The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1907-05-03
Rachel, Ristori, Fanny Kemble,

SGduu III d proofs OIL
the dignity and Importance of WON
ans work along tho lines Of truly ar
tistic advancement.
AS an evidence Of her serious devo-
ton to this art in particular, and as
proof that it has absorbed her very
BENG as no other calling ever has done
one has but to offer the annals of the
stage. With m the stage has
not been a fancy, nor in it's higher
walks even a medium for the mere
qualification of her vanity. 1t has
been and is a life devotion, an art to
which she has given her best intel
lectual and emotional self.
Courage and perseverance have
been Woman's battle cry since the year
1860. What greater instance of these
qualities is to be found in all history
IMAM the grim, sad experience of the
great Rachel, who when a wretched
child Travelled in poverty, squalor and
cold from one small European town
to another, and who in order to pos
sess a copy of Racine's plays was
Obliged, through t%rudging through
mud and rain, to avn her umbrella
for the pltiful sum of 90 sous.
The history of Charlotte Cushman is
too we'll known to make a review of
her untiring perseverance necessary.
h heart-rending episodes of her life
when poor, the supporting of others,
lacking beauty and charm, she strove
to influence managers to give her the
opportunity Of expressing the genius
she felt burning within her, form n
of the most stirring chapters in the
history OF %womankind. Consider, too,
the life OF Mrs. Lander, who besides
her valuable services in the dramatic
field, took upon herself the entire
charge of the hospital department of
Port Royal. S. G. She lives in mem
DRY to us as the blessed name of Flor
ence Nightingale does to the English.
1t is unnecessary to go back in the
history of the stage for such exam
PIES We nave them near at hand.
The struggles of Nine. Modjeska and
OF Miss Clara Morris and their final
and lasting artistic victories are we'll
known to all who have watched with
interest n sympathy the lives of ar
lists on the stage.
1t is often stated that woman is
lacking in the faculty of creative
genius. and, indeed, that in this par
ticular, by contrast with man, she is
decidedly inferior. This 10 perhaps a
reasonable conclusion in view of her
hiStnru pn$ ~ Sc ~- ~
ly true when we consider her dramatic
work.
1t is by no means a new thought
that man is by nature more intellec-
tual and woman by nature more emo
tional. OF course. it is not meant by
this that man is never emotional, nor
woman never intellectual. Yet it is
surely fair to assume that to man be-
longs the power of intellectually, and
to the emotional quality. Does
it not seem, therefore, that the very
possession by nature of this latter
quality, which certainly is an absolute
necessity in dramatic art, has made
her inherently suited for dramatic
achievement?
Mr.. Ruskin, in speaking of the nee
essary qualities that go to form great
artists, says: First, sensibility and
tenderness; second. imagination, and
third, industry" Woman's nature is
peculiarly alive to all of these condi-
tions. 1t is then no wonder that wom-
en- on the stage have accomplished
great things and will accomplish
greater things in the future, when
such women as Modjeska, Terry, Duse
and the matchless Bernhard continue
through inspiration to show their
genius to the world.
Woman-s work in literature with
few exceptions has been denied any
claim to greatness. In music and in
other arts she is admitted to have
shown no particular creative power.
But her place upon the stage is as alb
solutely unquestioned as mans. In
having thus secured for herself an emf
nent position in the drama the actress
has advanced the whole cause of wom-
an, since every individual triumph
raises the estimation in which the in
tellectual achievements Of a whole
CldSS are uclu. WOuldu is OeCLGr uQ.
derstood because she has been faith
fully portrayed. She is more highly
regarded because of her ability to
make that portrayal. And that por-
trayal has, l feel. a powerful moral
influence in an educational sense.
1 thoroughly believe that it is the
duty of mothers to foster in the hearts
of their children while at a tender age
a serious consideration for the better
forms of dramatic literature and of
dramatic representation. Let them
teach their children to avoid the I'M
happy tendency of the present age
which regards acting merely as a form
of amusement rather than an amuse.
ment combining a means for intel
lectual control and artistic suggestion,
presented in an attractive and inspir-
ing manner
That woman is capable of arduous
effort and untiring devotion has been