Evening journal., 1894-04-19
A GODDESS OR AN ARTIST

If the critics are reliable, and news
paper men Of all degrees usually are reli-
able, there is new footlight goddess
in New York. Her name is Vests Tilley
and her fame was made, and not lost, we
hope. on the variety stage in the concert
halls Of London.
One enthusiastic critic and doubtless a
young man, says that Vesta Is "some-
thing very rare on the variety stage-an
artist" She is evidently, he says, mot
a woman of genius; she has no startling
new message, comic or sentimental
Tara ra- boom deay saltatOrlal extra
vaganza no Two-Little Glrls-in-Blue
apostrophe TO marital progress But
cher humor Is fine and dry; her singing
voice, though Il is clear and agreeable, Is
very thin. Bot her small powers are
held perfectly in control. Every gift she
has is cultivated to the highest degree.
That she is an artist there can be no
more doubt than that the Duchess Of
Devonshire was a beauty-as Gainsbor-
ough painted her. This word artist leaves
no more doubt Of that than the MASTER
full painter left in those soft brown eyes
and the pink and white cheeks under that
big hat with its gracefully waving
plumes.
Words can be as effective as paints.
The word artists art appeals as seduo
lively, II not as lastingly, as the painters
art The only difference is in the quality
of the artist Galnsborough was great
when alive he is famous as the dead
Inner Of the beautiful duchess This
artist Of words is only trying to be
great, in what we concede to be an ad-
mirable and correct style, no matter
whether the subject, Vesta Tilley, is
admirable and correct or not
The fact is the subject of any artist is
Of little moment The lies upon which
the heroic stanzas Of "The Charge Of the
Light Brigade" Of Tennyson, and the
'Slave Ship" with its yellow water and
floating chains, of Turner, are founded
are Of no more Importance than the
actual appearance and the artistic merits
Of this new singer and dancer. It is the
eloquence and poetry of the description
and the colors and symmetry Of the
painting which captivate us.
Returning to Vesta, this modern news.
paper artist says:
Her enunciation Is clear and distinct.
Nearly every muscle In her 1.-THE, slender,
graceful body has its part to play In her
"iarn," and is absolutely IN control.
Her mimicry, as far as It goes, Is neat
graceful and apprecisble. Her facial ex-
preston is nimble, but never extrava-
CANT. When she has made point she
does not overdo A. but proceeds to make
another She wears male attire without
grotesqueness, not 10 hint Of vulgarity
and her tailor must be a jewel
What Vesta may prove to be after We
shall have seen and heard her is of nc
more consequence than what the Yosemite
valley actually is after we shall have seer
Bierstadt's picture. With the measured
cadences and the synchronous sweetness
Of Byron's Tyre In cur ears what do W,
care whether there ever was Castle o.
Chillon or noble prisoner singing there
II is the story, the work Of the srtisf
that we love. whether II be in words or il
pigments-the reality may be a kickin,
: girl with a cracked voice and redolen
3 character or a common gulch betweei
I two seraggy hills.
We may not have a new goddess; W,
g surely have an artist to describe her.