The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-05
SURE CURE FOR STAGE
 FRIGHT IS DISCOVERED

or up any parts of the body. Let your full size and form out upon the bed. In so doing you are dlsarming rebellious nerves. Ease and freedom will be more familiar now each day, but one needs to apply a deeper search for strain which has been years in accumulation before a sure antidote to stage fright will be Tn possession.
 Strain Is insidous and subtle, and linus its way deep into the human or ganism. Here 1t may lie dormant until the individual comes to some special test, when he or she hunts for an external cause for some severely disappointing failure.
 In all false exertions the tendency is to lift wastefully ones own body, to hold ones self up from the chair or bed, or in walking not to let the full sense of weight fall to the parts intended for
 the purpose. These false efforts, like all others are impossible in an orderly nervous organization. The opposite at titude will, however. be of the greatest help In bringing about a normf poise:
 To sit as heavily as one can, to stand will the full sense of weight on the feet, and above all to lie on floor or bed heav- fly, imagining the weight to increase
 gradually as one lies
 In this position breathe slowly and evenly, using all the ease which you have gained, by giving a little attention to It. Each breath will push its gentle power into all the body's fibers, giving a sense of freedom and buoyancy which will not soon be forgotten, but on the contrary,
 will most practically invite you to repeat
 the performance until it becomes as nec-
 essary as bath and breakfast.
 When the bod is habituated to these 1 steps its power to do as is desired grows . singuarly strong. 1t becomes like a
 mirror freed from dlrt-able to reflect
 more wildly any image held by the | brain.
 1 There remain two important points with which to become acquainted before one will actually possess the cure for stage | fright. The mirror Is cleared, but 1t wIIl l only reflect what the brain defines. The i power to picture only one thing at a l time must be increased. This, too, will l come step by step. Practice 1t in little 1 things and one may learn to practice l it In greater. Aim at holding only one | thing at a time before the mind. absorb l ing yourself so absolutely In this one thought that there are no gaps which can , be invaded.
 This brings up to the reason that gem fuses so rarely suffer from stage fright. Their absorption in their subjects Is usu- ally very intense, leaving no chinks for intrudng thoughts to enter. If an actor Is genuinely engrossed in a role he will be the character too thoroughly to take note of single persons In his audience or other alluring conditions There is no room left for such observations.
 
 There are intrusions. also. which come | from within the human mind. These de- pend invariably upon the existing nerv- | ous tension, and are usually. If not al- ways, connected with the fears for self l with which every actor Is tempted. In | place of these fears stronger love of progress must prevail even to willingness | to fail, should it be the way to learn how not to fall. Physical habits and mental | practices such as have been suggested will so strengthen the boise that stage
 fright will become thing undreaded, be- cause unknown.