Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-01-18
Norman Haekett, Actor Student,
 Talks to Local Literary Clubs
Addressed Pine Bluff Society Women at Y. M. C. A. Auditorium Yesterday Afternon- Shakespeare His Theme-A Plea for Purer English Was Made by Louis James Learned Leading Man.

Norman Hackett leading man With The Merry Wives of Wind sor' company. delivered lectule on Shakespeare at the Y. II. C. A, auditorium under the ausupices oi the The Shakespeare club. Tha members of this organization had as their guests the members of the Hawthorne Book club, the Mathon- tee club and several other local lt orary organizations,
 The speaker was introduced by Reverend Ross Moore. pastor of the First Baptist church For more than an hour his hearers listened intently at Mr. Hackett's artistic and vivid description of the numerous objects of interest at tratford-onAvon, where the speaker spent a large part of last summer: a scholarly characteriZa- tion of Shakespeare from the point Of view Of an actor. and an outline of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" Several times during his address Mr. Hackett recited effectively some of the more famous Shakespearian quotations, and he won hearty ap- plause for his representations of such characters as Antonio. Bas- anio Gratiano, Romeo. Hamlet and Fallstaff >~.
 After his oescreption o+ the many famous objects and scenes at Stratford-onAvon, he spoke of the life and works of Shakespeare, as follows:
 The Man and His Plays.
 But. now, regarding a study of the man and his plays. To you people, especially, I desire to make an appeal for glorious Anglo Saxon inheritance, the influence of which no one can afford to sacrifice. Interest in them should come as an 1nborn taste, bred of the love of nature, taste and truth that is part of us all. Acknowledge the worlds master mind, with his plays translated, studied and performed in every civilized country. on the globe and his many philosophical truths, and his many expressions, so constantly in use that they have be- come an incorporated part of our coloquial speech, it is necessary part of our education to devote careful attention to the study of them, that of proper appreciation and knowledge of the plays may be cultivated in all bright men and women. Something of the man himself. his environment and life impulses should first be known, with clear picture of beautiful Stratford before the student. But some of the skeptics will say, How are we to find out about him, when so little is known?' which is true in one respect, for of all the great writers there is more of an impene- trable mystery surrounding him than almost any other.
 But we do know enough about the main facts of his life, which ap- piled in our study of the plays, re- veals his genius as simply as nature herself. Even though he did leave school at fourteen, knew little Latin and less Greek, the proof is in his plays that he had been gifted by nature with powerful, imaginative. subtle. susceptible and cultivated l mind. We know that as a boy he enjoyed the freedom of roaming through an idyllic environment of nature. whetting his imagination and fine sensibilities to the beauty and truth of <l natural things. We can believe him to have had an intense sympathy with nature, ami mate or inanimate. To his obser- yana mind he saw, the detail and significance of every flower, tree