The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-05-05
MlSSHAPEN FIGURES.
Manner In Which the Tongues Of Famor
Thespians Became Tangled.

Manner In Which the Tongues Of Famous
Thespians Became Tangled.
"Perusing some ancient volumes lately,
l came across four or five quaint metaphors
said to have been uttered unoonsciously by
certain famous actors of bygone age"
says an Englishman.
"These metaphors have recalled to my
mind equally strange vagaries of speech
that have dropped from the lips of cele-
brated latter day Thespians. 1t was Charles
Kean who, speaking of famous murder,
declared that tho assassin was evidently
seeking for money, but fortunately the
victim had just invested 1t all, and there
fore he lost nothing but his life.
"Macready once remarked, in the course
of an after dinner address, that ne con-
graduated himself most upon having torn
the mask off the traitors face and revealed
bis oloven foot, whereupon Phelps rose to
second him and warmly urged that IL was
high time the odious, hydra headed faction
of which the gentleman referred to formed
tho tail should be soundly raped over
che knuckles.
81 think 1T was La Belle Smidson who,
writing to friend, remarked, Il have just
received basket of bananas from an ac-
quaintance and am sending my compli-
ments ia return. Some of them are over
foot long l remember hearing the late
Sir Augustus Harris say that every man
anxious to succeed should be ready to give
his last sovereign in order to save the re-
mainder of his fortune, and once in let
ter he wrete, Business is very stagnant at
present-in fact, there seems to be nothing
stirring but stagnation.
flames Anderson, speaking Of an empty
house, happened to say that the audience
was conspicuous by its absence. That
phrase has now passed into general use,
and so have such metaphors as handy with
his feet backward in coming forward
and landed in hot water on the horns of a
dilemma all of which were first uttered
by actors of more or less renown.
"Phelps, indeed, appeared to have had
a knack of saying the wrong thing at the
wrong time and of junbling up his SON
fences when talking in private life. He is
said to have remarked upon one occasion
that certain young actor, in straining Mt
gnat and swallowing a camel, had mere
| ly got hoist on his own petard, which
served him quite right; for, he added, any
man who quarrels with his bread and but
ter in order to raise himself above the
standard of ordinary mortals is assuredly
| indulging i'm wild goose chase, from
which he will wake up to find that he has
merely jumped from the frying pan into
the fire. Of his own audaoity. Phelps is also
credited with having declared at public
meeting that, personally, he himself would
sooner swallow the crust of poverty in a
! bagman's closet than lick humble pie on
the boots of tyrant, be he never go
| wealthy.
vThsse are among the most notable OF
the numberiess bubbles and frcthy quips
that have dropped from the lips OF actors
at one time more or less renowned. True,
an Irish member Of parliament was re-
sponsible for the famous tumble about
smelling a rat and seeing 1t In the air and
nipping It in the bud, metaphor which
forms an exception to the rule, for nearly
all the rest owe their origin to the play
actor. New York Telegram.