The Washington herald., 1911-12-24
The Actors Christmas.

From the Dramatic Mirror.
As a race. actors are conceded to be
the most generous beings on earth, easily
touched by suffering and ready to SYM
pathize with pleasure. They are eternally
making gifts from the sheer pleasure Of
giving, and their extravaganza amounts
frequently to improvidence. The cricket
who sang all the summer and made no
pT revision for winter was possibly the
original actor.
Nobody plays the role Of Santa Claus
more heartily than the actor, wherever he
may find himselt at Christmas. II he
happens to be at home-for even this no
madic tribe has a hearthstone somewhere
he thanks his lucky stars. and turns
--1--IAA out. II he Is touring
the trackless wilds, he sends his fmagina-
ton even more eagerly back to friends
and relatives with the choicest samples
Of Christmas cheer that he can pick up
from the local emporiums.
Perhaps IN wrapping and addressing the
carefully selected wares he pauses to
read chapter or two from Little Lord
Fauntleroy." which is destined to make
glad the heart of his heir in some dis
tant town. Ten to one he forgets every
thing else and all but misses a train in
the Joy OF finding that he loves the won
derful Cedric Enroll as much as in earlier
days. 1t simply proves to the actor that
he is not growing old when his heart
Dellows before the famous Fauntleroy
smile, and age is such a bugaboo that
the experience is worth while. The dis
covery may even rob the sleet of its
sting and the barren station of its cold.
The delightful sensation may 60 so far
as to make him forgive the negligent
porter who forgets to rouse him from his
berth in time to dress, and who tumbles
him out half-clad upon the platform of
some water station, where exigencIes of
art and a malicious route call him.
Possibly, it isn't Fauntleroy at all, but
q princess, who climbs a twisty turret
stairway until she comes to an old oaken
door. fitted out with a complete armory
Of bolts and bars, into the lock Of which
she inserts the little golden key she holds
in her hand. All the time, the reader
thinks to himself that this adventurous
lady isn't one-half so beautiful as his
own princess a thousand miles away
II he Is already young, without the as
surance Of some story like this, perhaps
he has been reveling in the glories OF
some silk counter, trying to find the
most expensive article the store affords.
In that case. he doubtless feels much
cider after he has emptied his financial
resources into the hand Of the sympa-
thetic clerk, and has departed from the
magnetic spell Of the lustrous fabric as
we'll as from the magnetic spell of his
weeks salary. The sensation is just as
henefcent, however, and just as salu-
tary as that experienced by his older
brother who finds vicarious youth in
Christmas giving.
So the mails-and the males-are laden
with silver cigarette cases and other ne
cessities of life that serve the double
purpose of sustaining existence and Of
assuring the recipient that distance does
not cancel bonds of affinity. AS Christ
mas comes only once a year 1t ought to
be appreciated as an excuse to justify
the spendthrift-
After the gifts are gone, one can steal
away to some tiny restaurant on a side
street where oyster stews are dispensed
at 10 cents per caput-and no questions
asked. AS likely as not, while memory
Is lending a gracious flavor to this frugal
repast, the eater sees some other member
Of his company steal into the place for
precisely Identical reasons Of economy,
and the whole affair Is worth another
laugh. What a man misses in one way
he can make up in another-Qulte as
much at Christmas time on the road as
in June back at home