Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-22

English Interest I'm America.
The success of Mrs. Langtry in attracting au-
diences In New York does not strike US as sur
prisng 1t is the English interest In that success
which requires to be accounted for. By a con-
sent which might be termed unanimous. but
that Mr. Oscar Wilde thinks himself critic of
dramatic representation. and likes to stand alone
In opinion, Mrs. Langtry is not q great actress,
or even good one, and is not likely ever to
establish reputation as an artist; but the
Americans are naturally eager to see a very lady
like woman. who was pronounced by the highest
society in England and by many artists excep-
tionally beautiful. The provincial desire to
know what the mOther-country admires min
giles, In Mrs. Langtry's case, with the instructive
wish to see, if not the most beautiful thing in
nature-fOr women, however fair, have still RI
walls in trees and lakes, and, as some artists pre-
tend, in horses and birds-at least that object in
nature about the Seauty of which human consent
has been most universal and longest lived. Helen
was admired before mountain scenery was. The
audiences therefore, are large, and as the Ameri-
cans. who have among them some of the most
beautiful fates in the wOrld-thOugh the special
beauty of American women's faces is not of Mrs.
Langtry's kind, being dependent on their charm
when in movement, and not on their charm in i'm
mobility. have Endorsed the English verdict-We
as the actress moves westward into a fiery enthu-
siasm. such as followed Jenny Lind. Americans
have capacity for admiration which is very
often rdiculed, but which is, perhaps. Of all
signs OF the freshness of nations one of the very
strongest. Men who can admire are young,
and that sort of receptiveness marks peoples
who have a future before them and are not
"eXperienced'' until half their faculty of emo
ton is dead: All that is natural, and so far as
we see, unobjectiOnable, admiration for beau
tiful work of God being at least as innocent as
admiration for a beautiful work of man; but
what is the cause of the English interest in it at
all?
Why does it pay the Journals to send long tele-
grams about Mrs. Langtry and the audiences
she attracts and the prices paid for stalls in her
theater when they are put up to auction, in that
American way which is surely of all ways. the
one least ceditable to the land of equality? The
French give blouse his chance, if only he will
stand Ell queue long enough; but the Americans
openly declare that earth, including the pew
nearest the preacher, belongs to the moneyed
man. Those kilograms are not forwarded tor
the actress friends only. for did they include all
society their pennies would hardly repay the
to interest the public at large. the whole
circle of newspaper buyers, and whom do
they interest? We suspect that they interest
very great many who do not say so, that they
are read quite as much as kilograms about
Mr.. Secretary FOlger's gold operations. and
that they are much longer remembered. A great
many people are interested in gossip. to begin
with, gossip of any sort. if it is only about peo-
pie of whom they have ever heard. and nearly as
manv like to know how Americans deport
themselves, in social affairs The English
never acknowledge the truth frankly but they
are as Keen to know what Americans do as the
Americans are to know what the English do,
keener to watch them, we begin to think. than
they are to watch Parisians. They like
to hear of Partisan rush for stalls to see
Victor HugO's drama ''Le Roi's Amuse" pro-
hbted for fifty years; but they are more inter-
ested in seeing the scores of New Workers
camped out all night in the pOrches Of IA theatar
in order to be early enough to buy the much
sought-for tickets They have, we believe. a
grandfather1y feeling about the matter. a kind
OF pleasure. or it may be pain. in seeing that
the new world, ints frivoiities at least is so very
like the old. Here are those children of ours.
with continent to conquer, and the future of
the world. perhaps. in their hands, sitting up
all night and spending thousands to make sure
that they will see a beautiful face. Chester did
precisely the same thing-Or was it Shrewsbury
for we have half forgotten the legend?
to see 1.-THE beautiful Miss Gunnngs;''
and Chester is great-grandmother of
New York. 1t is of interest to note how. if
knowledge grows. wisdom fingers and folly re-
mains as of old. especially if the foolishness is
not very harmful. is not at our expense and is
exhibited by our own descendants. One smiles
then, and If there be little Scorn in the smile
there is also regret for ones own past This
semi -paternal interest in things American is. we
are convinced, quite genuine, and exceedingly
deep. and will one day make the fortune of some
Observant travellers book. If some Mr.. PiGgeOn
would only tell the young generation how Ameri-
can boys and girls dress, frt disport and edu-
cate themselves, what success he would have
English men and women get bored to death
with those accounts of American institutions
plentifuly studied with statistics which are the
temptation OF English travellers. and the beset-
ting weakness of most American visitors who
with faces brimful of humor and keenness must
still tell you how the free schools are managed
but the moment social facts are mentioned, the
moment some charitable American girl explains
why she has more at a good time" in Pha-
delphia than her sister has in Liverpool how
the indifference disappears! Dozens of COM
petent persons with pens have reviewed
democracy" and "The Europeans" and most
of them. no doubt, have done it WE'LL but none
of them hit the special interest of the readers
without pens. who remarked unanimously that
Mrs. Lee was obviously more tree from COM
ment than she would be in England, that Miss
Dare was intoerably vul9a and that Gertrude,
in the ''Europeans,' for all her separateness,
was altogether a lady.-London Spectator.