The times., 1899-10-08

devotion and in the proffers of service that
reach him. He has learned to distrust
vows Of eternal regard, to take no stock in
correspondence, and to comprehend the
fact that clippings are forwarded to him
not with the idea that he may be interest
ed, but in the hope that he will repro
duee them. Naturally, his faith in THE
Relation Between Actor and Critic" has
been somewhat disturbed and his mind is
not wholly free from suspicion" of guile.
OF the two evils, the grateful player is
more of a bother than the angry one but,
with very few exceptions, both are tire
some enough. The entertainer who has
been praised stops the praiser on the
street to pour into his ears long tales of
the number Of his predecessors. Or the
happy individual seeks his prey at the
"sanctum," plants himself between paper
and ink bottle and there remains for what
seems an unlimited time. Occasionally the
writer hears of his articles in a most
pleasing and courteous manner, but this
is not often. Generally returns come in
such manner as to make him determine
upon hanging crepe ON his desk and bid
ding the office boy tell all arrivals that the
editor has been dead fortnight
The critic who commends establishes a
terrible precedent. Ever after, the object
with equal fervor or he runs the risk of
receiving marked copies of his earlier
screed. 1t never strikes the actor that his
work may become worse as the years pass
or the YaudeYillian that a turn" Is not
immortal and grows old. Now and then
the individual liked determines upon pleas
ing his acquaintance and advertising HIM
self at the same moment. He takes the
favorable mention of himself and has it
printed under the name of the man re-
sponsible for it. In nine cases out of ten
every doubtful sentence has been removed
and the applauding ones SO joined that the
writer is made to seem positively Hitter
ate. Then the self-eonstituted press agent
sends copies of the insertion to his friend
and the victim finds how much one may be
fined for assault and battery
There are several fashions in which the
abused Thespian gets even" Most of
them are mental; some Of them are physi-
cal. In the latter instances the bel igsl ent
party rarely gets the worst of the matter
for typewriting is not exceptional exercise
and Office work is bad on the lungs In
the former, things are not always so pleas
ant for him. The journalist is in the habit
of thinking and he generally thinks to
some purpose. Two years ago a New York
newspaper man met transformer he had
criticised and the fellow knocked him
down. The meeting took place in the lobby
of the Hotel BarthoIdi and a crowd gath
cred. To this gathering the aggressor ex-
planned affairs while his opponent was
coming back to life. When the aforesaid
opponent WAS able TO sit up the amateur
prgilist asked what he had to say. Moth
ing" vas the immediate reply. ''If you
could act as well as you fight this would
never have happened" And no one of the
has he
''retort courteous"
Personal violence, however, is deal of
a rarity. Most frequently the war is car
ried on through the mails. Howard and
Bland who were seen last week at Ker-
mans, were once condemned by local re-
viewer, and, being enthusiastically praised
afterward in Philadelphia, sent the euIo-
GUM to the Washingtonian. This gentle
man labored between dignity and an in
clination to respond but finally answered,
MIR. - wishes to congratulate Howard
and Bland both upon the notices forward
ed him and upon the friendship of the man
who wrote them" The method adopted
by these, variety people, however, was po-
liteness itself when compared to some 9TH
ers. The most abusive, yiiifying, threat
ening epistleS often result from the pub
lieation of honest opinion and are gener-
ally received in contemptuous silence. But
they do not add to the warmth of The
Relation Between Actor and Critic"
Attacks in the shape of letters to the
press are another form of reparation not
infreauent In "the profession. An Omaha
journalist has Comic Scrap Book filled
with this class OF matter-matter gener-
ally abundant in spleen and lacking in
cIeverness; different in claims and similar
as to manner of expressing them. An af-
ternoon once spent over the volume re-
yealed the fact that this worker had been
accused of impossible things thirty two
times, warned twelve times and threat
| ened twice He had also been called a
| penny liner on nine occasions, self
constituted authority on two, and crit
| ic (9" on nineteen. The last specimen
of sarcasm is popularly supposed to be
| brilliant. 1t was-two hundred years ago.
Some of the personal meetings to which
aliusion has been made are serious; others
| are funny Last week polite vaudevil-