The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-20
"The Barn stormers."

To anxious parents of stage-struck
daughters THE Barn Stormers'' is recon-
mended as a sure cure for the disease,
If not too far advanced. 1t is by Mrs.
Harcourt Williamson, author of "A Pro-
vincial Lady" and describes the adven-
lures Of a young English girl who comes
to New York with some experience as an
amateur actress and the idea Of going
on the stage. Her English relatives APP
pear to have had small idea Of the sort
Of place New York really is, and the
young lady herself seems to have had
even less. She is induced by a tempting
advertisement 10 join what is known as
The Scott Amber Comedy Company a
sixteenth rate theatrical organization
playing in small towns. and the squald.
disgusting, tragic, ludicrous, pathetic, yul-
gar and otherwise unpleasant assOcia-
tons into which she IS thrust are de-
scribcd in q most mastery manner The
young girl herself IS well drawn. and a
very attractive little heroine She is
almost fascinating enough to account for
the way in which the hero, a sort of
American Monte Cristo, falls in love with
her at first sight. follows her in his
thoughts, and sometimes in reality,
through her tribulations, and finally res
cues her IN the manner Of a fairy prince,
just at the proper moment. The whole
book smacks of the modern fairy tale,
gotten up for the benefit of readers who
are not likely to have any real romance
in their lives, but IT is interesting
There is no denying that It is inter
esting, and the way in which il carries
the reader along with undated interest
from the first page to the last is the
more 10 be admired when one considers
the flimsiness Of the probabilities and
the hackneyed type of the plot. This in
terest may be accounted for in two ways.
One element Of fascination is the con-
trast between the dainty heroine and her
squalid surroundings, and the irresisti-
BILE curiosity, exactly the same curiosity
as that awakened in a child by a fasci-
mating fairy tale, TO know how the lovely
princess managed TO escape from the
ogre and his imps, and find the prince
and marry him, and so live happy ever
after. The other element of interest is
the character-drawing. The writer evil
IDENTIFY has had something to do with sec
ond-rate American theatrical troupes in
one way or another for the various char
acters in Mr.. Scott Ambler's Comedy
Company are certainly drawn from life
There IS the usual handsome heavy
man" of an undeniably vulgar type and
equally undeniable animal beauty There
IS the managers wife, who insists on
playing, as leading lady, parts for which
she is by age and increasing weight to-
tally untitled. There is a chubby mid
dle-aged soubrette known as the Little
Human Flower" who is more or less
pretty and coquettish both on and off the
stage.
There is a comedian, of a finer type than
the others, with q sensitive mouth and
big wistful brown eyes, and he possesses
more pluck and chivalry in his little fin
ger than all the other men of the com
pany put together. There is q tall. near
sighted, plain and awkward pianist, with
a real love for her art, who becomes the
devoted friend and slave of the heroine
and IS thrown into the depths of woe by
being cast. after the manner Of barn
storming companies, for all the small parts
which nobody else wants. among them
the role Of small mulatto boy in 1.-THE
Octoroon." And there IS the rascally
rich man who, attracted by the beauty Of
the new Juvenile lead'-the heroine-of-
fers TO become the angel of the show
and scoundrelly bad angel he is This
remarkable aggregation of talent plays
everything from Monte Cristo' to a min
strel show, with the audacty Of a pro-
vincial company and its usual success
The brutality Of the worst class Of theat-
rical man, the vicissitudes of the pro
fession' in the hands of an INSCRIPTIONS
manager. and the countless petty discom-
forts and annoyances of its nomadic ex-
istence. are all painted with a determined
touch and considera bic skill.
The youthful reader will inevitably be
forced 10 the conclusion that stage life
IS not by any means all glitter and span
giles. in fact, that there is no such thing
as romance behind the scenes, and that
IL is extremely unlikely that one young
girl in a thousand should find such pro-
tector as the present heroines millionaire
lover The tale is not probable. and 1t is
not exactly artistic, but II is interesting
and II Is funny and 1t is pathetic, and in
spite Of the wild impossibilities which oc-
cur here and there in the plot, II is very
real indeed. And the best OF its good
points is that the palpably impossible
things are the romantic things, and that
the sordid reality is painted with so skill
full hand. 1t is certainly a book which
should be bought and read by young per-
sons intending to go upon the stage. It
may cause them to do some serious think