The record-union., 1897-02-21

ceptS the prosecutions of the wicked
villain. This latter gentleman invarfa-
bly, envelopes his manly form in a long
black cape, and wears a black slouch
hat pulled we'll down over his eyes.
These two articles of wearing apparel
are dear to the stage Villains heart;
they also enable the audience TO place
him at once before has opened his
mouth and shown his teeth. The vii
lain's teeth and smile are always more
or less in evidence during the course of
the play. He rolls his dark eyes and
speaks in a kissing whisper of bud
and revenge" which makes the mat
inee girl shiver with apprehension and
the god above in the gallery to hiss.
His walk is a strut and he prefaceS his
remarks with "Ah, hal"
Then there is the prosecuted hero
ines father who is killed off early in
the play, and a lot Of minor characters
who have more or less to do with the
outcome of the plot, which usually runs
something like this: The heroine Is
loved, at least her money is loved, by
the villain whom she does not love. At
his first opportunity he tells her of his
love, but with singular clearheadednesS
for a young girl she isn't fiattered by
his attentions and rejects him with
scorn: then the villain says, "Ah, hai
Clorinda Agrippa Swansdown, | see 1T
all; you love another. Reginald Mont
morancy is me hated rival. But he
shall never win you; / swear it, Be
ware false and beauteous maid, how
you trifle with me affections! Beware
and wrapping his cloak about him the
villain disappears, leaving Clorinda in
a state of collapse.
The real thrilling work begins about
the second or third act. Clorinda's
father is a wealthy retired capitalist,
who doesn't believe in banks and SO
keeps his wealth in safe in the sit
ting-room. The villain plans to rob
him and if possible lay the blame on
the hero Accordingly the stage is
darkened and to the accompaniment of
creepy music, played by the orchestra,
the villain appears through convent
ent window accompanied by the inev-
| liable bull's-eyeh. He opens the safe
and is in the very act of making off
with the treasure when the retired cap
italist himself appears in the doorway.
| Hot words are spoken, then Scuffe
ensues in which the villain stabs the
old man with a paper knife given Clo-
rinda by her lover; the father gives
gasp, a final gurgle and drops dead,
while the villain hastily disappears OF
course, the blame is attached to the
| hero, and the rest of the play is de-
voted to the portraying of his hair
| breadth escapes. and of his ferreting
out the past history of the villain. Like
all melodrmas, virtue is triumphant
and vice is downed, While the curtain
drops on the touching tableau of the
| prosecuted heroine and the injured hero
/ clasped tightly in each others arms,
with the discounted villain in the no
| less ardent embrace of a policeman.
Then ther are the comedies, fresh and
/ breezy as a May morning, full of gin
| ger and pop from the word go. Such
! a play reminds me of the works of the
late lamented Duchess" l say late
| lamented," because l do not believe
there is a schoolgirl from Maine to
! California who has not laughed and
cried over Molly Bawn," Airy Fairy
| Lillian" or a host of others from her
! facile pen. The critics may say, if
they will that her men are impossibly
/ good; that her women are frivolous
| fiirts, and that her works won't last;
suppose we admit all this to be true, we
| can always depend on two things in
! taking up one of her books, one of them
| is that all her villains are warranted
| to be absolutely harmless and that her
hero and heroine, in spite Of their nu-
merous quarrels, Will be happily mar
ried in the final chapter, and that is
| just what nine ont of every ten women
expect SWhen she picks up a novel to
while away an idle hour or two Life
/ is too full of human pathos and heart
tragedies hidden under smiling exteri-
orS to waste ones time reading about
| them in books. / think the Duchess"
must have known this when she sent
her bright little books adrift, and
knowing this, we thank her for it and
join in lamenting her untimely end.
Talking of human tragedies here is
one that came under my observation
not long ago. The lady, whom we will
call Mrs. Blank, came to America from
Australia and settled in a certain pop
ulous city. She was young, handsome,
full of talent, and everyone took her to
be widow because she was singularly
silent as to her husbands wherea-
bouts She was also the mother of a
pretty iIlic Slll Ol - Of y TO NIOlE Sue
was devotedly attached. Being in
straitened circumstances, Mrs. Blank
was, with the aid of the minister of one
of the most Fashionable churches in the
city to whom she brought excellent
| letters, helped to get up a class in in
strumental music made up from the
very best people in the city Mrs. Blank
took from the very first and soon was
received in the families of the four
hundred. One day in looking from her
window she saw little girl who had
| been playing on the sidewalk, directly
under the feet of a runaway horse; she
rushed frantically down stairs but be-
| fore she could reach her child a young
man who happened to be passing took
| in the situation at a glance, and at the
risk of his own life seized the terrified
child and sprang TO a place of safety
not a moment too soon.
It turned out that the young man
was one of the rising young lawyers of
| the town He was promptly invited to
| call, and the usual results followed;
| in less than year they were married.
For a time they were supremely happy,
| but such unalloyed bliss is never des-
| tined for long duration in this world,
and one day the woman's first hus-
band appeared Unexpectedly. Whether
/ she had known of his existence all
along and had willfully entered upon
her second marriage, or whether she
| had honestly believed him dead, no one
knows AS usual in such cases, the
| husband was the last to hear of the
trouble for the wife, in fear of his an
ger and that he would leave her, con-
cealed the fact from him and paid the
man who bad come To DESTROY her hap