Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-15
THE iBSEN FAD.
How a Revolution Was Caused I'm the
Maplefi field Browning Society.

4
J. l. Ford in the illustrated American.
1t was Miss Crscklethorpe Of Boston who in
troduced the ibsen craze into our little town of
Msplefeld by remarking: And so you have
Browning club and . Shakespeare society?
How very odd! In Boston every one is posi-
lively Ibsen mad this winter"
Little did Miss Cracklethorpe think whe n
she uttered these words-earelessly ana with
the supercilious accent of her caste-that they
| would precipltate social revolution in the
/ town of Mapleield. The Browning people
/ looked hopelessiy into the faces of the
| Shakesperians, and they, in their turn. gazed
oiankly at the ceiling. But no one spoke.
| The truth was that not one of us knew who
| 1bsen was. Then Mrs. Germayne adroitly
| turned the conversation into other and more
navigable channels, aud the danger of shock
ing our distinguished guest was past--at least
| for that moment
| The first thing to do was 10 get together all
| possible information concerning Ibsen. for the
| Browning society was TO meet the following
evening, and it would never do for us 10 be
taken of our feet with surprise, as We had been
| the night before. There was but one person
| to whom We could apply. and that was old Mrs
Lazarus. who lived on Washington avenue and
was popularity supposed to know everything
1t was IN this way that the subject presented
| itself TO each and every member of the COM
| pany There was no interchange of opinion,
! but each one resolved separately and distinctly
TO call on Mrs. Lazarus the next day and
/ ind out what she knew about the Ibsen craze
Now Mrs. Lazarus had spent half her life in
| Europe, was a subscriber to several of the best
| papers In Paris. London and Berlin-and read
! them, too more's the wonderland was cener-
| ally several months ahead of us in regard to
matters of importance, though hopelessly be-
| hind the light house in local affairs These she
despised and as she had been known on more
than one occasion to snub the women who
| tried to draw her into the vortex of gossip and
! cackle she was held in wholesome awe by most
of her neighbors. For my own part. always
/ liked Mrs. Lazarus and, she had once been
good enough to remark that was not halt as
/ big fool several other people in the town
| whom she could name. had reason to believe
that the regard was reciprocal. So when saw her
late IN the afternoon IN the town library
made my best bow TO her and readily per
| mitted myself to be drawn into conversation.
"Well, what do you think of Ibsen?" she
asked, giving me keen glance over the top of
| her glasses.
TO tell you the truth, Mrs. Lazarus" re-
| piled, meekly, Il don't even know who Ibsen
is, and l never heard of HIM until Miss
Cracklethorpe told US he was all the rage in
| Boston"
Il thought so, thought So" said Mrs.
| Lazarus, nodding her head eagerly. while
| CLEAN of delight. which did not quite COM
prehend, lit up her face.
| You are going to the Browning club to-
| night SUPPOSE" she continued ''WeIl. so
am |, and expect to enjoy myself very much:
but If any one asks you about Ibsen answer as
| you have answered me and YOU will lose
nothing by it."
The brownies" as they were ironically
| termed by some people who are not exactly I'm
the swim, met at the house of Mrs Faber,
whose guest Miss Crackletnorpe was. | was
| the very first on the field, for [ knew from
what Mrs. Lazarus told me, that something of
| peculiarly amusing nature was on the pro-
gram. Almost every member of the club had
happened" to call on her that day and each
| one had contrived to ask her a few questions
| about Ibsen.
| ''And what did you tell them?'' had asked.
But the old lady was not TO be caught nap
ping and simply chuckled with feudIsh glee as
she tapped me with her fan-a favorite trick
of hers by the way-and replied: Never you
mind, my dear boy. Go to the Browning club
tonight and you will find OUT
had not been in Mrs. Faber's parlor ten
| minutes before the guests began to arrive.
Mrs. Lazarus told the truth when she said was
not half as big fool as some of the other men
in town, and on this occasion endeavored TO
live up to this high plane of intelligence by
| sedulously coutning my conversation to sub
| jects with which L am familiar. and not VEN
| turing too lear the whirlpool of culture into
which the rest of the Brownies were SO eager
| to plunge. L was glad. however. when Mr..
| Hinton Schuyler arrived and took, according
| to his wont, leading part in the conversation.
| Mr.. Schuyler is our local authority on travel
| and geographical research and prides himself
| on being brilliant conversationalist" lie
opened the exercises by remarking in general
| way as he warmed his hands at the fire that
the weather was quite cold almost cold, in
| fact, as that which Ibsen had encountered on
| his last journey to the north.
| "And SO this man Ibsen is an arctic ex-
| plorer," l said to myself. 'Well. I'm glad to
| learn that much about him, at any rate
Miss Cracklethorpe made no reply to this re-
mark, and Just then Mrs. Spencer and her
| daughters arrived, and relieved Mr.. Schuyler
| of the conversational burden. / knew that the
| talk would now be led into artistic channels.
| and wondered If they would succeed in drag
| ging Ibsen into 1t. The younger Miss Spencer
paints on china and dotes on artists. The
! elder Miss Spencer has ''studied art'-as we
| all have reason to know. Old Mrs. Spencer has
| a way of leading the conversation up to art or
| china or both. in order that her daughters may
shine in it. They had not been in the room a
minute before she had made an opening for her
| eldest daughter to speak of the sunset.
There were really the most superb banks
| of clouds in the west" she said. with a fine
display of fervor, land then, the sky No one
but an Ibsen could have painted it, Really,
Miss Cracklethorpe, it was what might be
| called a genuine Ihsen sky"
| puzzled look came over Miss Crackle-
| thorpe's face and was family reflected on Mr.
| Schuyler's. As for myself, l was glad to learn
that Ibsen was not only an arctic traveller but
landscape painter as well. While / was
| chuckling to think that had amassed all this
information without having to undergo the
| shame and modification of asking questions
| young Charley kenwood entered the room.
| Mr.. Kenwood is admitted by all, even him
self, to be the authority on the literature, IAN
| guage, history and customs of Germany OF
course il was not long before he found occasion
| to revert to his favorite theme This time to
| my surprise he informed us that although he
| had been for years close student of Schiller
and an ardent admirer of Goethe still he was
now compelled to admit that the Incompatible
Ibsen was the only leader of German thought
and entitled to rank far above that of his
/ predecessors.
This remark really seemed to make some inn
| preston on the guest of the evening, for she
| opened her eyes very wide and was apparently
| on the point of saying something. / think Mr.
kenwood would have made a more fortunate
| impression on her if he bad not called the
| German poet "Gaiter" This pronunciation
| does very well in Maplefield, but is barred out
| of the intellectual Athenian circles that Miss
| Cracklethorpe adorns.
About this time the principal members Of the
| Browning club were beginning to look n little
| foolish, while the conversation, which had
| been replenished from time to tine. was lag
| ging dreadfuiiy, when old Mrs. Blimber (who
! knows everything about electricity came
wheeling into the ROOM accompanied by Mrs
Lazarus, and fairly frightened us by observing.
| in perfectly self-possessed manner: my,
what a cold night for walkingi How wish
| Ibsen would perfect his new electric carriagel
| 1t will be a perfect gOdsend TO people as stout