The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-29

the country TO which the criminal confined
his pillaging. Ronjarre, being dramatic
product, was really anxious that his doom
might not worry those who were fond Of
him. man was arrested in New York
last week and he appeared to be in the
same plight. He claimed to have stolen
in order to provide comforts for q dying
spouse. Several sources of sympathy were
tried, ladies had begun to buy flowers for
the felon, and the papers were lamenting
over the cruelty of the law, when 1t was
discovered that this hearth-loving poseur
had already mistress on whom he had
lavished money and a sweetheart whom he
had promised to marry just as soon as his
helpmeet was out of the way" This is
the sort of person Ronjarre is when he is
taken out of the halo about the proscen-
ium arch.
Then one may measure D'Artagnan.
who was an adventurer pure and simple,
with Antonio Lopez. a mulberry co'ored
Cuban. who did noble things at the Co
lumbia. Everyone Kissed the Spaniards
who arrested him in the play ard hated
the woman who refused to believe in his
innocence Which was all very we'll; but
il Lopez had been in America with the
evidence brought against him that was
introduced into the drama he would have
gotten into a great deal more trouble than
there is left just now in the town Of Ha-
vana. Had he been a native of New
York they would have eleetrocuted him.
in Pennsylvania he would have been
hanged high as kite, and in Kentucky
the hero would have been attended to by
Judge Lynch. Iucendiary speeches and re-
fusals to rub down horses are all very
praiseworthy from stage servants, but no
one would permit them from his own.
Lopez was a shiftless fellow with chip
on his shoulder and deserved everything
he got-but his reward.
These matters of admiration depend Gu
the view one takes of men and things.
Over at the Lafayette theatregoers had
the spectacle of a Polish countess strug-
Cling between love of her country and love
of her country's enemy. If one had lived
in those days his opinion of the woman
would probably have varied with his ma
! tionality. When she allowed the would
! be assassin of Napoleon to escape, the
| German would have admired her and the
| Frenchman have demanded her execution.
| Won Lchde the tall Prussian,' whom
| everyone in the house esteemed continu-
| ously, was little more than a scoundrel
| when dispassiOnately estimated His
readiness to permit of a sweetheart's sac
| rificing her homer for his safety, his at
! tempt 10 bully her into making declara-
| ton of love and his contemplate effort
to kill Bonaparte in the house of his pre-
| server would have marked him for the
| detestation of his brother officers had he
! been in any other than a mock army. The
| Marquis Won Sturmell was quite as weak
| as his enemy was cowardly-a fine pair.
| truly.
Then one may take few moments in
which to look over Col Kerchival West in
| Shenandoah This fellow was worse
than any of the lot, for, with all their
faults he lacked common sense. And the
| women in the plays were equally distaste-
| ful-simpering, signing, irrational beings.
| These are the people over whom matinee
girls go wild and whom the New York
| critic expects to elevate the drama. Such
| things are beyond understanding.
And they are all alike-these foolish the
| atrical heroes. When one examines them
| carefully. even their mock virtues fade
away and he finds them TO be men whom
| he would call affected and absurd were
/ they acquaintance of his. From Capt.
| Jack Absolute. a namby- pamby sort OF
| youth, to Cyrano de Bergerac, an idle
! boaster. they are all alike Instead OF be-
ing more than human, they are less
The genuine hero one meets on the street
| is so different War has broken out and
he has given up his business and gone 10
| the front-has eaten bad beef with hard
tack. returns to his home. takes of his
uniform. and says no more about it. He
| doesn't find it necessary to parade up and
down drawing rooms, twirl his mustachc
grandilOquently. say me for my. and
! use "ah" for "er." Or at least some OF
him" doesn't. And when one finds fell
low who has resigned everything he has
| on earth for a woman or has thrown away
| hone and ambition for duty the fellow gen.
| orally says very little about it. Some of the
men one is supposed to like in n play have
come out of the same mold, but the most
of them are altogether different. The John
| Drew-E. H. Southern Henry Miiler-Mau-
~r
make one sick.
C. E Marshall, who was one of ROose-
velt's Rough Riders, dropped into The
Times Office on Monday evening to contra
dict the often-repeated assertion that q
troop of men who had served with the
present Governor of New York was en-
ployed in Shenandoah. Mr.. Marshall
said he had been talking TO some of the
alleged soldiers and found that none OF
them had been with his regiment. That
Mr.. Lifts boast in this regard was an idle
one became apparent from the first-was
so apparent. in fact. that this paper re-
fused to use the information even in its
press notices. But MIR. Marshall should
not have taken the matter so seriously.
Advance agents are not noted for their
accuracy. and the scribe ahead of ''Shen-
dndOah'' has worse things for which 10
answer than his report that the supers us
ed in the production had been with the
! First United States Volunteer Cavalry.
This gentleman also told the public that
200 people and forty horses were used in
his presentation when the real number
/ carried might be obtained by dividing
both of these numbers by four. He gave
as the best cast ever seen in the piece, y
company OF seeming amateurs headed by
Mary Hampton and Maurice Barrymore
when the memory of the oldest inhabitant
would not be taxed to recall a time when
William Faversham, Robert billiard. w
J. LaMoyne. James o.. Barrows. OdettC
Tyler, Josephine Hall and other people OF
| note made up the reviving combination
So Mr.. Marshall may feel that his old
company has not been injured half SO
much as the public at large, and be COM
forted.
Shenandoah opened at the National t.
packed house. the ground floor being par,
ticularly well filled. After the daily pa
pers had related certain particulars re
gardng the presenting organization thi.
Iower-iioor trade was reduced by half. Tn,
same circumstance was noted when So
Smith Russell offered The Hon. Johr
Grigsby" and William II. Crane was seer
in The Head of the Family at the Ma
tional Which circumstances go to show
that dramatic criticism is beginning tC
have some influence on local theatregoers
| and that local theatregOers have come Il
have some confidence in dramatic Criti.
cism. While reviews may not affect tn,
rabble or the galleryites who risk hut .,
cents on their venture, it is undoubtedly
true that Intelligent people read tn,
] 49, Iii l. =