Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-04-30
EVENING CHAT

| .eNlGSO VI -
John Armstrong Herman, lawyer
and traveller, has just issued from the
Gorham Press, of Boston, a translation
of one of the works of the famous
Spanish poet and dramatist, Jacinto
Benavente. The work selected by Mr..
Herman is one which he read in the
original years ago and which not only
has rare charm but is of much cur
rent interest. 1t is the play dealing
with an incident in the studio of
Leonardo da Vinci in the golden days
! OF Florence and is called THE Smile
OF Mona Lisa The Spanish dra-
matist sought to explain that wonder
ful smile on the painting by the Flor
entlne master. the question that every
| artist tries to answer and which has
probably been more written about than
| any other art topic in the last few
years because of the theft of La Clio
conda from the Louvre. Don Bena-
Nente gives n unique explanation of
| the puzzle. He points out that the
painter was so infatuated with a high
born dame of Florence that he could
| scarce pay attention to the commits
Slons that poured in on him and nut
MS conflicting emotions into a smile
that is inexplicable and which has
been wonder of the centuries. The
more, sends her page, who is supposed
TO look much like her, and from the
child the painter gets the likeness
upon which his fancy placed the smile
Mr.. Herman In his translation delight
fully expresses the meaning of the
dramatist in spite of the wealth of
words to convey every possible sha de
and thought with which the Spanish
language abounds. The play is a most
pleasant bit of reading and Mr.. Her
man prefaces his translation by a
sketch of the life of the Span ntard
whose work is commencing to attract
the attention of the literary men of
the two worlds.
Its a wonder that some enternris
ing owner of jitney car does not ad-
Vertise park trips" remarked a man
who saw couple of the nickel auto
mobiles whiz through Market Square
yesterday afternoon. THE average
Harrisburger does not know much
about the parks except what he can
get on Sunday or from reading in the
newspapers. and the parks are the first
tnlnes a man coming here on business
and having little time on his hands
would like to visit. 1t strikes me that
q litney line visiting the Reservoir.
WILDWOOD or some of the other park
way trips would be a good thing for
the man with the car"
Governor Brumbaugh has been grad
uslly getting back to taking exercise
on the golf links He used to be one
or the regulars in Philadelphia. but
the strenuous labors of the executive
have kept him indoors and he hos
been unable to indulge in his favorite
recreation. The last few weeks he has
been able to slide out for an hour or
so IN the afternoon and play nine holes
and he is hoping for the days when he
VIII nave some time to himself.
Il kept tabs at Third and Market
streets the other afternoon when traffic
was brisk and there were Just three
horse drawn vehicles that went bv in
nNe minutes. said an observer OF
things yesterday Everything else
was a motor vehicle of some kind or
other' mostly small cars. There were
halt a dozen 1itneys and a couple OF
taNlcaos. Ten years ago YOU did not
see much except horses / might saw
that two of the horse vehicles were
carts"
Harrisburg must be in the April
thunder storm belt. There have been
thunder storms on each of the las
four afternoons, all occurring within
three hours of each other The storms
came down the Susquehanna and an
peared to follow the First Mountain
although the first night a storm also
came from the Cumberland Valley.
BY the time the brand new con-
crete bridge across the upper creek in
wildwood south of the dam is finished
the new cinder path leading from the
east end of the PENNSYLVANIA railroads
footway at Division street into Wild
wood park will be ready for service
When this is put down access to and
from the park via the Division street
way will be much more convenient.
Passage over the creek at this point
will be made possible by the consfr,,c-
tion of new frame bridge.
Allison Hill white wings" were
working over time to-day to clear
up the wash of the storm last night
The extension of the paving aIon1
some of the hillside streets has openeS
the way for trouble in times of storm
and carloads of dirt had to be han
died this morning. Some of the SQUARES
on Derry street literally had 10 be
scraped.