The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1916-03-31
r falls to the duty Of America this
year to celebrate fittingly the ter
centenary Of the death of William

year 10 ceieDTdte lltillSlN tle ltl-
centenary of the death of William
Shakespeare. the greatest writer
OF plays the world has eyer known. for
England. where the great playwright
was born. and other parts of Europe
as we'll are rem by the great struggle
in progress. and mems minds are not
turned to honoring the memory Of past
heroes. but. rather, to developing new
heroes in an entirely different line of
endeavor-that of killing their fellow
men.
Shakespeare died at Stratford-on-
Avon on April %. 1916. And now. 800
years later. his merit. ability and tai
ent are to be recognized a hundred
than they We're at the time when he
was writing his plays.
Colleges. social settlements. children.
recreation centers. Fairgrounds. clubs.
private and public schools. parochial
schools. dancing schools. art schools,
the y. NJ. c.. A.. the y. w. c. A.. Ma
sonic lodges. the poor and the rich. the
college professor and the young MAJ
with only a grammar school education.
are %honoring the memory OF the write:
who wrote for all classes. They are
celebrating in their own way by Civ
ing plays. Mosques. festivals, pageantS.
music recitals, dances. choruSes. bal
lads. lectures. sermons. art and handi-
craft exhibits. library exhibits. club
programs. study courses, story telling.
tab]eaus. tree paintings and even by
growing Shakespearean gardens.
Life Enshrouded In Mystery.
The life of no great man is enshroud-
ed in so much mystery as that Of
Shakespeare. For 0 years the pa
1ient work of scholars has revealed
only fragments OF his history at a time.
but from these has been built up grad
ually a biography which has come to
be accepted as fairly authoritative.
Recently. however. came Professor
Charles William Wallace of the Uni
versity of Nebraska, who, after a num-
Der Of years spent in ~painstaking in
yestigation, has made discoveries that
necessitate the recastiug of Shake
speare's history. Upon many of the
most obscure points in his life these
discoveries shed unexpected light. On
other points. which were thought to be
settled. history will be greatly changed.
The principal facts about his life,
briefly set forth. are as follows:
About April %, 1864. William Shake
speare vas born. He was baptized on
the Goth OF the same month i'll the par
lsh church of his. birthplace, Stratford-
on--Avon, in Warwickshire.
His father. John Shakespeare, was
a prosperous glover. a burgess of the
corporation of Stratford. the owner of |
a farm. He sent William. it is thought,
to the free grammar school in STRAIT
lord. but withdrew him at the age of
thirteen because he had lost most of
his fortune.
William Shakespeare married in 1882
tbeing then eighteeID Anne Hathaway.
eight years his senior. His first child. |
Susanna. was baptized May DC 1888. |
ana twins, Hamnet and Judith, were
baptized Feb. .. 1855.
He left Stratforu in 1891. The ira |
dition is that he went away to escape |
punishment for poacllinS on Sir Thorn
as Lucy'S estate.
what he did for the next eight wears
no one has discovered. But in 1.9. he
was known as an actor and playwright |
ana was satirized by Robert Greene in |
"A GroatSWOrth of Wit
Venus and Adonis' was published !
III April, 1898: "Lucrece' in Nav. 1891. |
In 1888 it is thought that Shakespeare |
visited northern Italy.
In the summer of 1904 he was 4 |
leading member of the Clamberlajr's
company of actors. He played at the |
Rose on Bankside, the Cross KEYS and
later at the Globe.
IN ltol he was rich enough to buy n
house and garden in New place. Chapel
street. He was we'll liked bv Queen
Elizabeth, and his plays had royal |
patronage.
Two OF his sOnnetS We're printed i'm
1899 in a volume of miscellaneous verse
called "The Passionate Pilgrim This
BOOK was on the title page aScribeu to
shakespeare. but most authorities hold
that ne was not its author.
A book called "Shakespcare's Son !
nets. Never Before Imprinted" was |
published in 1909.
In 1910 he left London to live at New
place, Stanford. 1t was in 1913 that |
he purchased for 914O a freehold house !
IN Blackfriars, London. near the Ward |
robe. He died at Stratford April %, 1910. !
New York's Celebration.
New York city will probably hold
the greatest demonstration in honor of
"B1l' Shakespeare, as the poet Percy
Mackaye, who wrote the New York |
community masque, prefers to cali !
him. The Shakespeare celebration com !
mittee has been at work for a long
time, and the spectacle will be one
long to be remembered.
1t will not be a '%'highbrows' pink
tea" but a massive, magnificent pa |