Omaha daily bee., 1910-02-20

from life. and from Maude Adams ~
Barrie. when taxed with the charge sune
m his mysterious way and says wiz
an astonishing impertinenee! ASK
Adams Put nobody h knows MiSse
Adams need ask her. so ovbious are mH"'
OF the qualities of the portrait
Tho dominant not in Maude Adams
character ne IN Maggie Wylie's Is the
combination OF those virtues which steven
son so often Landed. courage and cheeriul-
ness. During the years when she was
threatened with breakdown only her IN
domitable will carried her through. II ~
that quality which Barrie has madS mo
keynote Of Maggie wylie, when she cries
IN one Of the most effective touches OF
the play. Never give in, joint Never
give I'M"
Misc Adams has never given In 20 any
difficulty that patience. cheerfulness,
sweetness and hard work might not be
expected 20 conquer. Her success she owes
to no lucky stroke. but 20 these plain vir-
tues which have developed her talent step
BY step. N best success she once
said. doesn't come TO brhlianoy. but toe
Intelligent hard work. N
But this dosKed persistoncy which saved
her from invalidism and breakdown and
kept her afloat when others would have
sunk, has also its humorous side. For one
thing II is the despair Of her managers.
said one Of the Frohman organization, Il
suppose a person ia willfm when she
doesn't agree with YOU. However. there
Ia no use disagreeing with Miss Adams.
She sends a telegram seying, DO you think
Il would be a good plan 20 do so and sor
Years ago II l didn't thiulk so I used to
say II. ! don't any more. I have the thing
done. Because in the end It will be done
anyway"
Though essentially feminine in her way
of doing business, she is q good business
woman. She doesn't work so that she
may enjoy her recreation. She takes her
holidays so that she may the more enjoy
her work. In the Empire Treater build
ing one flight up and facing the north on
Fortieth street is a room that has Just
been done over in dainty shades of light :
paint and tinted wall surfaces. Book
shelves nearly surround it and a large
flat-topped desk holds the middle Of the
room. This is Miss Adams office, ana
here she spends her time when not in the
theater.
Although the drama and her art are her
great interests she believes that everything
an actor knows increases the power and
intelligence of his performance. She &C
cordlngly spends many hours a day In
serious reading and study. She cares rather
less for the works OF the poets than for the
philosophers and historians. A little while
ago she was deep in a study of Erasmus.
She has also a lively interest in Latin and
mathematics. When asked how these
things help her in playing Maggie Wylie in
What Every Woman Knows" she replied
that everything that one knows about life
helps in the portrayal of It on the stage
At her home In the Catskills she lives a
life Of extreme simplicity. She Is fo13
Of horses and rides and drives creditabTy.
Years ago when she first went on the
stage Mrs. Thomas Hastings, president Of
the Ladies' Four-in-hand Driving club,
taught her to drive. Her force and intul-
ton stand her In good stead in whatever
she has to do with horses, for she never
allows them to get the best of her, though,
to hear her talk one might imagine that
she was terrified every time that she got
up to ride.
She had never ridden astride before her
performance of Joan of Arc" and II Is
not an easy thing to learn in q few weeks.
The white horse on which she led the
charge was named by one of her friends.
Tuberculosis, or the Great White Peril"
I'm afraid Of him." said Miss Adams.
when l call him that 1 call him Dam
These are only a few Of her many
activities. a few Of her characteristic traits,
perhaps not enough to explain her per-
sonallty. But the best explanation atty
all is the personal interest which practl-
cally every man, woman and child in the
United States and Canada has in her every
act, an interest which Is tinged with ro-
mantle personal affection.