The St. Johns herald., 1897-11-06
O. A PRACTICAL TEST. @
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
.HE curtain rang down, and the

"HE curtain rang down, and the
 play was over. A drama 1t had A been called, but 1t partook of trag- 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 1, old theater goers as we were, thrilled with the others at the strong human touch or the actors art, and were silent as we slowly moved outward in the perfumed crush and chatter of the fashionable crowd. We went to a quiet restaurant we knew of, where the noisier pleasure seekers did not follow, and ordered our chops and ale.
 Released from the sDell of the coun- =CertelU world in which we had lived Tor 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 life?"
 "So 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 inn 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, "I know that's true, but you haven't caught my idea. No wonder, though, for 1 haven't ad- Vanced it yet. 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 suited high-fown talk? Of course 1 know it's necessary for them to improve on our everyday slip shOd lingo, or the whole thing would true to nature. I 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 lot of idiotic commOnplaces, 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"
 ''I don't altogether agree with you," l said. ''I 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 eXpres- sion and use language sometimes as passionate, lofty, and dramatic-a 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 thoughts. But, at heart we are still men and women, and a genuine and powerful emotion will, think, in five cases out of six, bring to the lips words fully as theatric, melodramatic and "stagey' 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 Into an end of fifth act de- nouement, and we either get tongue tied or talk unintclligible rot. Give us half an hour for preparation, and we might think up something appro- priate to say, but not off hand. We let down just as the fellow did who on coming homo and finding his horse and family burned up, remarked: Well, l declare, this Is '.diculous! Grief knocks out grammar, ,and sudden shocks are fatal to syntaX. People don't in- dulge 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 awfulr"
 "Well,' I said, as the chops came uD brown and fragrant, you can't expect people to talk blank verse and indulge in elevated apoStrOphe on ordinary oc- cac:ons. but 1 dare say that the first time you happen to witness a scene with the proper amount of tragedy in 1t, you'll hear some talk very much the same kind you find between novel coy CTS and across the fo0lights."
 T guess not" said Lester.
 Lester was a brilliant young man, and had q future before him. l also pursued with some eagerness the phan- tom of hope. and we co1iidcd in each other concerning the cut and fit of our coming laurel wreaths.
 Lester was engaged to {. girl with the air and direct frankness of child, ana eyes forty-seven fathOms deep. l had looked Into them and always felt like drawing back a step or two when did.
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