The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-06-04

sneer.
Probably nobody but the intimates of
his household or his Office ever sees him
ungloved. All through the dinner
Thursday evening he wore pair OF
gray gloves-and wore them so uncon-
sciously that they seemed part OF the
man.
The intimate of Irving, the adviser
of Mary Anderson. the biographer of
Jefferson, the literary and personal
confdant of Edwin Booth and the
critical godfather of Ada Rehan
seemed surprised and touched that
half a dozen young theatrical writers
of the west should have esteemed it
an honor and a privilege to make their
homage to him. When he rose to
speak his acknowledgment of that
homage he looked fondly at them and
said
Il have in-ny long life known more
of bitterness and blame than kindness
and adulation. I do not believe that
such a scene as this would be posi-
BILE in New York where 1 have done
my life work, and it delights me to
think that you young fellows can dwell
together in an atmosphere of mutual
respect and affection which seems be-
yond US of the critical guild in the east"
Somebody called across the table,
Mr.. Mansfield says no American since
Hawthorne has written the English
language with the beauty and facility
you have, sir"
Mr.. Winter smiled and said: well.
Dicks not given to praise"
At another time in the evening when
we were plying the dean with ques-
tions someone asked him about Booth
more particularly as to his mental
equipment. 80 you have heard
said Mr.. Winter, that he was an il
Hterate man? Wen, I did not find
him So He was not a scholar, to be
sure, but he was studious. made
for him an acting edition of many
of the classic plays in which he ap-
peared, and I have in my possession
over 400 letters he wrote me while
that work was in progress. They
disclose sound taste and good discern
ment in the matter of textuaI emen-
dations and the selection of preferred
readings. He showed himself as cute
as anybody in such things.
1.-THE subject he loved above all
others in his later life was not the
stage, however, but religion, and his
reading in that direction was both ex-
tensive and profound"
When the conversation turned on
Sir Henry Irving the writer remem-
bers that Mr.. Winter praised above
all else the actors courtesy toward
women, Il have never seen," he said,
"a man so charming in his bearing
toward the ladies' We would all like
to be so, but he alone seems to me the
supreme master of the old-time chiv-
airy which is unceaSing in devotion
and tenderness, but never obtrusive."
Speaking of Irving as an actor, he
said: EVERY lover of what is fine
and true in the art of the stage who
finds himself living in the same age
with Henry Irving ought to be proud
of the fact.
''And America truly may be proud
of what it has done in recognition
of Henry's art. He told me once that
before the production of 'Robespierre'
he was $4,000 in debt, but that in
America he had recouped his losses
and made possible the prospect of an
old age of comfort instead of bank
ruptcy and misery. God bless Ameri-
ca he said when he told me this-and
we'll he might make that prayer"
When the name of Mary Anderson
came up Mr.. Winter recalled how he
had urged her, in the face OF her own
fears, to make the fight for recogni-
ton in England because he believed
the influences Of an older civilization,
old shrines, old pictures and old in
situations would broaden, refine and
deepen her nature. Convinced that
the journey might prove expedient she
wished to inaugurate her foreign con-
quest by appearing in Romeo and
Juliet"
Butt urged her not to. Your Juli-
ct will be compared to that of the
reigning favorite, Miss Terry, said,
land disaster will be certain"
TRY Parthenia, I begged, and when
she asked me why, I told her she was
very beautiful, very appealing In that
part and that Furthermore, every Wen
constituted critic De1ng QeS1rOuS OF
writing abuse, all the London review
ers would condemn the play of lingo
mar as dull archaic and stilted, but
would say that in spite of it's many
faults, Miss Anderson made Parthenia
human and adorable. She gave me
her promise to do this, and in the face
of later pleadings to make the in
augural bill Romeo and Juliet held
her to her promise. Remember I
said, that if you came out of heaven
to play Juliet before a London audi
ence upon the occasion of your debut
in that city they would remember
Terry and damn you I'll promise
she said and she kept her word. The
result was precisely as 1 prophesied.
She conquered as Parthenia and later
London permitted her to play any
thing she chose
Commenting on the great happiness
that has attended Miss Anderson's
marriage to Antonio de Navarro, Mr..
Winter said in explanation: TONY
always has sustained the attitude of
adoration-always on his knees to
Mary, as it we're. It's a, difficult atti-
tude for most of US poor men to main
tain, but if a fellow can do it, it in
sures the utmost degree of felicity for
both parties to the contract"
WAGNTRTAN DTSCOVETcV