The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1903-05-19
The Tragedy Of
a Tragedienne ~
By EDMOND HARANC0URT
Translated from the Frsnch.)
UrsnsIaisd from the Frsnch.l

MARIE PARCELS heart was
lYI broken by sorrow and despair
Mnen her child died, for the famous
tragedienne 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 halo of piety in
her sumptuous home. The untram-
meled actress had been transformed
into fanatic mother and the baby's
christening was to her an act of
Precipitation. On the boulevards of
Paris Marie Parcel was always seen
in subdued dress and her ardent adj
,mirers were forced to content them
selves with modest smile.
The critics recorded the death of LA
Petite MarceP' as one of national i'm
portance. Letters and kilograms OF
sympathy from notables came in vast
numbers.
"Boudoin," she said to her cretary,
s'send letters of thanks to all my
friends and tell them that my heart is
broken, and that / cannot answer in
person"
She ordered the body of her little
girl to be embalmed, for she trembled
at the thought of dissolution. She OBJ
tanned special permit from the au-
thorities to retain the heart of her
darling, which she had placed in
Dramatically sealed glass and gold
casket.
Friends who had seen her in emotion
al scenes on the stage were startled by
the outburst of grief at the coffin, and
when, after prolonged weeping, she
bade 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 a
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 a pay 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
the programme. She announced that
her great bereavement had ended her
histrionic 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. am
raising an indestructible 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
al this. But / cannot act any more
Icannot bear the thought OF appearing
again before the footlights. can only
feel my own grief, and / cannot act
what ] do not feel. Henceforth |
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.
He believed that all he needed was TO
abide his time, Since she had been de-
serted by her husband two years be- /
fore, Marchand bad sought in vain TO
gain her heart, And now that her child
was dead she could only offer gratitude
Tor her friends tender so,icitude
There was only one expression in Ma
rie'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
cruell"
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
terna. affection, you win refuse to co..
operate with your hallowed art? No.
GEAR friend, you cannot eyade this DUTY
which your genius owes to mankind.
Your life of seciusion sayors of self
love, Your reproduction of NV verses
would be better than all the flowers
you can heap on the grave of your be-
Owed, Your talent is adivine gift which
must become the exponent of the
noblest virtues, To please you, I will
even permit my Roman heroine, whom
You will personify, to wreak vengeance
On the gods" az.