The age-herald., 1901-11-17
2tGN P\aN the Most POpNAar


 Her shoulders are the May
 Her smiles are all forget-me-nots,
 The paths her gracious way.
 The roses that do line 1t are
 Her fancies walking round,
 Iris sweetly smelling lavender
 In which my ladys gowned.'
 
 believe it was Diderot who said that tragedy belonged more to the republi- can spirit and comedy to be more in keeping with the character of a mon. archy. But his theories would not hold as far as the American stage is com cerned. New York audiences go to the theatre to laugh and the sombre dramas that deal with moral and social oues- tions do not satisfy them. In this re- speet New York differs this season from Paris where the most gruesome dramas are entertaining the Parisians. The French critics are telling us that Paris weeps and that play-goers patronize the stage not to be amused, but to be stern ly moralized. In the Paris theatres the vices or follies of modern life are being held up to reproduction and ridicule and the playwright, instead of the pulpit ora tor Is attacking the public conscience. The stage as a moral teacher was one of Diderots' ideals, but will the sombre drama do it's work?
 Happily there is but one play in New York that does not call forth smile and Minnie Madren Fiske is the woman to fulfill the Parisian ideal.
 It was recently printed by a New York critic, and, however home ly the play. the play of real life, the bit of rustic pathos and simplicity joined with inevitable human emotion Is in evi- 6anPa In ha drp a tia notably in Barrie's Quality Street. and "Eben Holden" Most of these plays" he continues, ''are of American life and though some of them are overdrawn and unreal there is nevertheless demand and a reaching out for the true and char acteristic native thing. It is a tendency which may be depended on to develop a sound national drama.''
 Minnie Madren Fiske-she of Becky Sharpe fame-is appearing in a play based upon the novel Miranda of the Balcony" a Moorish thing that casts a spell over one and makes one dream of an oasis in Morocco, endeavoring vainly to forget that for two hours one sat help less through play that seemed fright fully real.
 Mrs. Fiske-she of the marvellous hair and the fascinating voice-in her devo- tion to the type of woman of a thousand moods gives us a very modern Miranda with a Moorish background, Miranda who loves clinging gowns the London season and all the rest of it, but who gives 1t up because she is forced to do so-that is the London part of it.
 Ralph Warrimer, Mirandas husband, who deserted her. and whom she pre- sumes Is dead, is known to be alive in southern Morocco, and the story of his being bought as a slave and his horrible life in Morocco reaches her on the even ing of a ball at Lady Dennis Thorpes house in London. There is n young En- glshman in love with Miranda-she of the balcony, and there Is a little scene between them in which Miranda's high est emotions triumph and she fits alone to world-weary Spain to save if possible the husband whom she has sworn a thousand times shall not receive any aid from her hands.
 Mrs. Fiske and Spain, green and gold interior. a passionate woman, all moods, all goodness, revengeful, forgiving, re- lentless, the epitome of all women.
 Miranda, always frank with the audi ence. never quite frank with herself, dwells upon the memory of her early married life, life made hideous by Ralph, and in a scene in which she vows again that she will take no step to bring him back into her life, there is a com monplace Incident that shows her mar vicious power.
 Miranda has a child who Is buried in Spain and some one brings her an armful of blossoms to be placed on the grave. One had not thought of a Miranda of tenderness-of a Miranda with the mem- ory of a child at her heart. It was the woman whose life was crushed, out by brutal wretch who was her husband, a woman, young beautiful, cold But one is wholly unprepared for a sobbing Mi randa, the mood by which Mrs. F1ske is swayed and her audience with her.
 Of course the young Englishman fol- lows her to Spain and undertakes to find the husband, a mission in which he is successful There is an oasis in Morocco, wretched scene between the English man and Miranda's husband
 Tangier again, Miranda, fascinating interior that brings out the vivid glory of her hair. She wears a wonderful gown, all spangles. Her voice is full of that vibrant quality, that quality that in other women would repel. But that quick. high note in Mrs. Fiske's voice Is a part of herself. No one likes 1t, but 1t fasci- mates like a minor chord in melody. One never knows when she has finished speaking.
 But Tangier, Miranda, wretched scene with Ralph, her husband, who has come back to claim her after all the years she believed him dead It would be idle to attempt to describe him. He Is returned from a business trip to Bir- Bessemer and Chattanooga
 Thomas Beasley and family of Mem- nhiS have moved tn Gadsden. where MT.