The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-05-08
The Tragedy of
a Tragedienne ~
By EDMOND HARANCOURT
Translated from the French.)
Translated from the French.)

RUARIE PARCELS heart was
kVI broken by sorrow and despair
when her child died, for the famous
Lragedienne had made an idol of
the little one. With all the passion
of her strong temperament she had
yielded TO her maternal love. The
cradle had shed a halo of piety in
her sumptuous home. The untram-
ineled actress had been transformed
Unto u fanatic mother and the babys
christening was to her an act of
Precipitation. On the boulevards of
Paris Marie Parcel was always seen
in subdued dress and her ardent ad-
unirers were forced to content them
selves with a modest smile.
The critics recorded the death of LA
Petite Marcel" as one of national i'm
portance. Letters and kilograms of
e6ympathy from notables came in vast
numbers.
F'Boudoin," she said to her secretary,
send letters of thanks to all my
: friends and tell them that my heart is
broken, and that l cannot answer in
person."
She ordered the body of her little
girl to be embalmed, for she trembled
. st the thought of dissolution. She OBJ
tanned q special permit from the au-
1horities to retain the heart of her
darling, which she had placed in a
aermetically sealed glass and gold
casket.
Friends who had seen her in emotion
a. scenes on the stage were startled by
the outburst of grief at the coffin, and
when, after prolonged weeping, she
1ade adieu to the remains before they
were placed in the cemetery vault, her
face was ashy pale, and her erect FORM
gave her the appearance of one in an
other world.
Marchand, the playwright, sat in
corner of the death chamber and noted
every act and gesture of the TRACE
dienne. The realistic drama enacted
here overwhelmed his poetic soul and
inspired him with the thought of
writing play that would enthrall the
theatrical world.
While Marchand planned his drama,
the theater in which Marie Marcel had
been the attraction for years, was
closed, and when a week later the
doors were again thrown open to the
public Marie Parcels name was not on
Che programme. She announced that
her great bereavement had ended her
bistrionic career.
Maternal love was the central
thought of Marchand's new drama. He
said one day to the actress:
"Your sorrow alone, dear friend
prompts me in my work, and my af-
: lection for you guides my pen. L am
; raising an indies tructible monument
for your child which will provoke the
sympathy of posterity with your great
. and noble sorrow.
my heart offers you a thousand
~ thanks, dear friend" she replied, "for
all this. But 1 cannot act any more.
Ecannot bear the thought of appearing
again before the footlights. can only
feel my own grief, and l cannot act
what l do not feel. Henceforth l
must devote my mind to my own sad
memories"
But Marchand, the great character
expert, knew how quickly the human
sentiments eddy and flow and charge.
IKE believed that all he needed was to
abide his time. Since she had been de-
serted by her husband two years be-
fore, Marchand had sought in vain to
gain her heart. And now that her child
auas dead she could only offer gratitude
for her friends tender solicitude.
There was only one expression in Ma
yrje's melancholy that Jared on the
fine feelings of her adorer. She con-
stantly upbraided God for the cruel
robbery of her child.
"God is cruel to rob me thus" she
would exclaim frequently. God is
Aeruel!"
Marchand continued to plead his
cause eloquently.
"Is it possible" he said to her one
day, 'that now, while my poesy is
erecting an eternal memorial to ma
7sernal affection, you will refuse to CO.
operate with your hallowed art? No,
dear friend, you cannot evade this duty
which your genius owes to mankind.
Y0ur life of seclusion savors of self
love. Your reproduction of my verses
would be better than all the flowers
you can heap on the grave of your be-
loved. Your talent is divine gift which
must become the exponent of the
aoblest virtues. To please you, will
e even permit my Roman heroine, whom
you will personify, to wreak vengeance
~.an the gods"