The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1899-12-02

w. PoSous !" s"Soos 81 youh ouSSooOs ~
was there, moreover, that you gathered
at first hand knowledge Of men ae
they are. knowledge not to be acquired
In polite society, much less among act.
ors aud artists.
We hear much in these days of the
artistic temperament" and like charity,
i, made the cloak for many insight
ly things. wonder IL one OF our TEN.
peramental players, who offer tempera.
mental excuses alike to their wives and
their tailors and are forever demanding
te EXPERIMENTAL consideration. had one
OF these been set down in a barn in Mis-.
sissippi to amuse the country folks for
his dinner and nights lodging, wheth.
or his temperament would have kept his
heart light or his heels nimble? Yet l
think you learned something 10 the
barn that our dramatic schools have not
been able to teach. To have cultivated
a timely tolerence for the failures and
faiings Of men; to have valued all men
for the potential good in them; not to
have been blind and stopped with per-
sonal ambition. but alert and awake to
every humor, every passion. every
beauty, however fleeting, in Gods great
play house; to have been serious without
pretentious gravity, to have cheerfully
welcomed fair days and foul; to have
lived joyfulIy and kept the inrer delight
in things alive until one ia six-and sew.
enty, this, it SCENE to me. bespeaks the
true temper OF the artist more than do
all the exaggerated eccentricities Of die
torted egotism, so often mistaken for
genius.
1t is this happy temper which has pro.
longed your youth for three quarters Of a
century and given to your work that OK
quisite polish, that even serenity, that
refinement of grace which our younger
comedians would do 30 we'll to emulate,
which has infused into your creations
mellowness OF humor, gentleness Of
pathos akin to the modest beauty of the
English classics Of q hundred years ago.
1t lie greatly to be wondered at that az
actor 80 perfectly equipped should have
been go seemingly dormant 10 artistic
ambition. go satisfied by few creations,
we'll nigh perfect though they are. Yet
strangely mingled with the poetry and
humor of your nature there is vein of
hard Yankee practicability. There is
no gainsaying that your managerial sue.
cess limited your artistic growth, that
you made the actor subservient to the
manager, which, from the professional
point Of view. lie quite as it should be.
The enormous hosncisl success Of Rip
Van Wrinkle" checked your career glo.
riously. but finally. Your ambition
went to sleep with Rip upon the noun
tain top, and though thirty years and
more have passed. it has never wakened.
You have chosen the placid waters and
sheltered harbors. No craving Tor YER.
satility has ever tempted you into
broader Highways of dramatic expert
ence. Unlike Mr.. Mansfield. that rest.
less spirit forever roaming with hum
cry heart" you have risked nothing and
los. nothing. You have been content
to concentrate yourself upon few
dramas, all Of which were, or have be.
come. classics, and to attain In these al
most absolute Perfection, you have been
singularly lacking in that Unsuitable,
that holy curiosity, usually 30 impotent
q factor In the artistic constitution.
You have evinced kind OF classic con-
servatism and content, az opposed to
that feverish thirst Of soul which drives
men to seek various and multiform ex.