The age-herald., 1898-08-17
Ellen TerrY's Farewell.

The fashionable world that crowds through foyers and passes criticism on dramatic art has long ago acknowledged that Ellen Terrys art was far above im- passioned criticism. So dignifed a position does she hold in England as well as America that her farewell announcement Is being accepted without any attempt to class 1t with the accustomed farewells of actresses. Americans who have seen Miss Terry's matchless art have been hoping to hear of her restoration to health that she might return again to America, which has been the scene of many of her triumphs. The announcement of her retirement from the stage on account of her health has just been made and Is authentic. Her fareWeh to the stage means the loss of the greatest English-speaking actress of the day. The following sketch tells something of her per sonality and of her tastes in the selection of roles, and will be interesting to many, who, like DeMaurier, found their ideal in SfIllen Terry:
 Ellen Alicia Terry, whose retirement from the stage is a topic of interest to all lovers of dramatic art, has been steadi- ly pursuing her profession for forty-eight
 
 with all of Henry Irvings great produc- lions endured, and now Ellen Terry De- lieves it is quite time for her to resign rher place to some younger woman.
 Dorothea Baird, Sir Henry Irving 8 daughter-in-law, seems 10 be the one most likely to take Miss Terry's place at the Lyceum Theater, and without the least jealousy of her successor the greatest English actress of her day is preparing to step down and out. It is one of the charming qualities of Miss Terry's nature that she has never been envious or jeal- ous of any sister professional Sarah Bernhardt she deeply reverences, Duse she frankly adores, and the young women ~of the stage have invariably found in her a cordial friend.
 Explaining her reasons for deserting the scene of her triumphs, Ellen Terry firmly insists that she is worn out. Since very young woman she has been a great sufferer from neuralgia. The affiction has grown upon her with years, until she Is frequently obliged to come on the stage in a condition almost bordering on delirium, so intense is the pain she endures. It was in 1856, when only years old. that this gifted woman made her first bow to an English audience. Then she acted at the Princess Theater in London playing the part of Mamillius in "A Winters Tale" She laughingly tells herself how carefully she had been coached in the simple duty of running sbout the stage with go-cart It seemed easy thing to do, but before the audience she somehow became con- fused, fell over the tongue of the little cart. parked her youthful shins and moved the audience to unfailing mirth. This fearful fiasco she felt put an end to her stage career, but her parents being de- termined to make an actress of hsG as well as of her three sisters, she was gwen another chance.
 Under Mrs. Kean at this time she acted her little parts, nearly all Of them Shakespearean, and received from that great lady of the stage the best instruc- tion. Hour after hour she spent learning = to dance under a most skillful master, and often 'lnt1 o'clock in the morning the rehearsals she took part in were kept up. Such severe drilling and discipline no ac- tress today would submit to, but between Mrs Kean and her dancing master Ellen Terry was trained to achieve much more. than is possible to less carefully educated women of the stage in these eSaeenerate times. >.zsssss
 she studied <and acted Shakespearean roles Two hundred and fifty nights she played the part of Puck" in "Midsum- mer Nights Dream," and now. at the close of her career. she, having lived through the joys and sorrows of nearly every one of Shakespeare's heroines, pre- fers Portia to all the others. To her Portals deeds and words seem the most beautiful of that troop of lovely women Shakespeare drew, and to Portia Ellen Terry confesses she has given the most devoted study When Ellen Terry and Bernhardt first met 1t was after a play in which Terry had plentifully bedewed her part with genuine tears. The French woman held her English sister by the shoulders, examined the furrows made in paint and powder by the hot salt water and wondered at the sight. Sarah Bern- hardt, who never weeps on the stage, stood envious and amazed at the proof of so much feeling on the English woman's part but Terry only laughed Not only does she sob heartily in the moving scenes of her own role, but if she stands in the wings when a scene of any pathos is being acted her tears flow as readily as if the suffering or sorrow were really felt by the actors. It Is not Ellen Terry's inten- ton, as has been reported, to join Beer bohm Trees company, when she leaves that of Henry Irving but to retire to her cottage in the country and live out the rest of her life there among her books