Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-10-13
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
Class Pride as Manifested Among
Metropolitan Writers.


Upon Recently Produced Play by
Br"nder Matthews and Bronson
Howard.
NEW YORK, Oct. Special. 1.-The
papers have been bestowing frightful
roasting on the drama, with old Peter
StuyVosHnt Il governor of New Neither
lands times, for its leading character,
with which William II. Crane, the come
dian, chose to open the season.
The play was written jointly by Bran
der Matthews and Bronson Howard, and,
judging from the unanimous nature of
its condemnation by the critics, it must
be pretty weak stuff-the writer hasn't
seen the piece-in spite of its authors
regulations.
GOthRm's Dramatic Critics.
The practical unanimity of condemna-
ton in this case, by the way, is one of
the strongest evidences that could be
given that while the critics of this town
may err frightfuly sometimes in their
judgment, may even condemn as worth
less a play which the public insists on
making success or may crack up to the
skies piece with which the people will
have naught to do, they are honest in
their expressions in the MAN, If they
to get the reading public to scan their
columns at all, since, as rule, the criti-
cisms, supposedly written by experts who
ought to be able to gauge the public
taste, fail utterly to agree and quite as
often as otherwise fail to forecast prop
erly the fate of the piece treated. This
being true, you can see why the people
who read dramatic criticisms would not
tolerate a critic who should be palpably
biassed in favor of or against any given
writer or performer. The critics see
this, too, and, being DESTROYS of keeping
their places, are all reasonably certain
to give praise whenever it is deserved, or
blame either, regardless of personal feel
ing toward authors and actors.
With reference to Brander Matthews
and Bronson Howard, the authors of the
present play, and William IL. Crane, the
star who appears to have been done up
by the piece, the feelings of the New
York critics are both mixed and as nearly
unanimous as they ever have been or
ever will be- This anomalous statement
may be made clear by the further state
ments that both Crane and Howard are
very popular with the newspaper men Of
| New York, while Matthews is not; that
although it really goes against the grain
with every critic in town to write down
anything from Towards pen or anything
! performed by Crane, a sort of hendish
| glee is felt whenever there is a good
chance to pour vitriol upon Matthews.
The following brief extract from a re-
cent critique of Peter Stuyvesant' is
presented in point:
The programme announced that this
production was the joint work of Brander
| Matthews and Bronson Howard, but we
| positively refuse to believe that the man
who turned out The Bankers Daughter,
The Henrietta and 'Arstocracy' can
have contributed to this connection more
than a comma or, at the most, semi
colon. Mr.. Howard may have read the
play and told Mr.. Matthews what he
didn't think about it, but further than
that he must not be held responsible.
This play is branded Matthews from first
to last"
Just why the newspaper writers should
have it in for Matthews is not so easy for
the outsider to understand.
Glasses Among Writers.
As a matter of fact, the feeling against
him among those who write for the dal'
lies is not personal, probably, but merely
a manifestation of class sentiment. II
nav seem strange to the nonwriting
|
porters in general hold the magazine
writers to be highly overrated lot OF
word craftsmen; the writer's of editorial,
i. that assume to say the last word on al
sorts of topics. spiritual and temporal
think very lightly of the fiction weavers
the iokemakers sheer at those who dea
with finance: the business and Other
specialists snort when general copy max
ers are mentioned, and so on.
1t would be drawing too strong pic
ture of jealousy among the scribbler'
to say that this feeling is universal, but /
is really more widespread than you woulC
imagine. and, like most human senti
ments, it has some justification in ever!
case Thus the magazine writer in read
ing the newspapers detects here and there
a split inhnitive," a badly constructed
verbal phrase or careless handling o
the subjunctiye and sneers. The rapi'
newspaper writer admits Occasional
shortcomings of this sort, but AYERS, witt
probable truth, that were the average
magazinist to attempt to turn out iron
one TO four columns a day he would col
lapse under the strain. Moreover, say
the newspaper copy maker, the maya
zinists sometimes produce as slovenl,
English as the worst that gets into tn
daily sheets, and this is true also, proba
bly,. And it naturally requires NOR
rigid training to get up lot OF prett,
fair matter every day regardless" thai
it does to get up the same amount
much better stuff two or three or fou
times a month.
Mr.. Matthews, who is a college pre-
fessor, a writer of occasional short storie
lover each one of which he mulls Ion
time before releasing it, and sort
general essayist as well as an indifferen
playwright, is the very antithesis of tn
newspaper man and shows it in the tex
ture of his product, so that the almos
instructive willingness of the pres
gang" to fay him whenever opportunit
presents itself is quite natural, after all.
Glass Proud Sporting Writers.
or all class proud writers here an
elsewhere, those who chronicle and con
ment upon sporting events are probabl
: the most ultra Writers of nearly ever
other class long yearningly to 'get out 9
the grind" into magazine and week.
> work. but the writer on prizehghts, hors
races, baseball matches and the like
more than satisfied as a rule to continu
writing for the daily press on those topic
and with rare exceptions never does an!
, thing else.
IT is different with the writers o
Yachting. football, golf, tennis and ii