New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-27

who. though he may make a mistake Is hard
man to catch out. rctorts: Yes. but when is he
ever serOus?" and he buries him beneath a
shower oi adjectivcs as Prime Minister whose
irrepressible humor bubbles continually. who
was poking FUN at his supporters when he talked
Of revolution. and who governs this country in
playful and waggsh spirit
Undeterred by critics and censors in The
Times and elsewhere. Mr.. Beerbohm Tree pre-
sided on Thursday the dinner of the Actors
Benevolent Fund, and made speech. 1t was
ii Sood speech but MI. Tree would have been
more than human II he had made no reference
to the controversy Of which he and John
Dreams have lately been the centre He left 1t.
however. 10 the eminent Mr. Hall Game to take
up the discussion where ii had been left by the
leading journal. Mr.. Hall Game. as we know.
has discoursed solemnly before now on the Rela-
ton OF Literature to Morals. or some such sub
ject. On Literature Mr. Caine is no great au-
thority. On Morals he may be. and | hope is,
when they are not concerned with the stage.
There he becomes immoral In Mr.. Gaines opin-
ion the success OF a subject on the stage is
a substantial proof that it is proper to present
It," Upon this text he enlarges. We need not
follow him through the sermon. which is no more
than true.
II Mir Game has touch OF novelty II is in the
suggestion that the moment a subject gets out Of
proportion 1t begins to fail. This is hard say
ing. but 1t presently appears that in MI
Gaines views there ought to be, relatively speak
ing, just much harlotry on the stage as there
is in real life. If you have less your pay will
not attract. If you have more. the receipts at
the box-office will begin TO fall of. Further
more. IAN immoral subject does not make an
immoral DRAMA" but "a drama is moral or I'M
moral. according to its ann. That 1t ought to
have no aim whatever,-none. that Is. either
toward morals or toward mmoraty.-does not
seem to have occurred to Mr. Game. He is con-
WINGED that the English drama has a moral aim
hay. that ''in moral aim it is on the whole, the
purest, simplest and truest Of any drama now
living in the world" Mr. Gaines notions Of art
and Of grammar about equally accurate.
"Truest Of any" is a colloquiaism which is not
TO be defended even as a cooquialism. 1t Is
vulgar inaccuracy. illegtimatey reconstructed
from the correct "truer than any or bastard
mixture OF that and the correct "truest OF all
Nor will any number Of examples from the
Century any other dictionary make 1t English.
Mr. Tree did better than expound theories OF
dramatic morality. He told story.-this story:
A young lady recently Informed me that she
had a passion for the stage. | Will not conceai
from you that it was my li;tle daughier'-hot
Perhaps | ought.here to pause in order TO ex-
plain that Mr.. Trees youngest daughter Is JUST
a week old You are more interested IN thls
fact than you may be aware OF. The mothoi
Of the Youngest daughter is TO make her first
appearance on the American stage at the end
Of January As she is. besides being the mother
of Mr. Trees youngest daughter, one or the
most interesting OF actresses. you Will be glad
IN hear that there is every prospect Of her being
able 10 fulfil her engagement But the story
proceeds
Skirt dancing. she-the young. but not young
est daughter - conhdei to me. was the ulu-
mate dim Thule Of her ambition. but she ahu,n
che would only consent to appear on one c"hu'-
tion-on no account would she receive salary
This proviso in Mr.. Trees opinion. might be
due 10 some strange effect OF heredity. 90
No, quite see what but the word sufnces 10
introduce the next story which Is very much
better than the first:
| recently rebukel the young lady nave JUST
mentioned fer breaking WINDOW III ~ VI
,emper because she not allowed To ny d
kite in Piccadilly. This. my child saiu; -
wickedness' NO father, she replied repro'ihs-
~, 1T Is heredity
Well may the Disconnected parent remark IN
despair that nowadays everything 49, traced u
heredity And perhaps by the first story we
are TO understand that the daughter OF theatre
manager might inherit from her parent as
like 10 salaries. inasmuch as 1t is ne VINO mas
to pay them The joke Is little far fetchen'
G. w s