The Washington herald., 1906-12-02

II was at the Algonquin Hotel that I
called on Miss Ashweu and enjoyed a CUP
OF Miss Mercer's tea. The star herself
had just entered from a conference with
her managers.
What an amazing country this is" she
said Everything must be done in a hur-
~. In England we take time sufficiently
to digest our plans, but here you
seem TO make up your minds quickly and
the result is as successful as If days and
weeks had been consumed in bringing it
about. One doesn't seem to have time
TO think, and yet nothing could be bet
ter. Perhaps We think too much in Lon
don. I don't know. AT any rate, I Ike
New York very much. and am anxious
TO get about over the country 10 see what
the rest of it Is like ! can't understand
any one wanting TO remain for a year in
New York, when there are so many 9th
er cities, which in their variety must be
ever so interesting. know 1 shall en-
JOY travelling in America.
I cannot tell you how disappointed I
am That The Shulamite' did not strike
the fancy Of New Workers. It is not a
great play but It is certainly an inter
esting one. Il is not trash. Why. then
was it that il failed to please. London
approved It. and other countries have
done so. but New. York showed its orig
inality. The best proof Of the strength
Of The Shulamite' lies in the fact that
Eleanora Duse is going 10 play 1t. Duse
is a woman Of culture, dramatic taste,
and genius, so her opinion weighs heav-
1y with me-"
Miss Ashwell, please tell me some
thing about the plays in which you have
appeared during the past five years?"
-Four interesting ones are, 'Resurrec-
UOn,' Mrs. Danes Defence The Darling
Of the Gods and Leah Kleschna' Each
character is different but I like them all.
No, London did not pronounce 'Resurrec-
tion' too gloomy. It was a great lesson
In morals, wasn't it2 To me such plays
teach more powerful sermon than is
sometimes heard in church Maslova
erred and then fell to the lowest depths
from which she rose triumphantly in her
new life. A wonderful study, Maslova
The Darling Of the Gods made a tre-
mendous hit in London. Everybody loved
the play and the character of Yo San.
What could be more beautiful than her
love and reparation for her wrong. which
was done in the cause of affection"
Miss Bates said last week that she
preferred Nine Butterfly to Yo San. She
does not think the latter as human as
Butterfly"
q cannot agree with her. said Miss
Ashwen. ''Yo san to me is everything
that is lovable. feminine, and human
She is intensely pathetic. I never tired
OF playing her, for she appealed to me
She is Japanese, and she lived centuries
ago. yet she Is a woman and she suffer
ed much
I'VE had great fun in trying to secure
the japanese atmosphere for our charac-
ters in The Darling Of the Gods New
er having been a Japanese before, I nat
urally felt very strange. Mr.. Beerbohm
Tree. under whose direction the play was
produced. gave a Japanese dinner in my
honor. We sat on the floor and ate with
chop sticks. Tt was awfully amusing we
had all sorts Of foreign dishes, among
which was raw fish. When l said that I
could never eat il, the japanese in
charge Of the dinner informed me that by
pouring Worcestershire sauce on the fish
IL would be cooked quickly and I would
have no further complaint. Among other
interesting things I attempted 10 learn
was the Japanese manner Of making
love. A son Of Japan, who pr0fessed to
know all about so interesting a subject,
called at my apartment and proceeded
to hold the sleeve of my kimono between
his teeth, looking at me all the time with
the silliest possible expression on his face
That Is the way we make love he said
It was all 1 could do to control my
laughter, but somehow I kept a straight
face, and explained that Yo San could
never permit such a thing in front OF
a London audience. for they would not
take II seriously. How then do you sug-
gest that we make lover my teacher in
quired. Why, in the English fashion.
answered. 'Ah, but madam, your Eng
llsh fashion IS not At for the parlor, he
replied. What could I say after that |
It was a splendid example of being |
shown how others regard us. Neverthe- |
less the japanese style Of love-making |
was greatly Anglicised in our production /
We didn't play tbs torture scene in Lon !