The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-20
CHRISTMAS IN OTHER LANDS

old tree. and then beat it in some. pecu-
 liar way with pieces of bark. When the siAoke ascends 1t goes in strange spirals and they all mean something. That and
 the bush call, the weird coo-eee, and the sounds of the bush, with the wonderful slence-ah. they get Into a mans spirit. into his blood
 The silence and the loneliness oppres- sive? Never! The noises of the city and
 the impossibiity of lonelines depress me;
 but not that. never that Can you im-
 agine the fascination of starting to go
 to place that Is 800 miles away, with nothing but your knowledge of the bush
 10 guide you? You always get there if
 you know the bush. It is only the
 stranger who goes around his own camp
 The true woodsman knows. How? Oh, in
 numberless ways. He can tell by the
 sun and stars he can tell by the way the
 park grows on the trees-you know how
 the tree twists with the sun-or he can
 watch the blazed trail that has been
 rrado on the trees; that is, the cuts from
 the axe, always on one side."
 Yes l spent Christmas In Japan, when
 was playing there; Mrs. James Brown
 Potter and myself were the first Shake
 speartan players to act there. The the
 atres are good in way. but nothing
 to compare with some of the theatres
 In other eastern countries, Australia for
 example. I should say that the Princess
 theatre in Melbourne was the finest the
 atre I have ever played in.
 The trouble with the American the- atres is that too much attention is paid to making good impression from the
 front. An architect thinks that if he can make an audience say when 1t comes in, What fine looking place" he has accomplished all there Is to accomplish. He never thinks of looking at the the atre from the point of view of the actor. 
 Tt is a fact that one of the best known theatres on Broadway was finished be- fore 1t was discovered that the architect had absolutely forgotten to put on d stairway for the actors and actresses to go on and off the stage; but from the front of the house you entered, 1t was very smart, indeed.
 My Christmas in India? Yes, have been there, too, many times. I went | there first as a sailor. I was stationed three times along the coast, and after ward travelled extensively while I was | playing I was entertained there by native prince, and I can give you ab- solutely no idea of the magnificence of | the mode of his life. For instance, l went out once shooting. There was a | master of horses-I assume you would call him that-and crowds of attendants and a battue of drivers and others whom | I could not classify. We went out for buck and I was stationed in my place and when the time came, fired. Nobody | else took part in the shooting. and when I asked about 1t I was told that was l the guest and no one else was allowed l to interfere with my privilege. 1T have sat at the table Of one of those princes and drank my liquor from l glass that had been cut from a single emerald They have absolutely no idea l of their own magnificence. You will l the most distressing squalor and then ] l luxury that you cannot describe. 'If you should re-read the fairy stories 1 of your childhood. and the Arabian l Nights over again and then put that 1 into reality, you might get some impress sion of ten days entertainment that was given when I was In India playing;
 but it would be simply an impression, not the reality. The prince had 10Oc wives. Five hundred of them he had in- | herited from his father. The women were of all sorts and descriptions-some beautiful some quite the reverse, but all covered with magnificent jewels. The prince himself was a charming fellow He spoke English quite we'll and made 1 himself quite agreeable. p
 "People tell a great deal about Flu 1 rcpeanizing India It will never be donc | at least not for hundreds and hundreds l of years.
 ..The native Iindian is radically differ ent from us, What we call civilization
 simply passes him by. It does not touch | him.
 "In India they have a reverence for | their holidays In America they do .:sot If 1t did not so happen that Christmas falls on Sunday this year, should have to play a matinee and night per formance And i've actors feel that we Il owe our Christmas Day to our family | and friends instead of in the theatre.
 But the. sentiment is bit old fashioned. ' isn't it?"