The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-20

DRAMATIC SYMPATHY.
Unerring Guidance Supplied by the
Stage as to its Offering.

Unerring Guidance Supplied by the
Stage as to its Offering.
! What really, gives the stage its peren-
NAL charm and takes people to the the
alter who would otherwise stop comfort
ably at home and nurse the baby Is the
| unerring guidance it gives to our SYM
| pathes. In real life we find these are
perpetually misplaced, and then we get
(disgusted, and are tempted to bottle
| them up altogether, when they have a
knack OF turning sour. For moral
health requires that man should exude
sympathy and not keep the pores Of af-
lection closed; and the drama offers him
charming and perfectly safe outlet.
1t shows you exactly with whom to
sympathize and If you follow its very
plain lead you are never deceived. Il
never invites your affections to brood on
added eggs; they will hatch before the
certain's down.
The least experienced play-goer knows
that he may give his sympathies unre-
servedly to certain characters at first
sight; for instance, to all the young Of
four species, the boy, the girl the young
wife, the young soldier, sailor, tinker,
tailor, yes. even to the young lawyer.
You may invest your feelings in any
one under twenty-five and be sure of
ample profits No one, with one excep-
ton, is bad on the stage before twenty
five or If bad, not so very bad but
slightly bad with so many lovable ex-
cuses that they rouse your sympathies
more warmly than IL they had let it
alone, The exception, however, should
be carefully noted. Though the young
wife is perfectly safe to turn out all
right, you must beware of the young
widow, and watch her carefully before
you sympathze with her. 1t is strange
how much the loss of husband may
pervert the instincts but, sad it is to-
say, young widows on the stage often
turn out wildcat stock, willy, wickedly
fascinating creatures, who are found to
have poisoned their first, or to be not
really widows, but trigamists; who
break up homes, and cause the letting
down of back hair. So, directly you
hear that young woman in play is
widow keep your sympathetic money
tight in your pocket, and only pull 1t
out when ample security has been Of
fered You are quite safe In feeling
warmly from the first toward the bluff,
not to say vulgar, matron of any age.
AS long as a matron Is shade coarse
she is all right at heart, so yours may
go out to her freely. If she is refined,
there may be a doubt but vulgarity is
convincing of inner righteousness and
rectitude on the stage Also, you may
safely sympathize, before he opens his
" who
puffs as he waddles; whether he be vul-
gar or refined Downright fat men new
err do anything wrong. There may be
few exceptions, but, as rule, beneVo-
lence increases on the stage with the
euuare of the distance between the brace
buttons; gauge that distance with your
eye and you will know how much SYM
pathetic stock to take in the character
A man, too, of any size, as long as he
has gray wig and walks with totter-
ing steps, is quite safe for you to love.
He would not harm fly. But the
weakness at the knees Is sine qua non.
Real villains on the stage, no matter
how old. always stride erect. Then you
are often introduced to porcupne
man, with his bristles up, all sternness
and harshness. with every one speaking
i'll of him But. pray, be not deceived.
Sympathize with him at once 1t will
turn out that he has been misunderstood
all round. He is the man who support
ed all these years the widow and eight
children, anonymously by. post. Upon
his breast, and no other. did the hero
ines father breathe his last sigh in a
foreign land, and he betrayed the fune-