The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-07-17
STAGE STRUCK.

When young man or young woman be-
comes possessed Of an inordinate passion TO
appear on the stage. and is fairly inebriated
with a love of being gazed atsnd appauded;
when either Of them get it into the head
that to act Hamlet. or Macbeth. or
Imogene, or Rosalind, or some mod
ern sensation, or to play the orator,
is Just the very essence Of life then they
are said 10 be stage-struck. and it is a pretty
bad kind Of a iunacY. Ittakes the toughest
treatment, hard knocks. notifications,
snubs. and walking up and down in the cold
air of the world to bring them to their
senses This is the case of an acute attack.
But when it IS chronic. Of the sort that
boys catch at college, as when the sopho-
mores get to making speeches and never
get to be anything else; or when they as
sumo OF cultivate heroic phiz and tragic
gait. and start life under high pressure.
then they are often incurables. and
the world must take them for
what they are worth. They can
never be reduced TO a normal, standard
gauge. This sort dreams tragedies, talks
rhetoric cleans its teeth artifcially. medi-
tates epics, lies, sits, walks and stands for
the painter and sculptor, and signs to solemn
music. its life furnishes free theatricals.
The actual theatre it is that gives thename
to this affection. But the thing itself ap-
pears, not only wherever there is stage or
a rostrum 10 display the victim or manifest
to the world unaPpreciated greatness. but
everywhere, on AL the world"-the big
stage"
1t seizes the human being in the earliest
period Of spoilt bsbyhood, when absurd
parents teach the child to act" and make a
show of it, and it hangs on till the last
closing scene. where often in the very article
of death the theatrical or heroic tells of
the presence of the ruling passion for
sensation. Stage-struck is indeed kind
Of inebriety or mania that all of us are
familiar with, but don't care to define OF
classify as disease, because it is accepted
as regular OF the style" The general fact
is. that all the men and women are but
actors" stock or stars. And that ia so.
because We are. the most Of Us. ashamed
or afraid of our real selves. And alas
What tangled web we weave.
When once We practice 90 deceived
A poor fellow. at the very outset Of life is
dazed and bewildered with the sight of won
dsrful beings around him. splendid men and
women. heroes, orators, dignitarles. officials.
aud his ears are filed with the praises OF
them. by the simple law Of contrast. he
finds himself sinking into the Inferno of the
undistingushed. The proclamations sound
in his ears: To be famous is heaven 10
be unknown hell" And he must dash into
the throug and rush for honor and GLORY
or be lost. And he is taken with tbe high
fever-is stage-struck. lie must have honor's
livery, he must make q mark and be- looked
at or read about or die. And through
what scenes and changes. through
what burlesQues of life, is be made
10 pass! And equipped for a stage life. COM
mitted to one Of fraud. what dscredit does
he put his own native. actual self. He
starts life Of fraud and he knows il. and
all the world knows Il. And the devil
mocks his vain efforts to be what he Is not.
BE makes Emself ridiculous. and these