The Penn's Grove record., 1885-05-16
Rachel.

~ hAt 49,
entitled ''Rachel ct la T~ragedie," Jules
.Janin describes a meeting between HIM
self and the great tragic actress in 1896,
when she was a plain, insignificant
child of sixteen, and he was the sue
cessful and all powerful critic of the
Debats. ''C'est moi que j'etais au
Gymnase." said the future representa-
tive of Phedre. "J'y etions," he an
swered equally ungrammatically. Be-
tween tins and the year 1858, when AL
phOnse Karr Tetails with painful min
uteness the ''vente apres deces de MPe.
Rachel,'' lie all the years of triumph
and all the years of disappointment sue
cess and suffering through which the
great actress passed. Although not
quite subscribing to the accuracy Of M.
jams statement with regard to her
want of education and grammar there
is no doubt that Rachel is one of the
most remarkable instances of natural
genius on record. She might, like
Pasta. to the observation "Vous ave-
dd beaucoup etudier l'antique' have
replied: "Je Pal beaueoup sent"
1t was this innate dramatic appTe-
hension that, while as yet the names of
Tancred, Helen, Hermione or Pyrrhns
presented only vague symbols to the
mind, induced her to lie awake at night
III the wretched garnet occupied in COM
mon with her sisters Studying the state
ly verses of Racine. 1t was this vehe-
mence of appreciation and intellectual
power that enabled her to change the
voice that was pronounced grating and
Is......,tIn L. hA- q rot p,aCfnr ChArNp
into the most flexible, penetrating and
passionate dramatic organ eve heard.
1t was his absorbing earnestness that
endowed her with energy when the time
came to throw off the shabby garments
she had worn as a girl and don the dla-
demS, the draperies, the sandals of an
tiquity, wearing them with ~incCmpara-
bic grace and dignity. Victor Hugo
and Balzac, representatives of the TO-
mantle school, were all-powerful when
this child, unaided and alone, stepped
forward, and endeavored to obtain a
hearing for Corneille and Racine. bona
Sol had been played by Mile. Mars;
Dorval had appeared in Marion Delor-
me; Frederic Lemaitre had been de-
lighting every II in Ruy Bias. How
was it possible TO induce the public to
listen to poets who, almost two centu-
aries before, had recounted the TRACE
dies and greatness of ancient Greece
and Rome2
1t is said that the memory of the
first friendship they have formed, or
of the first woman they have loved,
dies out from the hearts of men, but
that they never forget the first great
actor or actress they have seen.
Whether this be true o. not, the theatrer
even when 10y the passage of the years,
we have become rationalists and unro
mantle, has shortened many a dull
hour, and exercised many a sad thought
recreating and stimulating our jaded
spirits. Do we not owe a debt of graf
ltude, then to those who have sung to
us or played to us, and ought we not
constantly and faithfully to endeavor
to clear their memories from the ecu
sations cast at them by IA carping crowd2
Above all, Frenchmen I'VE a debt of
gratitude to her of whom VT write.
In her fTail, weak person this young
girl embodied what their poets had con-
CeiVed. She was the transformation
into active force of all the tragedy and
pathos, the love and sorrow that had
laid dormant in mems hearts and brains.
she became the mouth-piece of the
ages that had passed when she recited
Cornellle and Racine I; the mout-piece
OF the ages to come when wrapped In
their tricolor flag she chanted Marsel-
laise. "Onef felt In the air, " says Nine.
Louise CQllett to Beranger, like a
mighty breath of hope, that bore along
with il all useful desires" That beau
tlful appar;tion, pale, menaclDg, was
no longer a woman ; she was the God
dess of Liberty calling on her country
men to arm.