The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-08-25
the bark on."

Maurice Maeterlinck, one of the fore most figures in twentieth century Eu- ropean literature, was born forty-nine years ago today in the ancient city of Ghent, Belgium. It was in the birth place of the eminent author and dram atist that, the commissioners of Great Britain and the United States con- vened nearly a hundred years ago to sign the treaty that put an end to the last war between English speaking na- tions.
 M. Maeterlinck's dramas and novels are ideaHstic in the extreme, yet the great Belgian is no pale, 1ong-haired, dyspeptie dreamer, but a lover of open air exercise and sport. Bee-keping is one of his principal recreations, and his study of the proverbially busy in, seets afforded the material for his de- 1ightful La Vie de PAbeielle." or 'eThe Life Of Bee.'' which has been trans lated into English and many other Languages.
 The author of ssT1le Blue Bird' is an enthusiastic and clever boxer. and has done much to popularize the s'man- ly art of Self-defense' in France and Belgium. He took lessons in boxing from Georges Carpentier, the hand some and gentlemanly French pugilIst who now holds the championship of Europe. M. Maeterlinck once denounc- ed boxing as brutal and demorenzing, but after seeing Carpenter in the ring, immediately changed his mind. The author is also fond of canoeing, slxat- ing, bicycling, and other outdoor sports.
 The Belgian author made his first appeal to the reading public of Eu- rope in 1889, when his first dream play, La Princesse Maleines'' was publish ed in Paris Two years before he had left Belgium, where his genius was unappreciated, vowing never to re- turn until his reputation had been es- tablished He kept his word, and 1t was not until he had received repeated invitations from the greatest men Of Belgium that he consented to visit his native land
 1 His first marked success was made with "Pelleas ct MeIisande,'' written | in 1892 This was followed in 1896 by l HAglavaine ct Selysette,'' and ''The Death of the T1ntagi1es.''' In most of | these and other early works of Maeter- linck the tragic and pesimi4tic noes predon1inated, but in his later efforts, such as the immortal ''The Blue Bird, ' there is @ decided contrast, and hap piness and phiIosophic optimism are
 the predominant tones. This is true of most of his philosophical essays and studies, as we'll as of his plays. The Belgian author became a truly | international figure in 1911, when he
 was awarded the Nobel prize for lit-
 erature by the Swedish Academy. M. l a0L6rllnck narT1SQ a fT0nCn actress, l Georgette Leblanc, who has won an
 enviable reputation in her husband s
 plays.
 Waiter Prichard Eaton, the we'll l known dramatic critic and author, will
 pass his thirty-f1fth milestone today,
 having been born in Maiden, Mass, August A, 1878. He graduated from
 Harvard in 1900, and immediately en- tered newspaper work as a reporter on the Boston Journal. Two years later he went to New York to join the dra-
 matic staff of the Tribune, and after five years on that paper he was made
 dramatic critic on the Sun. For the
 last few years he has devoted himself
 principally to literary work.
 Sunday marks the festival of St Bartholomew, the Apostle and Martyr
 whose name is forever associated with
 the terrible massacre of French Prot
 estants instigated by Katherine de Me
 dicis Many legends and traditions are connected with St.. Bartholomew 'e
 Day. but none more intereNing thar
 that which causes the people of Sand
 wieh England, to celebrate the day as the feast of their patron saint and pro- teeter:
 Sandwich is one of the as1aintest oa
 English towns. Once an important
 port, the filling of its harbor with sand caused it to fall into letnargy ana de- cay. The narrow streets. lined witt houses iFregEzalrly built, give the t6wr ; medieval appearance.
 ? Of the many ancient buildings, th' most interesting is the fine Early Eng fish chapel and hospital dedicated tC St. Bartholomew: Here for centuries | quaint ceremonies have been held or each twenty-feurth of August fn honor 5 of BarthoIomeW, patron saint and de : liverer of Sandwich.
 The original of this chapel and hos F pital is described in a thirteenth cen : tury chronicle preserved in the British museum. On St. Bartholomew Da! in the thirteenth century the people O. | Sandwich were filled with terror anC alarm by the appearance in the har bor of the pirate fleet of Eustace tn .Blaek A1pn4x a. hncca1eer who had @soh