The evening world., 1911-03-18

lldI II 10 n ~"
that is your initial mistake"
said Marguerite Sylvia to the writer
over tea at the Ritz-Carlton. The
prima donna had been q little disap-
pointed that her representation OF
the character at the Metropolitan
Opera.House with the Philadelphia
Chicago Opera Company recently had
not stirred him TO greater admira-
ton. She had declared her intention
OF ~threshing the subject out when
she came to New York again and he
kept her word.
But a more Important matter inter
r,p.ed her train Of thought for . mo
melt.
why didn't you come TO ~luncheon!'
she exclaimed with some petulance. IS"
had 10 sit Here alone with everybody
stsring at me-" Then. with q most en-
gaglng smile. she went on: 'But. per
haps, 1t was my nat that they were en-
vying. I've kept It on all the after
noon. Isn't It a beauty7 IT'S the very
latest thing from Paris. Only just got
through Che Custom House this morn
ing. 1 never walk, you know. but to-
day I counin't resist the temptation to
show off this lovely CONNECTION. and
I paraded the avenue FOR several blocks.
Come, now. isn't II handsome and be-
cominE?"
or course the writer said Yes"
without any real understanding OF It's
great Am p~ortance. 1t was all white,
with flmy, feathery plunes suggesting
the headgear OF a Cossack For a mere
man to attempt M further description
Of It, probably. would drive every
woman reader to laughter.
Carmen Really Is French.
Then Nine. sylvia returned 60 tie dis
cussion OF Carmen.
Have you ever read Prosper Mer!-
mee's ~novcl2' she asked. without that
! you can have no proper understanding
OF the character in Bizet's opera Well.
but recently, l mean. l read It over and
over again TO keep my impressions fresh
and TO discover. IL possible. new light.
You know tho Carmen OF the opera Is
French rather than Spanish. Ask any
op~era-golng %Spaniard and he will tell you
so. Very little ofthe music in It Is char
acterlstically Spanish. The tambourine
is utterly out of place. \ Spanish dam
| cling girl never uses It. Always 1t is
the c~astanets. But. OF course. most OF
| the broad del!neation of the character is
now firmly set in tradition. To revolu-
| tionize II altogether Is almost impossible.
but inside that there is plenty OF room
for reform In the direction OF natural
ness.
Not only am I a constant reader of
the novel but l have studied the type OF
character in its native environment. |
know tlis gypsy cigarette girl at first
hand. She Is usually handsome, dark
skinned, dangerous, not over clean, and
ignorant. All she Is really careful about
Is her mantil.a, Of which she Is incon-
t~inently proud.
Graceful. but Without Intellect.
"But Carmen was something else be-
side a gypsy and a cigarette girl. Slit
was A frequenter of IAllias Pastin's inn
a place where not even d cigarette girl
X sho thought anything 9. herself
could be found. The alluremcnts tina
Carmen practised there went far beyond
those of mere coquetry and Irritation
Tina does not mean that she was no
graceful. Many times l rave seen sucF
a girl lounging in a chair. leaning on'
elbow on a table, smoking a cigarette
In the daintiest n looking up int
a mans face with laughing, half-closeC
eyes and making the most fascinating
OF pictures while she was saying III
vulgarest things possible. i tell you tn
girls OF whom Carmen Is a type, arr
braZen, healthy animals, without a SIRE
of Intellect tina conceives of anythin'
beyond the material things OF tho mo
ment. Why, then shouldn't | try t'
show the real Carmen as know her?
The Conquest Of Don Jose.
when Carmen first appears on IN
stage and sights Don Jose he is 10 he
merely a new man. which means an
: other conquest to be effected. She trie
her Associations upon him, not for an,
real love, but just TO win him, It's par
of her game. The habanera ought no
t TO be really sung to him. Il Shout
i, lust be- hummed between her teeth /
the most saucy OF manners. while sh
looks At her anticipated victim out o
the corners OF her eyes, Then twhet
she has cajoled h.m u aid in her es
cape and she has erected II, she soo
off to IAllias Pastin's with scarcely
= thought OF him, While Jose IL con
t fined IN barracks she accepts the at
tent!ons OF the Lieutenant and othe
men. and Is only ~momentarlly inter
r ested when Jose. free. returns TO her.
e or real affection for Jose she hasn'
/, a spark, so that when the Toreado
} appears she Is eager for another dis
traction. Soon after the smugglin
r party starts off she tires absolutely Q
= Jose and longs for a new man TO com
upon the horizon, The omen OF tn
$ cards. over which so much adoo
q made. means nothing to her but slmpl
\ bad luck. 1t conjures up to her min