The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1907-04-02
The Tragedy of
a Tragedienne ~
By EDMOND HARANCOURT
TransIzied from the Frsnch.)
nHARIE PARcEL,. heart was

MARIE PARCELS heart was
IVE 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 n 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 a modest smile.
The critics recorded the death of LA
Petite Marcel as one of national i'm
portance. Letters and kilograms OF
sympathy from notables came in vast
numbers.
'Boudoin," she said to her secretary,
"send letters OF thanks to all my
friends and tell them that my heart is
broken, and that l cannot answer III
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
Theoretically 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
babe 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 pay that would enthral the
theatrical world.
While Marchand planned his drama,
the theater in which Marie Marcel ha d
/
closed, and when week later the
doors were again thrown open to the
public Marie Parcels name was not on
the progra ANNE. 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 acne, dear friend
prompts me in my work, and my at
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 l cannot act any more
cannot bear the thought OF appearing
again before the footlights. lean only
feel my own grief, and cannot ac
what | do not feel. Henceforth
must devote my mind to my own sac
memories"
But Marchand, thesgreat character
expert, knew how quickly the human
sentiments eddy and flow and charge
He believed that all he needed was I,
abide his time. Since she had been de
serted by her husband two years be
fore, Marchand had sought in vain (,
! gain her heart. And now that her chile
was dead she could only offer gratitude
for her friends tender so.icitude
There was only one expression in Ma
rie's melancholy that Jared on tn
fine feelings of her adorer. She con
stant.y upbraided God for the crue
robbery of her child.
God is cruel TO rob me thus" sh
would exclaim frequently. "God
cruell"
Marchand continued to plead hi
cause eloquently.
'Is il possible" he said 70 her on
day, "that now, while my poesy
D erecting an eternal memorial to ms
8 terna. affection, you win refuse to &C
i operate with your hallowed art? n,
dear friend, you cannot eyade this dut
u which your genius owes to mankind
! Your life of sec,usion savors of Sc
T. love. Your reproduction Of my verse
would be better than all the flower
you can heap on the grave OF your b.
h loved. Your talent Is divine gift whiC
must become the exponent OF IL
noblest virtues. To please you, l wi
~ even permit my Roman heroine, who
Y you will personify, to wreak yengeanl
- on the gods"