Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-03-05

Ns&N XETVIC NSQS days ago famous actor
w sEmesE. strollsd through the
1NxIVx SslNNrEW> quiet paths and bywsys
"" VAN Of the sleeping city.
He was not bent upon
an aimless mission; his curiosity exhibited in
minute and prolonged inspection of tomb
stones and iron slabs, was not the idle curiosity
OF the loiterer or the sightseeing rustic. He
was engaged in q search of some importance,
plainly enough, and as the hours rolled on and
FOUND him still peering at family Ineligible in
scriptions they also found him at last arrived
at the object Of his pilgrimage. For this actor
had travelled from England to seek for history
In an American cemetery, and he had
gathered up the threads Of most
romantic and remarkable life. When he
quilted Greenwood he carried with him the
knowledge. the first accurate knowledge too,
OF the death and burial Of an actress who once
held sway on two continents-who was the first
In all the long line Of great American actresses;
VINO was once beloved by that sweet singer and
gentle poet. Tom Moore, and who. marrying
thrice, loved but once, and then steadfastly,
even unto death.
GREAT ACTRESS IN HER TIME.
Ihls woman, as We read in the chronicles of
her time. was the greatest and grandest actress
OF her day. The most graceful pens constantly
sounded her praises The most distinguished
auditors for years clapped their hands in de-
light when she trod the boards. II she had SO
permitted. her funeral cortege would have
been long and imposing. Yet she died without
q sign that she wished for eulogy, and, indeed,
she went out Of life under an intentional and
methodical anonymity. Under the lowly stone
IN Greenwood; whose only words are Mother
and grandmother" rest forever the remains of
that beautiful woman and remarkable genius,
Mrs. Duff. The name may awaken no
memories In the present generation of
piaygoers, but it is, nevertheless. . name
winch Is indelibly inscribed upon
was once openly pronounced by the elder
Booth-that gloomy egotist who gave faint
praise In all other instances-to be 1.-The best
actress in the world" The elder Kean grew
jealous Of her because she stole the laurels
from him on his fondest stage Horace
Greeley, who could write dramatic criticism
as huently as political wisdom. declared that
her Lady Macbeth was never eQualed in his
time. And these were but three in hun
dreds of Qualifications from equally dis
fass or Hve9n Hers no
Mary Ann Duff was an ugly name, but it was
rightly hers, at least. as she bore it SO long as
the stage knew her, which was during period
OF thirty years-a period which covered the
earliest years OF the American theater, which
achievement and was the very cradle Of native
promise.
TOM MooRE's LOVE.
Before Mary Ann Duff became wife for the
first time she was q dancer in the Dublin
Theater-s lovely English girl, Dyke by birth
right. the daughter of an Engiishman who had
died when his three girls we're very young.
At Kilkenny benefit in 1909 Tom Moore, the
Irish poet, was introduced to Mary Dyke. and
he straightway fell in love with her and wrote
poems to her, and finally offered to marty her.
but she rejecting him, he transferred bis pas
sion to her second sister, Elizabeth, who fa-
vored his suit and gave him her hand, though
he was twice her age. There IL Q song of
Moorss to Mary Dyke:
Mary, I believed thee true.
But n no.. was m S,sssed b IN thus Sssvins
girl 30 fair and SO deceiving.
Fare thee we'll!
And that Is proof enough that Moore consid-
cred himself unfairly treated, but the truth is
that Mary all the time loved nother-an actor,
OF course; young one, athletic in person. rare
in Accomplishments and eloquent in his wooing.
He was John r. Duff. They were we'd and they
sailed for America, making their first appear
forward as Juliet, and from that night her fame
was secure and her position on the American
stage was most important. She was hard worker
In Boston, Providence, Philadelphia. in the
south. in the west and finally (ls2O in New
York she won triumph after triumph in nearly
every role known to the drama Of that day
Night after night she acted a new character.
and from Cdtdnthe to Jutiand there was no
change in her success.
WIDOW AND AN OPIUM EATER.
In 1881 she became a widow through the
death, in London, of her husband, whose life
had been fine example OF professional dignity
and conjugal purity. During the following
two years Mary Duff encountered the first real
sorrows Of her career. Unfortunate contracts
disturbed her, and in 1888 she had fallen into
state OF dependency verging on insanity.
There is no reason to doubt that in her woes
she had recourse to opium. She did not deny
the weakness later, though she used it in ex-
tenuation Of an action which amazed all who
knew her. That was her second marriages.
sudden and strange ceremony, performed &C.
oording to both the Catholic and the Episcopal
rituals-by which she became the wife of
Charles Young, an actor, then in a
New York theste.. The story goes that
gance OF her family, that Young rep
resented himself to have suddenly come
into possession Of large legacy; that she made
a proviso that they should not live together
that within an hour after their union he con-
fessed to her his deception. 1t was sad story
in any light Mrs. Duff gave way to her in
creased sorrow, and for a year she was in pri-
vate asylum.
AGAIN ON THE STAGE.
In 1884 she returned to the stage, and, fight
ing brsvely against the ignominy Of being
watched at her re-entree bythehusband who had
SO treacherously treated her, she gained again
the public voice, and held it ever after. SO long
as she continued to act. Her marriage to
Young was in due course annulled on her petit
ton that she was irresponsible at the time OF its
contamination, and thereafter she was enabled
to perform without molestation. She was even
then beautiful, 1t seems, for other suitors
pressed her; and one OF them, q Mr.. Seaver,
Hooed her 80 ardently as to win her. He took
her to New Orleans, where he was practicng
lawyer, and where for twenty years they made
their home, he in time changing his name to
Sewer. which was after the French, and there
fore more suited to the New Orleans atmos-
phere. From time to time between 1896 and
1889 Mrs. DUFF came before the footlights often
enough, perhaps, to show that the old fire was
not yet extinct and that the olden
genius still had existence. But in 1889
| she took the most pronounced departure. Re-
nouncing her Catholic baptismal faith she en-
tered the Methodist church aud soon became a
most jealous exhorter. Her life thenceforth
seemed to be one earnest and continuous effort
| to forget the stage; to forget that she ever was
player; to Danish from her memory all old
associations and to live only for her new re-
ligion. in this she was joined by her husband.
She gave her intellect rein in the compost
| ton of sacred poetry. She wrote PRAYERS