The Saint Paul globe., 1902-07-05

end honors there was no delay and we
now have to think of Gilbert Parker
and Conan Doyle with sir" before
their names, as we'll as Leslie Stephen,
who was about the only one to be
knighted solely upon his reput;I ion as
man of letters. That Alfred Austin
still remains plain "Mr." is mysterious
to many who think that his position
alone would entitle him to honors, but
there are those who think the king
Fhowed rare discrimination in the dis
t,ibution of his favors. AS for Will
liam Waldorf Astor, if he grieves that
he is overlooked, he grieves alone. The
Ping is too fond at present of Ameri-
cans and their country to do a thing
so distasteful as the knighting of AS
tor. 1t could, and doubtless would
have been regarded as a deliberate in
suit to those loyal Americans who re-
pudiated Astor and his questionable
attitude 1t is we'll known that the
king is no admirer of the man with
out country"
The many books on the stage and
stage-folk have just been augmented
by another lighter in vein and very
re adable, ''Wags of the Stage" by
Joseph Whitton. 1t contains many
witty stories and amusing contre-
tempts which have occurred both be-
hind the scenes and in front, one of
the best of which concerns the pre-
sentation of Romeo and Juliet"
which, by the way, is to be given to-
morrow night for the first time by the
Haswel company at the Grand. A
performance of the famous love story
was given a good many years ago for
the benefit of one, Sam Hemple. in
which he himself played the part Of
Pomeo. Hemple weighed nearly 300
pounds, and feeling in excellent spirits
and desiring to give the audience even
more than the worth of their money
he introduced some humorous lines
into his part that convulsed every one
even if they did not add to the art
of the performance. Juliet repeated the
famous lines:
% Romeo, Pn{Ss r; 5R?;omeo' wherefore are thou,
Hemple cast his eye over the packed
house and said:
This seems a goodly house.
And on the boobies count hope to show
Why l tonight am Romeo!'
This was somewhat disconcerting
Tor Juliet, but worse was to follow. She
said:
How came thou hither, tell me, and
wherefore?
The orchard, walls are high and hard to
climb ~
Whereupon he made answer:
with loves light wings did I o'ernercb
them Pc 0AA
So Shakespeare says; and doubtless such
a plan o--
Might do for cororoo, po,,oo- -.
1hat am not shaped for perching walls
For sportive tricks,'
here he lapsed into prose and con-
tlnued: We'll, Miss Juliet, as 1
don't want to keep you out all night
ana give you your death of cold, I'll
cut the matter short 1 found the back
gate open."
The Mystery of the Sea" is a very
poor story. After reading Bran Stoker's
Dracula," and knowing what he can
90 In the matter of painting horrors.
and giving persons the shivers. one
picks 1t up with the expectation of
hair-raising experiences and thrilling
adventures. But THE Mystery of the
Sea" is tiresome and so evidently a
potpoller and an effort to sell some
Ihng While his vogue lasts. that one
lays IT down half-read and yawns. TT
concerns an American girl fabulously
rich, which is pleasant, buried treas
ure In cave of the sea, an unpleasant
OLD Scotch woman whose dialect is dis
agreeable and hard to read, an Eng
hshman who is about as uni English as
ne can be imagined, and some ridic-
ulous detectives. One turns the nages
YEARLY to see if he gets her, and find
ing that they are reunited after ex-
periences by the heroine that would
KIN any ten ordinary women, one puts
1t down thankful that it is not neces-
sary to read it all. The Spanish war
and troubles in Cuba are brought in in
rather spread-eagle manner, and