The National tribune., 1907-11-07

/ The utter ignorance of the Bible
manifested by NoungAmerican men and
women is most appalling. Nor is this
lack of knowledge confined TO the young
| Dy any means, men and women of ali
ages betraying the same unacquaintance
with the Good Book. To meet now-a-
days person who can make an appro-
pirate Biblical quotation, or even recog-
niZe one when they see it. is rare. And
as for the good old Bible stories, how
many people are there in the country
who could acquit themselves at all cred
itabiy in the off-hand telling of them
In the old days children were brought
up or the Bible They were as familiar
with its stories as children of the pres
ent day are with their Cinderella and
the other fairy tales; they knew it near
ly by heart, from cover to cover I'm
consciously they absorbed much of its
simplicity, beauty and power, which lent
color and character to the deVelopm ent
of their minds, its study being frequent
| ly their only means of intellectual
growth thru life. No day passed without
| the reading of it, and when they talked
it was more or less In the language of
the Bible. Now too few read it; most
households would be decidedly embar-
rassed If asked to produce Bible; in
deed. it is said that most respectable
and highly cultivated family of pure
New England stock vas thrown into
something of panic recently when the
| young man of the family, home from
Harvard for Sunday, demanded a Bible
| The family finally saved its face by un-
earthing from the depths somewhere an
| ancient family Eible, which had been
preserved on account of its containing
the register of births and deaths. In
! telligent and cultivated people, who are
I f.lN. Inv. 4
| know little or nothing about this great
est of all the classics. This would not
be quite so surprising if the Bible were
| an ordinary book. But it is a wonderful
book. AS literature, pure and simple,
| nothing has ever equaled it, Shakspere
approaching it more nearly than any
other writer. 1t is full of information
valuable now as ever. Centuries ago
Job told us about the planet Arcturus,
| of the Pleiades and Orion, facts after
wards confirmed by distinguished as
tronomers. Certain phenomena observed
and recounted by him are observed to-
day, and the Bible is therefore val
liable textbook to those scientists who
make a study of the heavens The Bible
is full of most interesting reading, but it
is sealed book to most people. How
| ever, 1t is said that Harvard College is
| making 1t a feature in its curriculum
| now, and that the students are "crazy"
| over 1t, which fact may result in gen.
eral awakening. Apropos of the pre-
vailing ignorance of the Bible a very
amusing story Is told of a public man
| who, in debating to his stenographer
used the name Judas fscariot. She was
an unusually intelligent young woman,
yet she inquired nafveiy, "Possessiye
| case for Judah, sill? ?r afterwards admit
ting that she had never heard of the
| gentleman before. c .i4ss---
We are hearing q good deal at the
present time and have been for several
| months past OF certain Russian ac-
tress, Nine. Nazimova, who came to
| this countr, with al company of stroll
| ling players of her nationality about two
years ago. While she was with them,
playing in a language not one in
hundred of her auditors even vaguely
understood, her exotic and fascinating
personality was, felt; 6hs5coal black hair,
the fiery black eyes, the red-lipped
mouth, the undulating body, the signifi-
cant hands were all comprehensive, and
would have been had she remained 81
lent. 1t is said that David Belasco really
discovered her, and seeing her tremen-
dous possibilities, unhampered by the
Russian language, pursuaded her to
study English. However that may be,
the Russian players left the country,
and Nazimova remained behind to de-
can Stage She began the study of our
language. and, aided by the linguistic
readiness of her race, mastered it so
thoroly in less than a year, that she is
now able to give with perfect satisfac-
tion to her audiences such difficult
characters as "Nora," "Hedda Gabler"
and "Hilda' of Ibsen. Nine. NaZimoya
exerts strange, almost hypnotic influ-
ence over her audiences. A hint of the
Slav, of the Oriental, of the Parisienne
are all blended in her expressive pres
ence. She has appeared almost entirely
. in Ibsen's plays, and while she may not
interpret the characters according to
the Ideas of the author, her concep-
| tions have been most illuminating and
Interesting. One of the most striking
| impressions received from her acting is
| that of vitality, of restless, aggressive
vitality, emphasized by the fascination
of hair, lips, eyes. the movement of her
| hands and the graceful sinuousness of
| her body. She is seldom quiet in her
acting. AS Hilda in 1.-The Master Build
er" she can hardly be still a moment in
Solness's house. She hops Gil the office
stool, wanders about the bookcases, fin
gers loose papers. curls up on the sofa
and is constantly changing her position.
| 1t is difficult to make plain the secret
of this woman's remarkable power; it is
something so subtle as to almost defy
1
one has called an electric suggestive
ness" that draws forth the underlying
thought or feeling, and makes the spec
| tator understand and respond to it,
whether she speaks or moves, listens or
is still, making of her acting kind of
magic mirror. Nine. Nazimoval does not
spare the appeal of her sex. She makes
frank play with it, varying it adroitly.
She has made 1t almost weapon,
sounding every note in the scale of fem
mime fascination. BY bodily means, in
deed, she almost creates moods and
emotions. If the shade of old Ibsen is
| following the career of this remarkable
women he must be Sitting up and TAX
ing notice." indeed. Types like Nine
Nazimova were hardly what the drama
| tist found in or around Christiana, and
are not what people expect to find in
performances of his plays. Yet, as has
| been said, her interpretations are start
| lingly intelligent, Illuminating and in
| teresting, II somewhat highly colored,
and no one can deny her wonderful, all
| most uncanny, charm and power
| According to the papers. "Canonchet," !"
the magnificent estate of ex-Gov Vim.
Sprague. and one of the show places of
Rhode Island is for sale. 1t was here
that the brilliant Kate Chase, Gov
| Spragues first wife, entertained Horace
Greeley. Garfield, Ben Butler. Samuel
J. Tilden and many other distinguished