Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-03-02
MISS BRgIhBR1()E
D ma HUMPHREY WAND,
AufHoR or "aosnnr sLsn.nH.

yrsnch noveasF - I'D, withdrawine
hsr eyes from ths hranch above hse and
frowuine Q littlo d Wallace - Gho spoke.
PleaDe dcnr expect NJ 10 talk about ehem.
Iknow pothing about tAsm-I have mover
wished to-
"Efer voics he'd . tons aimost Of hsuteur IN
n have noticsd it before Il b the tone
Of tho famous actreD accustomed 10 bslieve
IN herself and hsr own opinion. I connected
II to- with ell one hears OF her determine
tion to look upon berself a. charged with Q
mission for the reform Of stage morala
French novels and French sctressesi Ap-
parcntly abe regards them all ~ 70 many nm
known horrors sta0ding in the way q the
purihcation OF dramatio art BY beauti-
ful young person with high standard OF
Scotch Presbyterian,s daughter stfll, for ali
her profession and her success and her easv
ways with the Sabbath Her remark pro-
duced good deal Of unregcnerate Irritation
IN me- II she were 6rst rate artist to begin
with, was inclined 10 reflect, this moral en-
thusiasm would touch and charm one good
deal more; a. II is, considering her position,
II Is rather putting the cart before the horsa.
But, OF course, one can understand that it 10
just these traits In her that help her to mako
the impression ahc does on London society
and the orthodox public in general
"Wallace and I went on after the nut
hatches, enjoying private laugh by the
way over MrR 6tuarts little look Of amaze
ment and discomfort ~ Min Bretherton de-
livered herself. When We came back wo
found Forbes sketching her-she sitting rather
flushed and silent under the tree, and he
drawing away and working himself at every
stroke into a greater and greater enthusiasm.
And certainly sho was as beautiful AZ a
dream, sitting against that tree, with the
brown heather about her and the young OAK
leaves over head But returned in an
antagonistic frame of mind, little out Of
patience with her and her beauty, and won.
dering why nature always blunders some.
where!
However, on the way home she had
another and pleasanter surprise for me. A
carriage was waiting for us on the main
road and we strolled towards It through the
gorse and the trees and the rich level even.
ing lights. ! dropped behind for some prim-
roses still lingering in bloom beside little
brook; she strayed, too, and wo were to-
gcther, out Of ear shot Of the rest
"'Mr. Kendall abe said, looking straight
at me, as handed the flowers to her, you
may have misunderstood something Just
now. don't want to pretend to what I
haven't got. / don't know French, and I
can't read French novels IL wished to over
so much
"What was to sayi She stood looking at
me seriously, a little proudly, having eased
her conscience, as 1t seemed to me, at some
cost to herself felt at first inclined to
turn the thing of with Jest, but suddenly I
thought to myself that l too could speak my
mind.
"'Well,'I said, deliberately, walking on
beside her, you lose good deal. There are
hosts Of French novels which would rather
not see woman touch with the tips Of her
fingers; but there are others which take one
into bigger world than we English people,
with our parochial ways Of writing and see
ing, have any notion of. George Sand car
ries you full into the mid European stream
you feel it flowing, you are brought into
contact with all the great ideas, all tho big
interests; she Is an education In herself.
And then Balzacl he has such range and
breadth, he teaches one so much Of human
nature, and with such conscience, such force
Of representation It's the same with their
novels as with their theatre. Whatever
other faults he may have, first rate French
man Of the artistic sort takes more pains
over his work than anybody else in the
world. They don't shirk, they throw their
life blood into II, whether its acting, or
painting, or writing. You've never seen
Desforets, thinkHno Of course not, and
you will be gone before she comes again.
What pityp
"Miss Bretherton picked one Of my prim-
roses ruthlessly to pieces and flung II away
from her with one of her nervous gestures,
Il am not sorry she said Nothing would
have induced me to 60 and see her,
Indeedr ! said, waiting little curiously
for what she would say next.
Its not that am jealous Of her. she
exclaimed, with quick, proud look at me;
mot that don't believe she's great actress;
but can't separate her acting from what
she is herself. It Is women like that who
bring discredit on the whole profession--it is
women like that who mako people think that
no good woman can be an actress. / resent
1t, and I mean to take the other line. Iwant
to prove, If can, that woman may be an
actress and still be lady, still be treated
just as you treat the women you know and
respectl mean TO prove that there need
never be word breathed against her, that
she Is anybody's equal, and that her private
life Is her own and not the public's II makes
my blood boil to hear tho way people-espe-
cially men-talk about Mime. Desforets;
there is not one Of you who would let your
wife or your sister shake hands with her. and
yet you rave about her; how you talk rs If
there were nothing in tho world but genius
and French genius?
ut struck mo that had got to something
very much below tho surface in Miss Breth.
erton. 1t was curious outburst; remem-
Der how often her critics had compared her
TO Desforets, greatly to her disadvantage.
Was this championship of virtue quite genu-
inc or was 1t merely the best means Of de-
Tending herself against rival by the help Of
British respectabilitya
mime Desforets,' said, perhaps a little
dryly, lis riddle to her best friends, and
probably TO herself; she does thousand
wild, imprudent, bad things if you will, but
sho is the greatest actress the modern world
has seen, and that's something to have done
for your generation. To have moved the
feelings and widened the knowledge Of thou.
sands by such delicate, such marvellous, such
conscientious work as hers-that Is an
achievement so great, so mastery that for
one will throw no stones at herp
ut seemed to me all through as though I
were speaking perversely; could have ar.
gued on the other side as passionately
as Isabel Bretherton herself, but l was
thinking of her dialogue with the Prince,
of that feeble, hysterical death scene,
and it irritated me that she, with her beauty,
aud with British Philistinism and British
virtue to back her, should be trampling on
Desforets and genius. But was conscious
of my audacity. II a certain number of
critics have been plain spoken, Isabel Breth.
erton has none the less been surrounded for
months past with people who have impressed
upon her that the modern theatre is very
doubtful business, that her acting is as good
as anybody's, aud that her special mission is
10 regenerate tho manners Of the stage.
To have the naked, artistic view thrust