The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-03-20

advantage of them go through life in
. a more even manner, but doubt if they
get one-half of the pleasure out OF
, everything that comes to them rs does
, the enthusiastic woman. i say enthu.
siastic woman" because enthusiasm III
a man is apt to degenerate into Stiffness
unless it grows into hearty likes and dis
likes about the time he is twenty
But that is another story.
7 When first reau the prose Fancies'
of Richard lie Gallienne. | said TO my.
self, Here is a man who knows how
to find beauty in everything, and here
is a man who isn't ashamed TO have
intense likes and deeply strong dislikes
and here is man who controls the best
English | have met since | was intro
duced to the essays of Stevenson"
! Then from here and there would come
q poem with the somewhat romantic
signature of Richard LIE Gallienne, and
after awhile the newspapers began to
tell, not of his great genius-that isn't
the way of newspapers-b of his pc
culiarities and distinctive likings. OF
course nobody amounts to anything who
has not decided likes and dislikeS, and
as we are all SO fond of saying this
world is free and people can do as they
please in it, / fail to see why, IF a man
prefers wearing a lace tie or his hair
a little longer than ordinary or inclines
to knee breeches or finds a loose jacket
! more comfortable. he should not follow
his fancy.
| QUEST OF THE GOLDEN GIRL.
| A week or two ago / took into my
hands that most strange book, 1.-THE
Quest of the Golden Girl" | say most
strange" A great many other people
put a different adjective to it, but there
must be something else in this world ex-
cept milk for babies, and as 1T is already
in its ninth edition there must be other
people who, like me, found in it much
that was interesting. Perhaps, indeed,
certainly. / did not approve of every
thing Perhaps, indeed, most certainly,
/ disagree with the author about some
things, and not perhaps and very GER
tainly there are some of the most deli
/ cate touches, some of the most eXqui-
site poetry, in this book that were ever
written. Therefore, when / saw a
small announcement in one corner OF
the paper that Mr.. Richard lie Gallienne
would read at q certain time. at a GER
tain place. | presented myself at the
box office of that theatre and bought
the first ticket that was sold. since when
| hear people read | like TO be near
them.
| There came the day and the hour
later ON, the man. The curtains parted
and showed a stage set after the fashion
of simple English interior. There were
few books on the table in the center,
and beside them big bunch of violets.
In second a slender young man, dressed
i'll the most conventional afternoon dress,
! and wearing a perfectly-htting frOck
coat, made a polite bow to his audience.
| The face was classic to a degree. 1t
| was the face that AIacliSe drew so
many years ago, when Charles Dickens
| was his sitter, when Charles Dickens
was just about the age this man is. His
eyes are peculiarly clear, and the hair,
which oddly enough, Won would first
think was long, is in reality tremendously
, thick, inclined TO wave, very black and
/ though worn longer than the average
man wears his locks. still its thickness
! impresses one much more than ITS
| length. There were word or two Of
! introduction and Il simple speech to the
effect that American people, like Eng
| hsh people, were probably interested
in simple things, and liked to hear about
moon. the heart beats of the world, and
! the world itself.
HIS PERSONAL PECULIARITIES.
! The greatest popularity of Mr.. LIE
Gallienne to me is his supersensitivc
mouth. If | were stone deaf | could
tell what he said from the motion of
his lips He absolutely caresses his
words, although he is entirely free
from gestures, and has no tricks of
elocution. He is yet Il pleasant reader,
but, oh, what a writer! Truly, he can
make a silk purse out of sow's ear
since one of his most charming des-
criptions of spring makes poetical the
antics of a matrOnly pig, followed by
her ten little piglets.
/ It is easy to understand his great adj
miration for golden-haired women, for
he is perfect brunette, and yet the.
lady pointed out as his wife was dark
haired In 1.-THE Quest of the Golden
Girl he finds that the woman whom he
loves and whose hair is golHen has
gained this golden tinge through the
agency of a little vial marked "Perox.
ide of Hydrogen" so he asks her to let
her hair go back to its natural color, and
she promises to do it, saying at the
same time, with that wonderful fore
sight that comes only to women. "AlI
right dear, but something tells me that
when my locks are all brown again our
happiness will be at an end"
i He asks her how long it will take for
this wonderful hair, which reaches al
! most to her feet to lose it's artificial col
or, and she tells him about two years He
speaks of cutting a lock of it-that is,
one-half golden and One-half brown
and he says it seems to him to represent
her life, only the dark part is the golden
: and the golden days are the dark time.
The two years go by, and for you who
: have not read this book / am going to
quote just the end of it:
A TOUCHING CHAPTER.
1.-TWO years did Elizabeth and | know
the love that passeth all understanding
and day by day the chestnut upon her
head was more and the gold less till the
+ day came that she had prophesied. and
with the day "a little child, whose haeI
had stolen all her mothers gold. as ne,
heart had drained away her mothers
life. All, reader, may it be long before