The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-02-26
ALL AHER'GAHONONS
SHAKESPEARE so
Schools and Colleges, Men,
Women and Children of Ev-
cry Class, Pay Tribute to
Poet Who Wrote For All.

IL AAoA ~ RRtRC@ N'S -
centenary of the death of William
Shakespeare, the greatest writer
of plays the world has ever known. for
England. where the great playwright
was born, and other parts of Europe
\ as well are rent 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
times-nay. a thousand times-more
than they were 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. G. A., Ma
sonic lodges. the poor and the rich, the
college professor and the young man
with only a grammar school education.
are honoring the memory of the writer
who wrote fCf 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.
tableaus. tree paintings and ever 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 200 years the pa
tient 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
yersity of Nebraska, who, after a num-
Der of years spent in painstaking in
vestigation, has made discoveries that
necessitate the recasting 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 was born. He was baptized on
the 26th of the same month in the par
ish 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
ford, but withdrew him at the age of
thirteen because he had lost most of
his fortune.
William Shakespeare married in 1882
(being then eighteen) Anne Hathaway,
eight years his senior. His first child,
Susanna, was baptized May %. 1888.
and twins, Hamnet and Judith. were
baptized Feb. 2, 1885.
He left Stratford in 1884. The ira
dition Is hat he went away to escape
punishment for poaching on Sir Thorn
as Lucy's estate.
What he did for the next eight years
no n has discovered. But in 1892 he
was known as an actor and playwright
and was satirized by Robert Greene in
"a GroatswOrth of Wit"
Venus and Adonis'' was published
In April, 1893; "Lucrece" in May, 1894.
In 1893 it is thought that Shakespeare
visited northern Italy.
In the summer of 1894 he was a
leading member of the Chamberlain's
company of actors. He played at the
Rose on Bankside. the Cross Keys and
later at the Globe.
In 1901 he was rich enough to buy a
house and garden in New place, Chapel
street. He was well liked by Queen
Elizabeth, and his plays had royal
patronage.
Two of his sonnets were printed in
1899 in a volume of miscellaneous verse
called "The Passionate Pilgrim" This
book was on the title page ascribed to
Shakespeare, but most authorities hold
that he was not its author.
A book called "Shakespeare's Son
nets, Never Before Imprinted" was
published in 1909.
In 1910 he left London to live at New
place, Stratford. 1t was in 1913 that
he purchased for f140 a freehold house
in Blackfriars, London, near the Ward
robe. He died at StratfordA April %, 1916.
New York's Celebration.
New York city will probably hold
the greatest demonstration in honor OF
BILL Shakespeare, as the poet Percy
Mackaye, who wrote the New York
community masque, prefers to call
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
geant by the children of New York.
a noopla,o piania snof fo honor ChaEa