The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-07
A SHRINE VULGARIZED.
The ofenses Committed at stratford.
on-Avou

What should they know of Shake
speare who only Shakespeare know? ''
asks Stratford of the world and its
amazing shops quite justify the question
Until you have looked into them, nine
ty-nine hundredths of the man-all of
him, that is. that Stratford really cares
about-simply must have escaped you.
For instance, you, an average English
man, are proud of your Shakespeare.
You think of him with kind of ave.
you wonder how such an immensely of
Imagination could co-exist with such an
| immensely of mellowness and sanity;
you marvel al those overwhelming gifts
of mind and heart that made him not
only the greatest of poets and drama
\ lists, but one of the cleareSt and shrewd-
est of thinkers. philosophers and observ-
/ ers Possibly you even read him.
But this, it will be said, is after all
confined to the shopkeepers. and shop
keepers in all such matters are neces-
sarily-what we know them to be. Well,
| If you think this. go to the Shakespeare
memorial and examine its exhibits The
building itself is a tumble of all styles
of architecture. and therefore of none;
and the contents correspond Indeed.
it will not take you long to decide that
/ there are atrocities and incongrultleS
under the glass cases in the library that
really ranscend-remenberin the spe-
cial sense in which the library is con-
secrated to akespeare-anything to be
found in the High street shops
For example, in this building-which
stands there as a national tribute to
Shakespeare's genius-I found, pre-
served in one of the glass cases an egg
she'll A sort of face had been paint
| ed on it. Disgusting bits of hair had
! been gummed on to represent eyebrows,
beard and mustache. The artist had so
/ arranged things that in the result,
there was something that might have
passed for an insulting caricature of
the worst bust of Shakespeare that even
Stratford possesses. 1t was specimen
OF provincial handiwork and wit that
would have sickened one even at a
charity bazaar. Yet here it reposcd,
part of our English offering on Shakes
peare's shrine. And that nothing Of its
exquisiteness might be lost. there was
scrap of paper close by with this in
scription: AN eggzact likeness. The
most eggshellent in eggistence-'
How came such a dastardly vulgar
ism there 1t was. it turned out the
gift of the late Mr.. c. Z. Fowler. and
Mr.. Fowler not only presented the site
for the memorial buildings, but was a
very large subscriber toward the cost
of erecting them 1 am fully sensible
of Mr.. Fowler's liberality and know
quite we'll how much the whole memo
rial scheme owed to his enthusiastic
energy and his genuine passion for
| Shakespeare. But cannot think either
the egg shell or the inscription he COM
posed to got with it adds anything sub
stantial to his credit. 1t does not
illustrate" Shakespeare in any very
tangible way; I doubt whether even a
German would find it helpful: and I
am quite sure it is not the sort of thing
l should like an American to catch
sight Of There is only one place where
it would be really appropriate, and that
is the dust bin.
In the same way q stuffed wild cat may
do capitally for dark corner of hotel
smoking room. but its presence in the
Shakespeare memorial is not TO be justified
by quotations from the Tanning of the
Shrew-" A similar objection applies to a
stuffed crocodile; I am not in the least
reconeiled to, its inclusion by line from
Antony and Cleopatra" If the council
think themselves bound to have specimens
of everything that Shakespeare mentions
they may as well hire the British museum
at once.
But there are other exhibits that cannot
plead even this exceedingly indirect excuse
for their presence In one case. for in
stance, is a rather curious old fishing tack
lie box. It's sole Justification for being there
Is that it was found near Stratford- 9th
erwise it has just as much connection with
Homer as with Shakespeare. A Kruger
half-crown, some jubilee and coronation
medals that figure in other cases have. If
possible. even less An improved geneal-
ogical chart of the royal family is sim
ply irrelevant. new set of Shakespear-
can PLAYING cards. Ito be had of all sta
toners and displayed, if you please, I'M
der glass. is something worse. After this
it is almost a relief to turn to a key of
an old church where Shakespeare may
have been married and to a pair of nut
crackers, of which nobody knows anything
except that they may have been Shake
speare's. BY comparison, their Apostle
ness is quite startiing-London Mail.