The evening world., 1903-01-15

n artleSS gums .nalI eWptled Oh milk-
teeth.
Talk about naturalism in a~cting-why.
some of those bantling actorines-o'ess
'sir little 'earts!-could make some
Broadway favorites you n I know
Gh-h-h! no names!-look like stage
money in ]. p. Morgan's office.
Who were they? Where did they
come from? Who found them? Who
performed the miracle of teaching
them their parts and ~rehearsins them?
These were the questions people k
one another. when the lights went up,
and they had wiped their eyss n
cleared their threats and powdered their
noses.
Not the %innocents Of the audience,
mind you, but hardened actors and
actresser and critics, and suchlike so
phisticated birds. d.,
Where. how. by whom, had these
papoose prodisies of acting been dis
covered and trained? Nobody could
guess. Charles B. Dillingham; might
have thrown a light OF 1t. hut he was
too i'll to witness his managerial trl-
umph.
stamped with LondOn's o. X.
18Th Little Princess is stamped with
London's o. X. I didn't see 1t at the
Bhaftesbury Theatre, but I can't imagine
II being acted better or as we'll as 1t Is
at the Criterion, where 1t has been in
troduced primarily as a vehicle for the
unique talents of Mile James.
Mrs. Francis Hodgson Burnett wrote
Il "for children and grown-up children"
II 10 a fairy story without a fairy. If
xan tnstsf 0p pI0apphc1Inn ~ ,,alan -
definite category. you won go far
" astray in calling 1t a molodrama Of child
life. But that only tells half.
1t lays an extraordinary spell upon
you. Thu underlying infinite sadness
and mystery OF childhood-even child
hood at Its joyousest-enters into you
and grips your heart. And you weep.
6andol MIliken! How that audience
weptl
Don't you think Miss Milnken's name
makes a lovely expletIve?
In Act /. you are introduced TO Miss
Minchin's school. where Sara Crewe
nicknamed the Little Princess" is
giving a birthday party.
Miss Minchln Is an ogre of a board
lng-school dame who kowtows to Sara
because she Is the only child OF an
adoring millionaire father in India.
Sara Is a girl OF strong, sweet. I'M
spoiled and highly imaginative nature.
a clever child, a child with tempera-
ment-it must have been a JOY to Mrs.
Burnett to draw such a character.
And the rest-girls, girls; girls board
ing-school girls OF all degrees. from
nestlings up to pretty minxes with
b~anss-and each a character, a distinct
personality.
And there In front OF you. on the
stage. o behold the seethinR, irre-
pressible life Of a girls boardlng-school.
with all its noise. its movement. itA
mischief. It's Jealousies. its tantrums, its
bullying, its ohivalry, its generosity, its
misunderstanding that belongs 10 IL.
II Is a miracle. The Illusion Is abso-
lutte. There 10 nothing TO suggest act
ing. 1t is life itself.
After this hrst wondrous scene the
melodrama sets in, News m that
eaIa's father has died penniless. TIL.
child hasn't o relative. The ogre. in
in pampering the child, puts a stop to
the birthdsy Festivities and condemns
Sara TO he a drudge and to sleep in a
rat-infested garrett.
0Arret, Blizzard and Rats.
In Act. II. you join Sara in the Rarret.
and the agony Is piled on, aver TO the
extent Of q broken window-pane. a
bowling blizzard and some stray hand
9uls OF paper now
Sara u cold. hungry, and ill-used. but
neeslhE up nicely, thank you. Her
inauguration saves her. She makes be-
end he's tanvsd a rat.
T3tAfs II a delightful banquetlng scene,
IN ~ EirFet,. A n~Aghtgowned schoolgirl
steak Up with a hamper she has re-
eetyed from home and Sara lays a table
With many make believes" and she
and n~ightEoEn and the maid-of-ail-work
PM before they have touched a mOrsel
Honestly, YOU feel as terrible over
= tragedy OF that interrupted banquet
- you would Oyer Lear or othello,
Aeapwhlle, ~turbanned LAscars have
been lodging In and out from the attic
next door, Unknown TO Sara, and you
imagine that 6ara's father Is alive, after
AH. ana preparing TO surprise her,
And when she ROe TO bed. cold n
hunGry, ednsollnG herself by ''making
beiisvs' that the Earret is a luxurious
room IN 9 palace, the Lasears troop In
and notseleasly onver Il into a Vantine
~cohy-corner With a IRE and lamp BORN
fn9 and supper on a tabouret- And the
e4ffaln comes down over Sara's aston
tshRshs " che visws ths transforna-