St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-12-06
ST. ]. W0MAN'S CLUB
~IIuld Dcccmbcr Meeting MoEtlay
F.M.. Prot Tunpcr ~ q y. ".
Speaks ON shakespeare"

A.NA.s AEHa+ ANNlfF ~ y "
speaks ON Shakespeare"
The speaker at the December meet
ing or the St Johnsbury woman's
club. Monday afternoon q. ?ythian
Han. was prof Frederick 'ss'1zsiT,rI OF
the University OF Vermont Its sub
ject was Shakespeare. the Play
wright" and his talk dealt very large
ly With the theatre OF Shakespeare's
day. Shakespeare acted with tho
companies which presented his plays,
taking n minor part, and the COM
panies played in London and other
English TOWNS and even crossed the
channel to France and went to Den
mark and Germany whore the great
writer cleaned much local color. The
speaker alluded to the trouble which
constantly arose between the great
nobleman who was the patrons of the
company and the city officials. He
spoke also of the effect which puri-
tanism had on the stage, eventually
closing the theatres for a while. The
architecture of the theatre, the stage,
the curtains. the balconies and retir
ing room were all described including
the inn yards which were so easily
converted into a theatre when occa-
sion demanded it. The scenery and
properties were practically nothing
compared with the modern stage and
were used solely to suggest and not
for purpose of realism. Shakespeare
knew his audience intimately and it
was no small audience, 5000 people
attending his plays weekly. They
came both for amusement and profit
and demanded first q story and second
skillful impersonatiOn. They loved
melodrama with the result that play
wrights and managers were often ov-
er stimulated. The audience was pure
ly masculine, no women of the better
class ever attending ard their love of
quaintness of speech resulted in the
puns and euphemisms so common in
the pages of Shakespeare. 1t was a
period of intense patriotism which ac-
counts for so much history in the
plays, and the fondness of his audi
ence for DISCUSSES and for deformed
and insane persons is one to which
he catered in his plays. The long
passages which are today either cut
or eliminated from his plays were
then very popular and demanded
powers of defamation which could
not be found today. The absence Of
4 curtain made necessary all sorts
Of make shifts at the end of the
scene and in disposing of the dead.
The actors were all men and all the
women parts had to be taken by boys
1t would be impossible to revive" a
production of a play of Shakespeare
as given. in his day for no modern au
dience could appreciate the appeal to
il eacrfFa ion, n To
realism.
At the business meeting the presi-
dent reported that the executive board
had voted $25 to the federation schol-
arship fund and to pay the fedora
ton tax of 10 cents per capita. One
new member was admitted at this
time, Mrs. Mary HaZelton of Barnet.
The art committee asked for q sus-
pension of the bylaws in order to
change the time of holding the jan
uary meeting. A committee consist
ing of Mrs. r. w. Simonds, Mrs. r.
f. Lowe and Mrs. David Potter was
named by the president to prepare
suitable resolutions on the death of
Mrs Harland B. Howe Mrs Stone
told of some of the important matters
discussed at the mid year meeting of
the Federation at Bradford and Mrs.
Helen c. Thompson told of the pur-.
chase which the hospital committee
has made for the club rooms at
Brightlook. Year books for the years
10000, 19O9-10 and 1901 are
lacking to complete a file which is
asked for by the Boston library. Mem
bers who have there numbers are
asked to let Mrs. Stone know. Mrs.
Walter p. Smith told of the work be-
ing done in this country in the in
terest of f'Good Book Week." and
club members may obtain at the
Athenaeum lists of books, to buy for
Christmas. The Federation has given
up issuing a special seal for Christ
mas and will work with the Red Cross
in the sale of the stamps. Mrs. Frank
II. Taylor will have charbs OF the
work for the club.