The Sunday herald., 1886-12-26

newsis suppressed hereby the papers than prnted
but they must invent aud put as nows things
rldlcuousy absurd on their face. The inevitable
result Is to make all correspondence unreliable and
TO disgust readers with false ideas OF the city.
An amusing incident OF this sort not alluded to by
Mr. Kurtz, found the other daY In letter from
Washington published In several papers. II was
stated, In quite serious vcin thar Sin Washington
lives Old lover o; Ada Rehan. Ada Ia one Of the
stars at Daly's Theatre, In New York Recently abe
was dilatng to her ex-bcau ahout her old admirers,
and produced letters and rehearsed incidents which
showed that George Gould about the autumn of
lSSl was much smitten with her and pestered her
not n little" The whole thing Ia purely imaginative.
Miss Rchan Is not "sar," (Day will star no one Of
his company there no old beau, no letters, no
dlatlnC, no annoyance from MIR. Gould, and not
even an acquaintance with him. The inventor OF
the story coud have had no idea OF the lady OF
whom he wrote, and certainly no thought OF the
annoyance which his paragraph must cause all the
parties. Miss Rehan Is one OF the most retiring and
modest ladies' In the profession. She shuns pub
city-paradoxical as that may appear IN speaking OF
an actress-and 1t is almost impossible for even her
lady friends to induce her to go out OF the house In
daytime she lives during the week In quiet hotel
in the city, and Invariably spends her sabbaths with
her mother, in modest cottage at Red Hook Point,
South Brooklyn As for beaux, she s devoted only
to her mother; her sister, Mrs. Oliver Dowd Byron;
her brother Arthur and her art. nrmy believe
that her whole thought when alone is about her
profession. II is this constant study and this warm
devotion which has made her, 10 my mind the finest
comedcnne of the American stage Knowing the
peculiar Temperament, OF the lady, can wei imag-
Inc the modification and indignation with which
she read this piece OF fiction about herself.
This reckessness OF journalists Ia bound TO end
in the wrecking OF such writer's, as 1t has resulted
from time to time in the wrecking OF some Journals.
l spoke recently of the wrecklng of truth and the
Dramatic Ne,cs by Just such methods The editor
who really made both of these papers, on being
driven from the STATS OF the two, started enter
prise of his own, which he called the Dramatic
Times Abuse and exaggeration characterized 1t,
too and after many vicisstudes 1t failed, and was
| absorbed under the name OF Comment This too,
fell Into evil ways and hard lines and this week 1t
went to the wall To,on Topics, another publication
OF personalities, has been going through many
trbuatons in the form Of libel SUITS and last week
it was seized by Anthony Comstock for the publca-
ton Of long string of the most beasily Old obscene
chestnuts. The publisher was compelled to dismiss
his editor, Paul Potter but this does yet seem
| to have molliied MIR. Comstock, who only did his
dnty, and who will probably push the matter against
the publisher until the real offender is given to JUS
tice lie was member OF Modeska's company,
who thought 1t clever Joke to palm OH the nth
his friend the editor, who, forgetting his duty to
his publisher and to the pubc never read the mat
| ter In manuscript or proof.
There Ia an absurd play on the boards here which
pretends to illustrate the laxy OF the matrimonial
laws and relations OF people in this city. Its incl
| dents are unnatural and enforced, but none could
have been Imagined more grotesque than some Incl
dents In real life which illustrative of the mixed
condition Of society. The woman Terry, who has
Just been len s2,000,O0O in her own right, and
slooOOoOo in trust for an unborn child for years
the wife OF burglar who had another wife, and he
wassl living un prison. when she married Terry and
his millions. often the street lady who is
known as the wife of a variety manager, but whose
real husband is In Sing Sing. Afew years ago man
| named Stivers. gone wrong young son of the mil
lionaire carriage builder started private gambling
club called "The London" and one of the access
| sores which he thought necessary was woman
whom he called his wife. She made the acquaintance
OF a neer-do-well son of ex-Collector Thomas Muir
ply, the crony Of Gen. Grant at one time; and one
night the two went to minister and got married The
lady returned to Stvers's mansion, and young Muir.
ply used to call on his wife there. Stlvers was in.
formed Of the marriage, but urged objections TO
the duplex arrangement, and the other day when
the "ittle arrangement" arrested, charged with
passing bogus check, both Murphy and Slivers ac-
companied her to court and got bail for her. She is to
be at various variety theatres occasionally and
IL Is an even chance that Stivers escorts her around
quite much as Murphy. And the funniest part of
1t all is that the courts which permit Stivers to
this woman for divorce take no sort of cogniZance
of the bgamy which implied In the divorce pro-
ceedings!
MIR. Mantels failure in "Tanged Lives has
been signal as anticipated In my last letter. Since
the first night, when the Cldque was out In full
force, there has been applause, nor was there
any judiclous applause the first night. 1t is impos-
sible that so crude play should find acceptance In
New ork, where only the best succeed; nor Cal
Mr. Mantell hope to please forever by his mannerisns
His has not been the only recent failure of thi:
season. Miss Helen Dauvray brought back sOne Of
Our Grls"to the Lyceum, where 1t had run last
season. 1t fell stale, hat, and decidedly Improbable
1t is always mistake to take play of in the mls
of its prosperity, and 1t Is always questionable
ture to open new season with the success Of pre-
vious one. Miss Dauvray was alwaysa hard, Inc
taic sort of actress, and she to have growI
more so during her absence "on the road" Al
signal has been the failure of Margaret Mather oil
her re-entrance at the Union Square Theatre a
"Leah, the Forsaken." The houses are bad--only
less SO than some Of the English and pronunciation
which Miss Mather nings at one.
Henry NJ. Stanley was complete failure as a lee
turer He not only drew no paying houses. but hi
delivery was SO bad that he could not he understoo'
half the time, and when he was heard his Language
was so confused and involved that 1t conveyed N
Ideas TO his hearers SO Stanley Invented the stor.
of his being called to Europe by the King OF the Bel
} gians to fight the Arabs on the Congo. 1 fancy HI
will do this from the safe distance OF the rooms
the European geographical societies.
saw Miss Cora Tanner al Scranton, the othe
night, playing "AlOne In London" to an audience
very largely composed OF working men and women
', many Of the older ones of whom knew something o
London life and prvation from actual observation
had seen this beautiful girl In other parts and be
4 fore audiences OF another kind, and was anxiou
I to see her In melodrama before audience of IN
: ruder sort. She borrOws nothing In the way o
beauty from foreign adornments, for the characte
she plays is for the most part, clad In rags hut tn
: contrast between ner dress and personal beaut
8 only heightened the latter have watched her ca
reer with some interest," although do not know tn
lady, and have observed that sne Is an actress o
great power, as yet not fully developed. She forci
bly, reminds me OF Lucille Western, having all he
J. force but none of her rpdeness. She also remind
i me, by her sympathetic voice and earnest man
ner than by her looks, OF Ellen Terry. think thos
c who saw Ellen Terry and recognized that that sh
q was not lovely of person will appreciate my last re
n marx. Miss Tanner lrst attracted my attention "A
= Billy Piper, IN "The Danites," playing the pai
] while Mrs Mckee Rankin was disabled, and rt
d marked then the great originality she displayed l
o the character 1t was totally unlike that of IN
,. original, and much more effective Miss Tame
j, plays In Washington next week, and, | believe, /
n Baltimore the week after.
e WILLIAM +. q. SHAGKs.