Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-05-06
women I'm Literature.

women should aspire.
women I'm Litcrature.
In the literary world women are be-
coming Gore conspicuous and more
successful every year. There was a
time when fiction mainly engrossed
them, but at present there are Us
many journalists and essayists as
there are story tellers. For both Of
these fields they are eminently quail
fed by their natural and moral gifts,
while there is nothing connected with
the work that is calculated 10
shock the sensibilities of eve N
the most sensitive and refined.
Almost all of the leading American
newspapers have upon their staff a
woman who in some special depart
ment is recognized as an important
factor of the enterprise, while as edi-
tors and business managers Mrs.
Frank Leslie, and Mrs. Eliza Nichol-
son, of the New Orleans Picau,tne
have proven that in journalism all
things are possible to women. In the
magazines, also, women have taken
"a prominent place. There is
not an issue of any of the Sc
literaries lately that have not been
adorned by feminine contributors,
and a few months ago "Lippincott's 8
Magazine" was exclusively given up
to the ladies'. The fact was SO note
worthy, indeed, that it was comment
ed upon by many OF the women
journalists Of the East. AS drama
lists, too, there is q wide territory
open to the gentler sex; but, under
the existing circumstances, few il any
of them care to avail themselves of it.
The reason for this dearth of appli-
cation is obvious; most, il not
all, literary women are conscientious
about their productions; and this is
an age of action, not OF art. la short
the plays which have become identI-
cal with the last decades of the nine
teenth century display mechanical
but not literary ability, and are as
full OF motion as they are devoid Of
speech. Dissect one or all OF the DC o.
ular dramas of the day. and see if out
of any of them, one soul-stiiring QUO
tation or Grafton can be culled. In
the hands of the star or the com b m
alton who represents them,
they look and sound very we'll
it is true, but take them in
manuscript form into the study, and
there subject them to the closest crit
ical analysis, and it will be disco ov-
cred that they are as devoid of rheto-
ric and of eloquence as are the green
and properly rooms OF the theaters at
which they are produced. Is it any
wonder, then, that in the face of so
complete an intellectual dearth, in
tellectual women should hesitate to
become playwriters? Men do not
scruple to enlist in ranks that offer
such alluring pay. They are perfectly
willing unless they are unusually am
bilious to become rich rather than
great; and so with the sang-froid that
is characteristic of their sex, they
cheerfully turn out "tin soldiers" nd
"parlor matches" by the dozen. 1t
wonld be well for women if they
could borrow a little of this Cd IN
placency, but they can't do it. They
are not SO constituted. And so they
leave the market for dramatic
trash open to the men, while
they write noble books and poe ms
and essays, which the critics
applaud, but which the public will
neither read nor buy. Since he has
been embalmed by time, and good
taste, it would be a fagrant outrage
to society not to approve and to en-
courage Shakespeare. Yet it is safe
to say that if the bard of Avon had
not existed in the days of G God
Queen Bess, and that with his Ham
let, his Othello and his Merchant Of
Venice he should claim hear.
ing in New York, Chicago OF
San Francisco at the present
time, it would fatty be denied
him Why? His plays are not pre-
sented in three or four acts, his see mes
would be too numerous for any nj an
ager to accept, and his speeches would
be too long for even Edwin Booth and
Lawrence Barrett to declaim. 1t is
stated that the legitimate dramatic
muse expired with Shakespeare, and
such may be the case; but the only
way to discover whether it is or 1t is
not is to offer to ambitious writer's
some inducement to produce genuine
plays, and not human puppet shows
such as are so popular to-day. When
the public is ready, as in time it
doubtless will be, to- receive grand
plots, oratorical outbursts and pas
sionate as well as historical charac-
terizations, it will be allowable to
challenge Shakespeare's rivals; but
so long as odds and ends hold the
boards, it is worse than folly to pirate
about the absence Of the legitimate.
If Shakespeare lived once he NAV
under another name live again, but
before ne does the stage and the pub
lie taste will have to be reformed.
DR.. Rachael ). Packsen,
The well known specialist OF Kansas
City, arrived last week in Los An