St. Paul daily globe., 1892-12-27

conditions of humanity. The differ
ence between hero worship and
the more popular error of idealZatlon
lies in the lamentabIe fact that the lat
ter dream is built wholly on unsub-
stantiated theories, and is the more
easily diSDeled. mo man is hero to
his VALET is a tiite saying and a long
accepted jest, but the man that is made
q hero solely by the lively Imagination
of his WorSlilper is in far more
parlous state. Ii would be we'll for the
pleasant illusions Of life if the poet. the
romantic actor or the sweet singer
would hide IN bis dungeon or his cave,
and appear TO the world only III books
and magazines or in flashes before the
fOoilights. This would not add to the
charm Of his own everyday life. but it
might save him from the humiliation OF
being found out, from the painful dis
coVery by the world that he is only
mortal, and sometimes very weak one
at that.
Occasionally, SAYS writer In the
World, one reads in the newspapers
that certain poet of indelinable charm,
Or popular actor Cf a thousand r0-
mantle and unimproved cOnquesis, is a
recluse, ,impregnable tofimlnine assaults,
Indifferent to social honOrS. 1t seems
rarely or never to occur to the public
that these enviable gentlemen are work
ing on a system thatiS mighty creditable
to their sagacjty. A.young lady to whom
the playhouse was a neVer-falllng
source Of delight was transported with
happiness one night Ivy an invitation to
go behind the scenes. She saw the
''propertleS" lying around in ludicr0uS
confusion. mass OF tinSel and cheap
ness. The sham and delusion of the
stage were spread out before her.
The actors looked absurd as they
huddlcd together or stalked through
the wings while last blow of
all-lhe star, the hero of romance,
sat in his ShirtsleeveS on a sole
leather trunk smoking short black
pipe. The poor girls tone was almost
pathetic as she said: 81 wish [ hadn't
come. y play can never again he to me
what it was" Why not assume that
tie actor and the poet aforesaid appre-
ciate the full value of the mystery that
may Surround their private lives and
adopt their methods of eXcluSiveneSS as
mere matter of business?
When Charles Dickens read in Boston
for the last time, years age, the writer
recalls viVidIy the deep impression
made upon his plastic, youthful mind
10y the earneStneSS and admirable elo-
cutionary powers of the great delineator
of character. 1t is true that Mr.. Dick
ems loudness of attire Jared little
OH even the eXuberance of youth,
gotten in tie emotion produced
by the marvellous pathos of DR..
MargOld and the death of Little Nell
When the reading was over the boy
hung around fremont Temple to be a
little nearer the man who to him was
slightly removed from divinity. At last
Mr.. DickinS appeared and soon was en-
gagged in an acrimonious discussion
with his carriage driver. The boy crept
away distressed and i'll at ease, and
now, when his eyes fell on the death of
Paul DOmbey or on the sorrows of Lit
tie Joe that confounded Boston ''cabby"
rises before him like horrible night
mare, and he curses the malicious in
Stinct that tempted him to linger in
Boston street to accentuate the differ
ence between ldeality and reality.ln like
manner this same boy, i'll the very
freshness and roSe-colOred time of
youth, strayed one morning into the
presence of woman whose exquisite
verses. admired wherever English is
read. had gone down into his heart and
invested her in his glowing fancy with
everything that is ideally beautiful.
And now as he reads those same verses
he sees. with that same Shudder that
stole on him in b0yhood, woman with
tousled hair, in faded and not very
clean morning, with SplasheS of ink Oh
her right thumb and forefnger. TO
have seen her at ali would have been
dISenchantment: to see her at that mo-
ment was punishment
The miseries of dsillusion have been
set forth very strongly by Dean Swift
i'll his particularly graphic and vulgar
way, and are true TO a less offensive de-
gree in many other products of litera-
ture. In the play david Garrick" the
intention of the drama is to disenchant
the heroine. while cleverly enough the
ideal is kept constantly in the view of
the audience. LII Peg Woffington' the
charming and romantic sidei is displayed
to keep up the illusion, and this is true
OF all plays tnat may treat of the stage
or It's prominent actors, for it would
hardly do to humbug people for cent
uries only TO exhibit at last the hero or
heroine OF romance as he or SHE may
actually exist.
If people would bear in mind the
well-estabished truth thai he is wise
man who doesn't know his own poet,
they would save themselves good
! deal Of disappointment. If The women
who intruded on 1ennysons privacy
and were dismissed with d positive
| Snub and court Iebuku had contented
themselves with their own previous
fancies, they could have read in Me-
morlam" today with the profound con-
viction that the poet was ii demi-god