, and Brutus and Cassius quarrel.
Hereon will Othello tell the story |
If his courtship, Iago act the hypocrite and
villain, and Desdamona love and die.
Hereon will Shylock demand the pound
Of flesh cut off from nearest the merchants
heart, and Portia, in the character of the
Just Judge, deny to the vengeful Jew the
drop of blood not nominated in the bond.
Hereon will Macbeth teach that |
-"Oteptimes to win US to our harm
Tho instruments Of darkness toll us truth;
Win US with honest tribes, to betray us
In deepest consequences"
Hereon will Hamlet soliloquise and
rave, and poor Ophelia sing, like the swan,
her saddest yet sweetest song as she goes to
her death.
And hereon will the other men and won.
en- who have sprung full-grown, perfect in
virtue or consummate in villainy, strong
or weak, from the brains Of the other great
live and speak, instructing to
virtue and warning Of vice; while others,
not children Of the genius that commands
the world, will strut and fret their hour, aud
then be heard no more. Applacse.
Hereon also will the great works of the
musical masters be presented, and great
singers will tell in song the worlds old
story of love and joy and sorrow.
Men and women, gifted as orators, and
recognized as thinkers, will, from these
boards, lecture the people; and occasional
ly Terpsichore may claim the right to reign
in this temple, while
Youth and pleasure meet
TO chase the going hours with flying feet"
But must not forget that
--"Brevty 10 the soul Of wit
And tediousness tho limbs and outward nourishes,"
that the time to which have been res
tricted has about expired; that the stage
waits, and that you are impatient to sec and
hear the beautiful girl who will act and
sing the Mascotte tonight; and so, quoting
old Polonious again, let me say, in conclu-