Delaware gazette and state journal., 1895-12-19

been asked why | did not conceal or
gloss over ths unlovable side of her
nature couldn't. would not be
Frou-F Frou. That was the woman.
Just as she had won your love and
your forbearance by her sweetness, she
did some wilful thing that made you
conscious of the other side Of her
nature. What woman would call the
kink in her. About the stage. Do
you know, was afraid to come TO this
country at first? / thought ought
to wait until | had reached the point
| mean to, and was perhaps 40 or even
30, but that. by accident, l did come
is fortunate thing for me. There ia
something in the very air that ex-
hilarates me, something that urges me
to do my best, and | mean to.
= had an odd experience in Boston
with one OF its great scholars. had
played Juliet which ] have never seen
played and l did something which
was not in the book OF the play, but
which it seemed to me Juliet would
have done. The critics all noted it. |
spoke Of it 10 this great student,
Boston man, and reaching among his
books-for | was supping in his house
he took down Hazlitt. He found
where Kean, in playing a certain part,
did something quite new, and had been
derided by the critics because of ii.
Then he turned over several pages and
came TO the account of the acting of
another great man who was reprimand
ed by the critics of his day for omit
ing to do that which Kean had done.
He looked at me and said: Some
people make roads for other people to
walk over--you keep on making roads.
Wasn't that beautiful compliment"
1t wasn't Frou Frou, it wasn't Den
ise, it wasn't Camille who looked joy
full and happy over this; it was the
woman with throat and neck like
Langtry's; with beautiful hair like
Mrs. Kendal's; with grace like Sarah
Bernhardt's, but, with clear eyes, and
with an individuality that was Olga
Nethersole's, and hor's only. Inter
ested? l am. We women make the
success of the woman actress. We
have been looking for many years for
SUCCESSOR TO MARY ANDERSON,
whom we loved, because she was beati.
full, because she was good, and because
she looked the part she played. |
think the successor is found. OF her
it must be said, that having the
beauty, the youth and the goodness of
Mary Anderson, she has in addition
she plays, but to be it.
But to return to Dumas alas! he
never can return to us-last night after
the play was over picked up book
and caught phrase mere and there
phrases that you and | might think,
but which it took master mind to put
in words. That's the art of writing
when the reader says That's what
you think and think nothing more"
yes, but we didn't take the trouble
to say ii to the world, whereas the
great writer touched the keynote called
humanity, and his audience was large.
Talking about the theatre, he said
Men and women go to the theatre
only to hear of love, and TO take part
in the pains and joys that it has
caused. All the other interests of
humanity remain at the door. True2
What are the plays that liver The love
stories. Romeo and Juliet, Camille,
and all that long list which tell the his
tory of love, which means of heart.
Again, and oh, how well this is known
to be true by women, he says, Cell
bacy, marriage and adultery--t is
the tragic trilogy in which the life of
women struggles. 1t is in this that the
poets may find eternal dramatic sub
iects. OF the three phases of the
tragedy, the most painful is evidently
the last named. / turn over the page
and read, Wherever there are as
semblages of men and women, there
are souls to be won. -
WHEN A woMAN's HEART is TOUCHED.
You think this isn't true, and yet
before me there arises the story of
play, the story of tragedy in a
tragedy. A great actress was playing
Frou Frou. In her audience was a
group Of people who represented what
is called fashion, and among them was
a woman and a man who had once loved
each other dearly, so dearly that when
he put the marriage ring on her finger
he believed that it encircled all happi-
ness for him. As the years went on
these two people grew apart The riffs
in the lutte were many, and the song of
love was hushed, or had drifted into
harsh discordance. Before the world
these two people were simply like many
others, but when they were alone they
scarcely spoke. That night, as the
play went on, the wonlan's heart was
touched as it had not been for years,
and coming nut of the theatre che asked
her husband to come home with her
instead of to the gay supper where
they were expected. He did. and when
they were together she asked his par
don for all that she had done that was
wrong, and she begged of him to give
her another chance to prove that she
loved him. That night, for the first
time in 10 years, he kissed her-this
beautiful woman-and bidding her
good. by at the door of her room he
said: "To- morrow we will be married
afresh; we'll start on our honeymoon,
learn to love each other again for
always, and away from all the rest of
the world. y
THAT WAS GooD.NIGHT.
The smile on ber face was one of
ecstacy. To his good morning, she
gave no answering word, for death had
claimed her in the night. In her cold
hand was the bunch of violets that she
had taken from him just before she
left him, because they were like those
that Frou, Frou pinned among her
aces. She slept with the yiolets cover
ing her for four years, and then beside
her was laid the body of the man who,
during that time, had been alone
always, and who had never ceased to
grieve, because he had had no opportu-
nifty to make her happy in life. And the
reconciliation came because master
in the art of playwriting and of read
ing hearts had learned how to tell the
story of woman who was never bad
but only weak. Do you remember when
.,,t. bar h,,ehnnl 10 fulrf