Evening star., 1924-11-30

known members of literary and
journalistic circles In Washington
was Miss. Kate Field, a voluminous
lecturer and writer on all sorts of
topics, whose let
Kate Field as ters were widely
read and were al
an Actress. ways provocative
of comment. An
experience of hers is thus whimsi
cally noted IN a column of observa-
tions printed in The Star of Novem
Der rs, 1874:
1T is so much easier. TO criticize
than to no. Miss Kate Field will
tell you that now. She knows how
1t is herself, as the boys say. Sh.
learned it by experience. Far nigh
onto 40 years this young woman has
been going UP and down the earth
finding fault, in pert. snippy-
snappy sort of way, with the manner
in which the plan of creation was
carried out. Most everything came
under her ban. But in All especial
manner did she feel moved to tell
how books ought to be written, pic
lures painted and sculptures chiseled
or rather how they ouGhtn't. These
were her specialties. But not heI
best suit. The one particular sub
ject that she was perfectly at home
upon, that she was saturated with
and Just reveled in, SO to speak, was
how actors on the stage should play
their parts: or, 10 speak more cor
rectly again. how they shouldn't pla.
them That was her pet theme. What
she didn't know about it could be
put in avery small book-so small
indeed, that nobody would want II.
And there seemed to be. some war
rant for her assumption. Her father
before her showed cleverness as both
actor and writer and it was rather
taken for graEted that she inherited
something of MS genius in both call
ings. 1t was all right, therefore. so
long as she kept to her original role
of fault-finder. Without Que3tionfnS,
everybody thought she knew what
she was about, and she was power
accordingly. But in an evil mo-
ment she essayed to build, instead
of tear down; and. here she met her
fate, as people of her temperament
have been meeting IT from time out
of mind. and as they will keep on
meeting 1t till the end of time.
1T was the old story of Icarus
over again Her giddy ambition
tempted her to soar too high, her
wings melted away and down she
took to show actors how 1t should
be done by playing the Part of Pes
Wellington a few nights ago. She
failed miserably. That is the. story
in short. Sympathizers. brothers Snd
|, sisters in the great Literary Artistic
and Theatrical Admiration Society of
the City of New York, wherein she
holds honored membership, have
been trying ever since to break ner
fall by various psychological reasons
and impalpable explanations. but
their ingenious devices are too tiimsy
to deceive. The verdict of the public
is that as an actress Miss Kate is
dead failure and that there Is no
other name for 1t. She. is now IN i
position to see the force of the story
they tell of a handsome, but silly
boy who fooled about the hind feet
of a mule until he was badly kicked
in the face Father. said he, the
first time he was able To get to a
world that had been carved upon his
face. Father. do you think will
ever be as pretty again as / was be
fore that mule kicked me?' No,
said the father, with a mingled ex
preston of sadness and qualification.
No, my son, you won't be as hand
some as you was. but you will knew
q laundering sight more So Will
Kate" -s
X
Everybody knows that prison vans
are called BLACK Marias." The .rea-
son for that appellation Is given in
the following terms In The Star OF
November 2s, 1874, In the form cf a
letter from a cor