The National tribune., 1907-12-12

THE NATIONAL TRIBl
His personal appearance lent itself
readily to a portrayal of the meian-
choly Dane" and his fine intellect gave
him wonderful insight into and grasp
of the character. Miss Ellen Terry.
the English actress, considers Hamlet
Henry Irving's greatest part, and her
criticism of the famous actor in this
role is very interesting. 1t was. she
says, the perfection of acting, so simple
and quiet. He was never cross or
moody-only melancholy, and his mel
ancholy was as simple as profound. 1t
was touching rather than aggressive,
and gave the impression of being terri
bly, sincere, not, as has been the case
with other actors, as being wantonly
sad with a certain enjoyment in his
own misery. Irving's Hamlet differed
most widely from all others in its cour-
tesy and humor. He was never rude
to old Polonious, but his attitude to-
ward him was one of amiable patience.
tinged with a slightly amused and cyni-
cal playfulness. In the nunncry scene
with Ophelia his deep affection for the
sweet, gentle girl was most apparent,
and he was the lover above anything
else. Irving was not above making use
of all the tricks of the stage, and his
entrance in Hamlet was what theatrical
people call very much worked up"
At the tail end of the impressive pro-
cession-he believed m processions-of
the Court of Denmark came the soli-
tary figure of Hamlet, looking very tall
and thin. His cloak traiied on the
ground as if he were weary, and he did
not wear the miniature of his father
hung obtruSiVely around his neck. In
the first scene with Horatio, Marcellus
II l. 4
was very absent and distant, far away
from them in his thoughts. His feet
might be on the ground, but his head
was toward the stars, where the 'ternal
are" There was never the least doubt
in the mind of the audience that he
would see the ghost when the proper
time came. Little by little, as Horatio
talks, Hamlet comes back into the
world, and when Horatio tells him that
he has seen the ghost of his father,
Hamlet at once becomes tensely at
tentive, sharp as a needle, as he ex-
claims, For Gods sake, let me hear"
For few moments he questions them
with keenness and authority, then with
the words. Il would had been there, ,
Horatio and the others exist for him
no longer, and his brain teens again
with the thoughts and fancies which
occupied it before. Miss Terry says
she long ago gave up seeing any one
play Hamlet, as she wishes to keep
Irving's wonderful rendition of the part
fresh and clear in her memory.
Shoemaking, 'the gentle craft" is
among the oldest of known occupa :
tions. More than 1000 years before
the art of printing was practically EN-
pioyed shoes were being made, as the
pictures on the walls of the tomb of
Egypts Queen III. of the Fifth Dynasty,
attest. This tomb is well preserved and
wonderfully decorated, and among the
pictures are the figures of two artisans
working upon foot coverings. The nat
ural impulse of mankind is to go bare
foot, as is shown in the love Of chill
dren to go without their shoes, but
from the earliest times some sort of d
foot covering has been used. Sandals
of plated grass, the leaves of palms,
leather and other material We're used
by the OrienIal races from time i'm
memorial and are still. In climates
where greater protection for the foot
was needed the primitive races shaped
a rude shoe out of single piece of un-
tanned hide laced with a thong. The
Bible makes frequent mention Of the
sandal. and at least one of the saints,
| st. Crispin, was a shoemaker In Con-
stantipole the followers of this craft
are poets, and while the ordinary Occi-
dent is waiting to have heel repaired
verses in Arabic or Turkish are reeled
off by the attendant, with the COM
Portable feeling if they are bad that
they won't be understood. In litera-
| ture shoemaking or shoemakers appear
| Frequently, Hannah More, Dickens, Bull
wer, Hardy and others making use OF
| him, and was it not our Whittier who
wrote 'Hannah's at the window bind
ing shoes? Some shoes represent a
fortune almost, real gems being used in
| their ornamentation, and the woman OF
| fashion of the present time needs a
great deal of money if she means to in
dulge herself in the extravagances OF
this seasons footgear White satin
shoes, covered with fine silver web
and studded with seed pearls, are the
up-to-date thing for brides, and it is
said that the women of Paris are hav-
| ing their underskirts wired around the
hem to show off their shoes, which, in
way, takes one back to the hideous
days of the crinollne, and is quite GER
tain not to be a fashion popular with
the most refined members of the great
world