The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-07-14
Nerves.


I0NE night, as l was standing with an acto
~ friend in the wings of theater during
performance, very pretty and clever young cir
came off the stage. AS soon as she passed out o.
sight of the audience she uttered little exclama
| ton of Impotence: awful people" she said
They haven't any nerves"
When the girl had passed up the corridor tc
her dressing room, l turned to the actor beside
me and asked him what she had meant He
replied with smile: ooh, that's little expires.
sion of hers. She often uses it. She means tina,
those people aren't sympathetic and quick to catch
| on. They sit there like blocks of wood. They
don't come prepared to appreciate the good points
So they can't establish any relation with the play
or the actors"
Since that time l have often thought of the
expression. They haven't any nerves." l have
been surprised to find how aptly it applies to many
people in life and how clearly it explains many
situations.
Whenever | go into hall where ! am to give
lecture find myself glancng quickly over the
faces in the audience for signs of nerves. As a
rule, see at once a few faces that appear to be
sympathetic. Those people, | know, are likely to
have nerves Often as l so on talking l pick
out certain of the faces and, scarcely realizing
ers have told me that they do the same thing.
There are people that l see in audiences who
cause ME apprehension and dread The mere sight
of them suggests that they have nerves. Often,
| am sure do them great injustice The stolid
half-challenging, halfresentful look in their eyes
may not really represent what is going on in their
minds and in their sympathies
Most OF all, in lectures, l fear children OF
course, they ought not to be there. AS a rule
they have no nerves. l always sorry for the
mischance that has brought them; but am more
sorry for myself. For the presence OF listeners
without nerves may be serious distraction to
those about Them as we'll as disturbance to the
lecturer. Often, in the middle of talk the chill
dren, through having no nerves. become fearfullv
bored with the lecture and resort to giggling and
whispering, sometimes to loud talking. The par
ents that have brought them evidently have no
realization of the distress they may cause the lee
turer or the damage they may do to the lecture
On one occasion I witnessed scene, both
comic and pitiful. where whole audience was viz
tualy without nerves. 1t was at an entertainment
in settlement house in the East Side in New
ork A large audience had gathered 20 hear
some professional actors, belonging to an excel
lent company then playing Broadway. These
actors had very generously accepted an invitation
to come to this alien world and to entertain the
people OF the neighborhood One of them, very
gifted interpreter of character parts, proceeded TO
recite the dramatic poem, "Laska" At first the
people listened with curiosity. As the poem grew
more imprisoned and the actor became more
tragic in his Interpretation, they began TO laugh
The actor, evidently believing that he could con-
luer through intensity, grew more intense. The
audience laughed more uproariouslv For several
moments the contest went on between audience
and actor. 1t resulted in a complete victory for
he audience. During the last verse, though the
voice OF the actor could be heard the words were
completely drowned in shouts OF merriment The
actor lett the stage. covered with perspiraton the
lall resounding with satirica applause
Or course that audience behaved verv rudelv
But the situation was comprehensive The listen
RS were not used to that kind of emotional express
ION They had no nerves that enabled them to |
espond to IT 1t merely impressed them as rdieu-
Gus. So the reaction altogether normal
| don't know whether the actor realized this !
working OF cause and effect. If he did, perhaps the
ealization gave him no comfort He did not ven
ure out again.
/ once took friend to see performance of |
'udermann's play, "Magda.' | had seen it several |
lines and each time, instead OF enjoying it less l
njoyed it more. Although my friend did not care
for the literary drama felt sure that
his play would appeal to him. To nv disap-
ointment, he looked with an expression in his
ace OF utter fatigue He felt no sympathy for il
he distracted Magda and her troubles The play
impressed him much ado about nothing 1t was
imply that he was lacking in the kind of nerves
hat would enable him to establish sympathetic
citation with the people on the stage and their
oings. Naturally, he considered "Magda" bad
lay and he said quite frankly. 1t did not occur
0 him that the fault, if there were any fault,
hight lie in himself.
Here indeed is the explanation of many of our
appointments in life and in those reproductions
life that call art. We are simply lacking in
ne kind OF nerves that would enable us to appre-
late them.
You know, of course, that oft quoted saying of
'oethe's that in travelling get from a new place
that we take there. 1t applies not only to places,
ut virtually to everything else in life. 1t all
epends nerves. If we reach out sympa-
letically to the whole world the whole world
caches out to Then life becomes for US