Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-19
TWO VIEWS OF CARMENCITA.
THE MASCULINE.

/
-Carmencita shakes hands as she dances
with all her heart. The hand is very small,
yet plump, and the fingers are delicate and
| look all the prettier for having never ring
| upon them. She takes your hand firmly.
presses it quite perceptibly, though the
| probabilities are that you will not notice the
pressure if you are looking at her eyes, for
there the real welcome is printed in capitals,
| though she breathes a greeting in broken
English and soft Spanish that is gracious,
| too. Her walk betrays the dancer; her step
is springy and she moves with the grace
! born Of muscular strength and good
health and brought up by art. When
| she talks in her poiygot way, tes-
! selated tissue OF Spanish, French and
English, she is dancing still. 1t must have
been hard work for Sargent when he painted
her portrait to catch her in repose. Even
in the calm and uninspiring atmosphere of
her hotel the other day wien met her for
the first time, she could not make her de-
meanor match the demure sofa upon which
she sat. When she didn't smile, or lift her
dark brows, or shake her head saucily, or lift
a hand, or wave a dainty lace handkerchief,
and especially when her eyes ceased to put
an accent upon what she said or to COM
ment upon others words, for ten seconds
together. she seemed out of her character.
If she is great dancer, her eyes and brows
and mouth and hands are a corps de ballet
at her command.
-"I like Pittsburg," she said, and the
familiar formula actually sounded sincere.
Every time 1 begin in a new place I'm
afraid-oh! very afrafd-nervous; my feet
are afraid, too. They were afraid Monday
night, and could not dance so well. But
the kind welcome from you all gave me
p<,,1r -
applause. my feet would be towards" and
the dark eyes cast reproachful glance at
the tip of one of the accused toes just visi-
BILE in its neat low cut slipper beyond the
hem of her lilac gown. If she had ground
for reDroa ching her nimD feet felt, had
they not a far greater cause for complaint
against me-for had written after seeing
Carmencita dance that her feet were not
very small, though ever so clever, and now I
realized that was in error. took refuge
in contrite confession, and asked if by any
penance l could atone for the libel.
"Yes," said La Carmencita, with tri-
umphant smile, 'kneel, sir, at once and
measure for yourself ~ and she put out one
OF her slandered extremities, which, in a
Dlack stocking ana high-heeled slipper,
looked aggressively small. With pencil
traced the foot, in its slipper. upon sheet
OF paper 1t measured exactly seven inches,
and in width could be accommodated nicely
IN this column. When it walks abroad it
wears No shoe. In the fiat, heelless
dancing slipper of course it looks larger. 1t
Is beautifully shaped, and the instep is high.
, -"Aren't you homesick? Don't you want
to go back to your beloved Spain?" asked.
"Yes-very, very much,' was her reply,
with shrug of the shoulders; but that
dreadful sea! like water to bathe in, to
drink, but not to carry me. 1 remember my
voyage here. Ileft Paris - then she bandaged
her eyes tightly with her handkerchief,
shuddered and made wry face that sug-
gested the horrors of NAL de mer. 81
reached New York. and that's all 1 can tell
you. 1t is not an easy life, mine; go from
the hotel to the theater, from the theater to
the hotel; never upon the street, never in
the public dining ROOM play little
piano and guitar" and she held up an i'm
aginary guitar and twanged the strings with
n lively grace. 'The mandolin? No, no. no,
no! l sing, but not great deal.' 1t is
worth recalling that when Charles A. Dana,
the great editor. heard her sing and saw her
dance in his house, he said to her, You
dance better than you sing, and you sing
better than you dance"
And as she talks on about herself, because
we will not let her stray from so charming a
for her to be ungraceful even seated on a
modern sofa built for discomfort. The sun
light and color OF her native land seem to be
continually escaping from the big black
eyes and from the full lips, the upper a
perfect bow which serves to disclose her
white regular teeth. In her dances she
never concludes a movement abruptly but
in posture that is as graceful as the activity
which it punctuateS; so in conversation the |
intervals of silence as well as her excIama- |
tions, are embellished with little plays |
of feature or gestures that make her |
a picture of animation always. She |
lives in an atmosphere of admiration, |
and she likes it and accepts it as a rose ac- |
cepts the sun and wind and dew. Her bust |
ness manager, MI. J. E. McDonough, is |
gradually becoming Castilian in his courtly |
politeness under Carmencita's influence; |
and Signor Echepare, the leader of the |
Spanish students, is delightfully."- reverential |
when, as he sometimes does, he acts as her |
interpreter She will not need an interpreter |
much longer, for she understands nearly all
that is said to her in English, and if she still |
insists, Spanish fashion, in pronouncing
every letter in a word, and Especially the |
final vowels that are silent in our tongue, |
she can say plenty of pretty things in En-
glish. 1t is a fact that Tanks" from her
mouth is better than Thanks from many
hear her say is: "Goodby!,'
HEPBURN JOHNS