The Washington times., 1914-11-20
Author of "The Story of the
Rosary" Was Also Born in
the Famous Village of STRAIT
ford-0n-Avon.
By GARDNER MACK.

One of the things that the profess
sors who teach dynamics overlook
in their learned treatises is that
the smallest sort of fact dropped
lightly in the center of an impos-
ing theory will frequently cause
such a tremendous explosion that it
requires the services Of the embalm-
ers of thought of a score of uni
versities to convince the average
citizen there ever was a theory
there. The workaday world leaves
the business Of piecing together the
shattered remains to the ant.Quar-
les and trims its sails to meet the
new mental drift. All this is intro
ductory to the statement that the
real striking qualities of genius and
lightning have a great similarity in
that, despite the ancient theory.
facts prove they can both strike
twice in the same place.
While 1t is not a frequent hap
pening that the two geniuses with
the same kind of proclivities for
plain and fancy geniusing are struck
from the identical mold of environ
ment, etc, ii has occurred a suffi-
cient number of times to prove a
rule to the contrary cannot be es-
tabliShed. Sometimes the popp ng
up of genius in the same locality
like Indiana and its literary prod
uct-becomes almost as perfect a
tatto as the thunderous reverbera-
tions with which all Washington
is familiar when the beautiful
marble shaft erected in honor of
the Father of HIS Country becomes
the object of special attention from
the lightning. That one sentence
contains proof enough Of the un-
tenability of the lightning and ge-
MUS theory; And we could rest
gentle reader by quitting now were
it not for the fact that Felix and
l are earning our living these days
by hooking up all the queer and
curious things We can think and
draw and write about with the thea
ter. Whenever we evolve a par
ticularly fine mental effort it must
be applied to the theater in some
way in order that we may continue
those pleasant and profitable ex-
changes with our very dear friend,
the cashier. Here goes for this one:
Shakespeare's Humble Start.
AS it may come as a shock of sur
prise to many people. we announce
with certain amount Of diffidence
that some $50 years ago the foun-
dations Of the fame of the village of
Stratford-on-AVon, in England, were
laid through the birth of a son in
the family of John Shakespeare, an
eminently respectable g.ove maker
OF that place. Two other births had
occurred in the family, but the chill
dren on each occasion had been girls.
With the family traits Of the Shake
speares pretty well known, 1t is re-
garded as certainty that had these
ladies lived in our own age they
would undoubtedly have Joined the
prank-hoisteIs in their merry play
and laid some foundations of fame
themselves.
However that might be, the third
child, and the first foundation layer,
was a boy. and he was named Will
lam for no particular reason other
than that Mr.. and Mrs. Shakespeare
both liked the name. after the usual
family discussions and recrimina-
tions.
There is neither the time nor the
space to dilate on the way William
laid the foundations of the fame of
Stratford-on- Avon, because most
people who have any interest in the
subject know 1t. The only point that
We wish to emphasize is that he had
to leave his native village fiat on its
back for a long time before he was
able to accomplish this great feat.
and that his first step toward that
accomplishment was either the job
of holding horses in front of thea
ter or assisting the prompter behind
the scenes. AS most of his most emf
nent biographers are divided in opin-
ion as to just which it was, we GER
tainly can't be expected at this late
date to take sides. Whether he first
held horses and then the prompt book
or didn't hold horses and started in
with the prompt book, is not at all