The Winslow mail., 1897-11-13
HE curtain rang down, and the

edy, and its strong climaxes, handled
as they were by competent players,
were received by the audience with
uncontrolled storms of applause.
My friend Lester and l, old theater
goers as we were, thrilled with the
others at the strong human touch of
the actors art, and were silent as we
slowly moved outward in the perfumed
crush and chatter of the fashionable
crowd. We went to quiet restaurant
we knew Of, where the noisier pleasure
seekers did not follow, and ordered our
chops and ale.
Released from the spell of the coun-
terfeit world In which we had lived for
some two hours, the prosaic reality Of
actual life soon brought us back to our
normal condition of mind.
Doesn't it seem strange" said Les
ter, who carried all kinds of theories n
his head, "that play like that should
Impress any one as a true representa-
ton Of lfe?'
$50 it seemed to me-" answered, in
some surprise, for Lester, had noticed,
had yielded as fully, if not more so, to
the spell of the performance than [
myself had. "The plot was far less i'm
probable than the happenings set forth
in our daily papers, the situations were
brought about naturally, and the hand
ling of the characters unusually well
managed"
"Yes," said Lester, 81 know that's
true, but you haven't caught my idea.
No wonder, though, for l haven't adj
vanced 1t yet. l was just thinking of
the language that playwrights and nov
elists put in the mouths of their char
acters. When do you ever hear real
people use such stilted high-fown talk?
OF course / know it's necessary for
them to improve on our everyday Slip
shOd lingo, or the whole thing would
h fiasco, but, all the same it isn't
true to nature. l refer particularly to
strong emotional scenes. In such crises
In real life the participants will always
lose what little ideas Of grammar, con-
struction, and choice of language they
generally have, and either stammer out
a AOb VI idlOllS NOLlhlOhP1aCCoS SIMPLY
swear, or turn dumb as brutes. Now
in the novel or the drama their talk
always rises to the emergency. That's
art, of course, but it isn't truth"
81 don't altogether agree with you,"
said. II thin kthat even in actual life
men and women when confronted with
some great and sudden danger, sorrow
or other moving sentiment, rise above
their petty conventiOnallties of express
sion and use language sometimes as
passionate, lofty, and dramatic as that
belonging to literature or the stage. We
modern people have become slaves to
the artificial and have frittered away
our souls on sordid things. We express
ourselves jerkily, slangily, and poor
ly. We aim at pertness, and brevity,
and have a foolish dislike for allowing
others to see what is in our hearts.
Our whole talk is devoted to diplomacy,
deception, and the concealment of our
men and women, and a genuine and
powerful emotion WILL l think, in five
cases out of six, bring to the lips words
fully as theatric, melodramatic and
STACEY as those we heard on the
boards tonight or read in books"
you're wrong, old man." said Lester
in his positive way. Were hopelessly
unpicturesque In our parlance. Get
one of us iuto an end Of fifth act de-
nouement, and we either get tongue
tied or talk unintelligible rot. Give
US half an hour for preparation, and
we might think up something appro-
pirate to say, but not off hand. We let
down just MS the fellow did who on
coming home and finding his horse and
! family burned up, remarked: We'll,
declare, this Is '.diculous! Grief
knocks out grammar, and sudden shocks
are fatal to syntax. People don't in
dulgc in heroics nowadays. They SIM
ply can't do it. The twentieth century
atmosphere is unfavorable to them.
Remember in the play tonight the pa
thetic and wonderfully fetching mono
logue Of the artists wife when he is
brought to her killed in the duel? What
would woman off the stage do? Cry,
of course, and about all she would say
would be something like, oh, isn't it
too awfully awfulv"
"Well," l said, as the chops came up
brown and fragrant, you can't expect
people to talk blank verse and indulge
in elevated apostrophe on ordinary oc-
ac:ons, but l dare say that the first
! time you happen to witness q scene
with the proper amount of tragedy In
| 1t, you'll hear some talk very much the
same kind you find between novel cov-
ers and across the foWliShts."
81 guess not" said Lester.
Lester was brilliant young man
! and had Il future before him. / also
pursued with some eagerness the phan.
tom of hope, and we confded in eacl
! other concerning the cut and fit of oul
coming laurel wreaths.
Lester was engaged to Z. girl with the
/ air and direct frankness of child, and
eyes forty seven fathoms deep. ! had
looked into them and always felt like
drawing back step or two when did
Her eyelashes looked to me like rushes
on a river bank that was likely to cave
IN. She was devoted to Lester, and
he-well, whenever we met | had girl
served up in every possible style and
ewes for dessert envied him his
buoyant happiness, and encouraged
him in his belief that the earth was