Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-11-14

IaIDer days 10 saving up SOmetn1ng or
their easily earned salaries. Take Ma
dame Sarah Bernhard, for instance
Never has an actress risen higher in
her profession and never has one
fallen into lower depths of despair
and misery than she is sure to fall be-
fore many moons have gone and come
unless she puts On the brakes very
soon. Was there ever another wem-
an with such a history as hers has
been, and which is not yet endedi
Her beginnings were difficult, and
already she was tormented by debts;
but one day she scored success in the
PEASANT" at the Odeon, a success due
partly sto the tender charm of her
voice and partly to suggestive am
biguity OF her piastique. Then she
entered the Coincide Franchise, where
she soon became famous. She was
feted and applauded as no other &C
tresS had been who ever appeared be-
fore the Partisan public No doubt
her talents are of the highest order,
and she is original, seductive and
graceful in her every movement, but
she had Inc good luck to make her APP
pearance at a time when there were
no longer any truely great actresses
on TIE French stage, and when there
were few left among the public who
remembered Rachel and Augustine
Brohan. Her name grew and grew,
and soon it filled Paris, the province
and foreign lands. No one was talked
about but her; she was photographed;
painted in oils, carved In marble, and
every one did their best 10 surround
her with an atmosphere of eccentrici-
ties. Her toilets were looked upon as
enigmas; her slightest gesture was said
to conceal a mysterious meaning; her
nair to render those mad who touched
it; her flowers to breathe forth the
poisons which were daily food. When
she received her salon was crowded
with the noblest names IN Europe.
The Kings of Christendom bowed
down before this stage queen. She
went up in a balloon, and nation
watched her ascent in breathless in
terest; she wrote book for which the
publishers commended, she made
statues and painted pictures, which
the admiring public declared master
pieces. 1t seemed as if her brains
must burst under the tremendous
pressure of her inspiration, that Der
soul which shaken like reed by the
whirlwind of creation. All at once
the public had learned that she had
left the Coincide Francise and was
setting forth on victorious tour over
the face of the earth; then came the
news of her triumphant progress, of
the diplomatic incidents which she
was the cause Of She was in
America, IN Russia, in London, in
Italy; millions were poured into her
lap; to surprise herself as well as the
public she got married and then UNI
married; she bought all the theaters
that came in her way, and hardly en-
tered into posse ssion before she re-
linquished them again. Now she has
signed a contract with this manager,
now she has broken the one that
bound her to another; everything
that she touches falls to pieces; she
lives in an atmosphere of lawsuits
and executions, and wherever she
goes a long string of creditors cllngs
to her skirts, and, at last, she is no
longer able to keep them at bay. l
know that there are people who pity
Sarah Bernhardt, and because that it
is her love of the ideal which has
been her ruin; they say that in these
DAYS of prose and artistic corruption
she has devoted herself to pure art,
and that it Is her ruin. For my part
| can find nothing of all this IN the
life of Sarah Bernhard | see IN
that life great deal of calculation, of
graspiug after the main cha:c a cold
and Intentional folly, and above all
thirst after money. There is not an
act in the life of Sarah Barnhardt
which was not money for its motive;
it seems S if she felt that mountains
of gold would not suffice for her ex
travagances, and she Is forever driven
by a deaf aud blind passion for mon
ey. 1t was this that led her to leave
the theater Franchise so abruptly,
and that led her into all the acts
which have made her so much talked
about because she knew that what
kept her before the public would make
the public willing 10 pay thels money
to see and hear her. But there is
limit to all things, and she will find
this out to her cost when she goes
back to the United States, as she in
tends doing under Abby's manage
ment next season.