The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-13

of how long it takes to read a page of
matter, and how many rages 30 IN an
act 1t must be the product OF u cos
tuner and wig-maker; must have at
least ten chances for the hero to be ne
roic in each act. and must, above all, adj
here in the main to everything else Of
the kind that has gone on before.
Still it is 4 fact that under the guild
anCe of men like Richard Mansfield. +.
S. Willard and Henry Irving the stage
is day by day getting nearer and nearer
to the nature that is as yet only novelty.
1t is not so long ago that it was consid-
cred highly inartistic to turn ones back
to an audieuce-almOst criminal TO speak
while in that position. An actor who
shook hands with the arm nearest the
footights or made a gesture from that
side of his body was in danger of strict
censure from his stage manager and q
hundred other details, all sure 10 aid in
making performer stiff and stilted, were
then carefully observed. All of these laws
are now dead and a number of other in
consistencies will soon follow.
Therell come a time some day, per-
haps, when a scene painter will under
stand that all the homes of the poverty
stricken are not surrounded by walls of
a light blue. while the mansions of the
rich do not invariably make a condition
of being built with an abnormally large
arch directly in the center of the room
for a door into the hall Great marble
pillars and long corridors In prospective
are not strictly necessary either. while
it is certainly very bad breeding that
prompts stage grass to grow only at the
feet of benches. Then close to this re-
form. may follow that of the stage he
TO- who might be taught in time that all
good men do not talk at the top of their
Ct md he.
ing marriage or stop to give detailed ac-
counts of what they intend 10 do before
doing it. II every villain in real life
! smoked cigarettes wore tan gloves car
| ried cane and boosted a black mus
| tache and a plug hat there would be no
! need Of police and this metropolitan evil
| could be easily abated if all gentlemen
/ of doubtful character rolled their eyes
and Kissed in the ears of their inamord-
tas.
Fashion plates of the present style in
herOines have not come out up TO the
( present writing, but it is not probable
that these ladies always wear lawn
/ dresses and short ones at that. 1t is also
I likely that a very few good people walk
without hopping around after the fash
| ion of lame pigeons and the average true
I woman pickles her Turing smile in the
{ vinegar of mOdeSty and cans her accent in
+ the nearest fruit jar. 1T might be USE
/ full to prospective juveniles TO know that
weil-bred gentleman does not earn the
. right to live with his hands in his peck
cts by continually saying impossible
things and that American youths Occa-
sionally have dark hair, while soubrettes
should discover that young ladies are
/ not always 'l1ittenish' and at rare in
tervals are not in love with the nearest
fellow able to- jump about like an unuSu-
ally agile kangaroo. Fathers are not al
lsnl1 lrr-G
their side whiskers. servants and police
men are not all Irish, tramps do not hold
. extended conversations with the families
of wealthy business men, and detectives
. have been known to do without soft hats
I Western men are frequently able to do
with less than three revolvers, English
nOblemen do not wear fun dress at all
hours of the day. and wine glasses are
at rare intervals used in serving wine
Then, again. it might be we'll to know
. that fathers do not keep the stories OF
their daughters lives until the first act
/ and those dutifui children do not seize
| such an opportunity to kneel down or sit
upon a footstool. Adventuresses seldom
. smoke cigarettes or have light hair. muir
derers are not always seeing their vic
I Tins; accompliees do not often find them
selves sufficiently encountered with con-
/ sciences to beray their employers and
/ villains sometimes kill people without
taking the trouble 10 tie them to sawmills
or railway tracks. Nor is it considered
the proper thing in the spheres to increase
the volume of music every time anything
is going to happen on the nearest stage
and lights DO not frequently go out in the
advent of such calamity
These are only a few of the improve
mcnts suggested as possible to an i'm
proved and more natural drama. There
are two or three hundred more that will
readily suggest themselves. OF course, il
will seem novel to see a play without the
usual types and incidents. but we will
get used TO il in time, and every detail
observed, no matter how trivial, is a steT
in the right direction.
Word comes from Montreal. Canada. tc
the effect that a week ago last Saturday
lemons Black Crook company, which
was seen here about six weeks ago, was
arrested for giving an immoral perform
1 TOO / Il. -