The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-31

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American. don't mean lack of pride
of himself. but there is a lack of pride in
that which is distinctly American. When
he gets rich, the average American talks
about the Alps tells you the exact hight
of the most wonderful peak, fingers over
the dangers OF climbing, and never
troubles himself to remember there are
out in Colorado. great mountains and deep
valleys in any one of which the entire Alps
could be hidden away like a Christmas gift
in a stocking He talks about the balmy
air of Italy. forgetting Florida and Call
fornia; and then, he is. In addition TO be-
ing unpatriotic. too often unfaithtui-l
mean unfaithful to his public idols. Inc
whole English nation, notwithstanding
he is out of power, and is an old man, Wor-
ships the great statesman William Ewarl
Gladstone, and recognizes his powerful
brain while claiming him as its own
With the average American age Kills
public favorite The fact that his nina
may not perhaps. be at It's best plots out
the great mental deeds that were the chill
dren of his brain, and statesmen and writ
ers and painters, and actors, are spoken
of as belonging to the past as soon as
their years are many. The average
American is not only tickle but migrate
fui The actress of yesterday did great
work, but is, to-day, beginning to show
some wrinkles on her face, the result OF
giving to an ungrateful public the best OF
her life, physically and mentally; and the
very public that threw roses to her yes
terday, to-day looks through magnify
ing glass, sees only her wrinkles, forgets
the good acting. shrugs its shoulders and
says: shes growing old I don't want
10 see her act any more" Ten to one she
is sNbetter actress than ever before.
great theatrical critic once said: NO
woman under forty can play Juliet as it
should be played; and yet. no woman over
forty can absolutely look the part; which
will YOU have, art without beauty. or
beauty without art?" Mary Anderson
knew her own people. When she was at
her best, when she was really acting well,
a something she did not always do, when
she was handsomest, and when she was
most popular she bowed her goodbye to
the tickle American public and gracefully
retired.
The English look with delight at dig
nified old lady and say: THAT is our
Mrs. Dash who was a great beauty and
q great artist, and we must always have
the hand OF applause for her" The
French Is giving its recognition, its APP
plause its crown of honor, to a great art
list who is over 50, and a grandmother
would the American public do that? Ger
tainly not No matter how great was the
art there would be hundreds who would
~ IL rsaaNvaaaV ~ Hrs
the years and the grandchild, refusing to
think even of good work that had been Of
fered to it, The writer of yesterday is
spoken of to-day as a man who in his time
worked well, but now does nothing but
poor work. There are no thanks given
for that which did entertain, and the eff
fort made by age to still interest is not
appreciated. My friend, you know that
am telling the truth.
And what do you suppose evoked 1t?
The seeing a woman who is now more
beautiful than ever she was before; who
is singing better than ever she did before; :
who is greeted by thousands with APP
plause: and that woman is-Lillian Rus
sell. A clever woman who knows her
public. If shetwere an JEnglish womap'
or q French woman, she would be held up
by the nation to- which she belonged as,
the most beautiful woman of the day, and
there would be special pride felt by each
person who saw her in having been born
in the same country. The French, to-
day, have few beautiful women, but they
pick out the one or two who have great
est claim to beauty and elevate them, and
talk about them, and have pictures Of
them broadcast; and IL you or happen 10
admire one of them, a French man or
woman quickly assures you of her French
birth, and expresses a national pride in
her When Mrs. Langtry was at the
~ he
ner, the driver on the bus, as well as the
men and women in all the other classes of
life, eagerly claimed her good looks as
English--and so they were very distinct
w. But we accept the beauty of Lillian
Russell, in the same careless way that we
do our peaches, our grapes, our oranges
our melons, our magnolias, jessamines, or
roee. It's all right. And yet, for ma
ton to have one beautiful woman in a
century means a great deal At the play
the other night, could not but look at
the face of Lillian Russell. 1t is abso-
lutely perfect. And, unlike most perfect
faces, 1t possesses that charm of showing
the varying moods The smile is dim
pied; the symnathetic look has that droop
of the eyelids that makes it really sympa-
thetic; while the scornful expression has
the curl of the lip that at once makes you
see how perfect the lip is, and which tells
the story of the emotion felt at the time.
like TO look at the beautiful woman as
like to look at the beautiful picture; and
after looking at a beautiful woman l in
variably go to one OF the big Libraries, get
those rare and valuable books in which
are the pictures of great beauties. as well
as their histories, and 1 discover which
historical beauty the beauty of to-day Is
like to.
It didn't take very long to find the two
women whom Lillian Russell most re-
senibles--Louise la Valliere and Nine. Re
camier. Her eyes-those deep blue eyes
that are almost brown--are exactly the
shape of the eyes of the loving and low
able la Valliere. The well-shaped nose,
the broad. white forehead, the chin that
is at once feminine and yet does not lack
strength. reproduce those features of Re
camler, while the soft golden hair curling
about the head. the sloping shoulders, the
white. round throat correspond TO those
OF la Valliere, and the round arm, with its
delicate wrist, small hand and taper fin
gers is like the arm shown in the famous
picture OF the beauty of the First Empire,
10y David. reclining on couch of that pc
rod ] should like to see picture OF
LILLIAN Russell in the Recanlier costume,
posed as was the famous beauty In that
most famous of all her pictures. History
repeats herself even In our beauties AZ
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