Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-22
R?2 ' %lfeasSl VeW York Letter

called. ] seemed to be fitted for the work:
the stage seemed to me the best medium
of expression for me, the only possible
chance for career-and l was undenia
bly, ambitious young girl, and so |
went upon the stage without being in the
least possessed by the glamour of it.
II found the work terrific. it was more
than | had bargained for, and long be-
tensely weary of it | had my long
sons of one-night stands even after had
been accepted in the big cities, for in
my time plays had no such long rucs as
they now have. enabling actors to remain
almost permanently i'm tho cities. I trav-
eled. it seemed to NE. almost necessarily
during the greater part of my life as an
actress. and the travelling wore ne 10 the
bone.
Moreover. when I left the stage. ! felt
that | had gone as far | ever could 20
| mean by that tina; | recognized my limi-
tations. II was customary for the critics.
even the best of the critics. to alude 10
my work as cold and passonleSs'
resented their criticism along this line at
the time, but / have become very sure
since that they were perfectly right.
! had an linking in my inner conscious
ness, say that they were right at the
very time | was resenting this sort Of criti-
cism. | always felt, for instance. that l
was not by temper ament adapted to play
ing such part Juliet; | could not give
myself the rein in such part that the
character requires. and that more i'm
paSSiOned actreSsaS-Adelaide Nelson for
example who was nearly cotemporaneou
with me-eaSslY gave 10 the role.
= ::
Moreover, / had dread of what is
so expressdvely called going back L
could not abide the idea of doing that.
! had seen so many superb actresses
gradually diminish in their power of APP
peal as they chung to the stage long
after their youth had left them that |
mentally resolved several years before |
made my sudden resolution to give up the
stage that | would at least spare myself
and my friends that sort of a mortfica-
tiCn. | resolved to quit while | was do
ing the best that was in me, and there
never iraS been a moment since that
have not been glad that | adhered to
this resolution 1t would have been SO
much better fer the perpetual fame, for
instance. Of that wonderful actress. Hell
cua Nod ;eSka. had she left the stage
many years before she did leave 1t.
have a painful recollection of seeing her
in the part of Cleopatra when she was
quite a haggard old woman. 1t was SO
nitiable to remember her as she had been
i'm the zenith of her remarkable histri-
oniC power.
sarah Bernhardto oh, she is so differ
cnt. She is sui generiS. But there is
none other like her; probably never has
been. never will be. What is called the
December fire still glowS within that
marvellous woman: il would he a misfor-
tune for her to leave the stage, even il
she lived tn he a hundred. She never in
tends to leave it. she has told me re-
peatedy. She was Immensely touched by
the death of Sir Henry Irving while he
WAS still acting and often she says that
she desires t. pass from the earth in
the same way as he-whilc actually
playing part.
/ do not share the gloomy views of the
more peSsimiStic of the critics to the
decline IN the art of acting. II is not SO