The herald., 1894-11-11

one feels for Mr.. Grundy compsls one tc
try him by higher standard. He il
not OF the herd and ought not to range
with ii. Those cunning in stage mat
ters-the acting managers, the actors
the authors-tell you that nobody can
construct such play who has not served
an apprenticeship of a couple OF years
on the boards. To which l would re-
ply: Then in heavens name, let the
wouldsbe playwright avoid the appren-
ticeship, II he has the elightest desire
to turn out vital piece OF work." The
vaunted tradition OF the stage is the per-
pstual transmission of characters that
have lost what life they ever had, and
OF situations which are sickeninglv etale
even when they are not false as we'll. . i.
Ae regards tho satire OF the piece. Mr..
Grundy, in electing to take Mrs.
Grundy's part, and to occupy the ex-
trems Philistine position with regard to
the New Womsnhood. will doubtless
have the approval of the majority. His
view OF the whole movement is ex.
pressed in no mincing terms. He is
plain-spoken TO the point of brutality.
| That good deal OF the feminine ferment
is due to an irrational discomfort with
the elemental and unchangeable condi-
tions OF female existence is true, but it
! is absurd to suppose there is no fire or
real grievance behind all this smoke.
Mr. Grundy was not always 80 hugely
content with the conventional workings
of society as he appears to be today.
Like Mr. George Moore, he. too, was "a
young man" once. | mind me OF
his frat novel, In the Days of His
Vanity, when his opinions were scarcely
so calulated TO soothe the ml0dle-class
mind. Rut his own massage to peace
has not taught him sympathy with those
still in the region OF storm and stress.
Though it is perhaps hardly fair to ex.
pect a comedy to be more than one-sided.
Moliere himself did not trouble TO dis
cover the better side of lis Precieuses
Ridicules, if they had better side
and every movement must expect to be
caricatured. Caricuture and opposition
constitute the furnace every new idea
must pass through to be purged of its
dross, ii, indeed, it manage to survive
at all. Happy the movement that is not
csricatured by ito apostles. Mr.. Grundy's
mouthpiecss proclaim that the New
Woman is SO old as the hills; and be is
go pleased with this piece OF wisdom
that it is repeated with variation
throughout the whole course of the play.
Once she is said to be in Moliere. can
not find her there myself. Unlike new
and original comedies. che seems TO me
to be really new and original. Mr..
Grundy envisages the matter with more
insight and charity, than his wonted
eledge-hammer manner allows him
when, in the best and wisest epigram in
the piece, he says that the modern fem.
mime movement is the outcome of
woman at last attempting to do what
man has always been vsinly trying to
do-understand woman. Now che is
trying to understand herself. And,
as he says, man may we'll
wish her success in her enter
prise. For my part, | am coming
to the conclusion that the whole matter
is one which women must be left to
work out and to fight out among them-
selves. They have their destinies in
their own hands. Many OF the consd-
erations are too delicate to be adequate.
ly threshed out except by women among
themselves. But they must always
reckon with the fact that in evolving a
new type of woman they have to face
the risk of her not being acceptable to
man. My own taste being exception
ally catholic, have the happiness of
knowing charming new women and
charming old women-that is to say, old
Young women.