The National tribune., 1910-05-05

family, as well as the, specially inhu-
man, cold-blooded cruelty of the villain
in the drama, which places him among
the Lucretia Borgias of history. 1t is
to be hoped that he may soon receive
his just deserts.
Lord Kitchner says that soldiers
make poor husbands, which is the prin-
lcipal reason why he has never married.
This distinguished English fighter does
not mean that soldier does not make
a kind, loving, devoted husband but
that the very character of his profess
sion debars him from fulfilling salts
! factorily the duties of domestic life.
The presence of the married soldier in
the army brings complications which
are difficult to handle. High military
| officials are constantly having their
sympathies drawn upon, and their tenn
pers irritated, too, by the appeals of
married women for their husbands
safety, for certain duty, etc. Al this
| is very trying, and makes the married
soldier great annoyance at times.
Lord Kitchner says that while he was
Sirdar in Egypt, with almost continu-
GUS fighting OIL the Sudan frontier, the
wives of the men, who had followed
them to Egypt and were living in Cairo,
We're constantly coming to him with
fearful requests that their beloveds
might not be sent to be killed by the
nuisance that he finally sent all the mar
ried soldiers back home. On the other
hand, does the husband make poor
soldier? Tennyson gives expression to
a very decided negative to this in 1.-THE
Princess:
Thy voice is heard thro' rolling drums
That beat 20 battle where he stands;
Thy face across his fancy comes,
And gives the battle to his hands.
l.
He sees his brood about thy knee;
The next, like fire he meets the foe,
And strikes him dead for thine and
thee
The soldier with wife and little ones
at home, waiting and praying for his
safe return, would certainly seem to
have a keener desire for a termination
of the war in which he was engaged
than one without those close ties, and
this desire might possibly give him
greater power of endurance, more
steadfastness Of purpose, and courage
in battle. Each victory for an army
brings the end nearer, and with the
end the return to home and family, and
SO the married soldier, perhaps, fights
with a more fixed determination for
victory than his unmarried comrade.
The Manhattan Opera Company, of
New York City, which set up a few
years ago as a rival to the Metropoli-
tan, is no more. Its manager, oscar
Hammerstein, has found his stars, his
orchestra, and the innumerable worries
arising from the rivalry between the
two opera houses too much for him, and
he has sold out for s2,000,000. He re-
tains the building known as the Man
haitian Opera House, which, it is said,
he will rent for the presentation of
the more humble, but much better pay
ing vaudeville. Mr.. Hammerstein has
had a big struggle with his expensive
company during the past four years,
spending all of his time, much of his
money, and not a little of his health
trying to make it pay. but without sue
cess. Altho he has acknowledged him
self to be man of temperament, and
thus able to understand the antics of
his stars; in a measure, he is weary
of Strengthening out their eternal rows,
resulting from Jealousy, and glad to
throw these upon the shoulders of
else. The Metropolitan Com
pany, by means of Mr. Hammerstein's
retirement, acquired the costumes,
and rights in certain operas,
formerly owned by the Manhattan, and
will from this time forth be the only
grand opera company in the country.
Many of the principal singers of the
Manhattan are already on the pay roll
of the Metropolitan. 1t seems rather
strange that in a country as rich as
ours two first-class opera companies
could not make living, but it seems
1t is a fact that they could not. There
is no class of workers who are paid so
exorbitantly for their services as oper-