The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 29, 1901, Page 10

10 THE SUNDAY CALL. By Jarah Coms’ock. late from from travel. She of a head- not here. She had d even so she was t a large margin of pro- ess to the advertising this was too 1f she had 4 sworn at ght have un- he smiled at was not in- 1 was well wasted the happy day for awaiting it. so - shockingly pily married that and she inie gave up all The matinee girl 1k about she cried, cla: , Camille except 7" It was lly live Par- Janice was forward s: e of the that I have ever 1t is o nee, of true feel- at ¢ ts to me is that the is where the trouble dramati- 't do at all. ave it. The author did not and I caonot e is so fine have her >ss. How I wish c ber for me— de has reached mfortzble place where he people’s to be original.” th the pk be- he Princess? hor made all at were uncommon- did fellow and he the very bes was s s laid in the rail- and conditions were low come- ckett says, { New York' It so. The com- h a piay must be of d. It jarred.” Mistress Mary It was de- Frenchy. Mistress from a grimy rail- the roses and B t U Iramatize Grau- 2 act in Wash- Let him be ® account of vith Miss Guggens- to the men. AN of n this way be Very condensed. rance here to es- audience, but of the Prin- once when he is uld be enough. should t £he could ent er about—tha would pression of date, wWwomaniy woman. Suffcient for the time. “Now if I could write, could really write, I rd act be in §6 : : //a//////r“/l/ 8 Photo by Thors. the chamber, in that wonderful where Lorry rescues the Princess her abductors. We have skipped across the pond to the mythical land of Grau- stark now; Lorry has gor there and found that his Miss Guggenslocker is no less a person than the Princess of the little realm. The plot to abduct her has been formed by some of her unworthy subjects and Lorry s beginning to estab- lish himself as her protector. He finds out the scheme of the abduction—the men are going to make the attempt while she 1s sleeping. “The scene is lald in her chamber and both women are in nightrobes. There- fore it Is extremely risky.” Take note well that Miss Mannering did not add an “e” accented to our good word “risk,” but gave us the square En- glish of it. “But in spite of its being risky it need not be vulgar. It is all in the dark and it can be written so that it glides safely over the paper-thin ice. Oh, if I could only write!” I thought of the scene and wished ty' she could. “Well, I don't dare hope that we will find an author who can attempt this. At any rate, Lorry rescues Yetive and then we pass on to the throne room. “Here comes in the most charming com- edy scene in the play. The Princess shows Lorry the throne room and then tells him how, when she was oniy a wee mite, she used to have to citmbd to the throne and dangle her wee feet and listen to those long-winded diplomats in their everlasting talk which she didn’t under- stand at all and it was so hard to pre- tend. She shows him how she struggled to the throne and played at being grown- up and dignified, and her business Is all daintily ingenuous and humorous. It isa good prelude to the serious and strenuous work that follows. “That s what I like so much about the Princess—she 1is everything,” Mistress Mary broke off in a new rapture. “S)" has her girlish moments, although she is so thoroughly a woman. She is for the most part serious, but she is humorous too at times. That is so necessary. A part to be entirely lovable must show a fickering of all the lights and shades of human feeling. Oh, she is so adorably, splendidly, wonderfully human!” Mistress Mary, having forgotten for the moment that I was not the Princes Yetive, looked at me with those large and not too large, soft and not too soft brown eyes in the way that I presume she looked at Mr. Hackett when he de- cided he didn’t care a continental whether he renounced all matinee idolhood or not. She came back after a minute. “The act closes with the prettiest love scene that ever was written. Here you see what the Princess is—she leaves off the Princess for a little while and is all the woman. Here the softest light of all is thrown on her beautiful character. “And then in the fourth act comes the great climax, the great throne room scene. Yetive in her royal robes—o such robes as they shall be! They shal not be the most costly; no one will be able to advertise them as if they were articles of commerce on display. That thing is all overdone nowadays—we are becoming clothes-horses to show gowns. The Prin- cess shall wear a robe that will show her, that will mean her. This is art. The gown shall be all white and pure like her, and the robe shall be long and purple to betoken her royalty. “And the scene shall be framed for its action, for its acting, for its character- studies. It shall not be called ‘the most spectacular’ or ‘the most extravagant.’ I won’t be a supernumerary to scenery. I want a chance to try myself, to work for my art. Oh, this catering to the cheap demand of the public is slavery.” For an instant the sneaking flicker of a skepticism passed before my eyes and 1 dared wonder how often this had been re- hearsed. But on the instant I glanced at the maid. She had dropped her needle on the floor and was not looking for it. She was gulping down her mistress’ en- thusiasm with wide, delighted eyes. | skepticism sneaked oyt as it had come in. “In the great scene at the end where the Princess says, ‘T love him'—there is her chance for art. Then perhaps I can make the public like it so that I won't de kept ladling out simpers to their voracious ap~ petites. “Or maybe we are wrong. We blame the public for not wanting what is fine and strong and great. Perhaps if we could give it to them they would want it. Perhaps it is because we succeed only in the trivial that they keep us at that.” Ye gods! From a popular star! —_— e Far away Japan has been pemetrated by the woman's club movement. The dainty little brown women who have al- ways been likened to butterflies have be- come gonscious that a useful and help- ful life is more to be desired than an ornamental one, and they are going in for progress heart and soul. One of their new women movements, called the Jaf. Soclety for the Culture of Women,' is based on the Chautauqua principle and already has a membership of 10,600 women in towns and villages throughout the country.