AliUSed Diction on the
. Stage and Off
iTjllplivSn Is Lamentably Bad
By OTIS SHXMX
DWfdlifci Ac c fOnilnflnlw" ImiiIi
Is
I A T J edse t
r I at tk
1
T- say that the diction of the present generation
of actors ami actresses is lamentably bad is merely
ta give ulierance to a recognized fact. I have recently
aoue on record for the statement that the modern stage.
UHxIora acting and the productions of to-day are equal!
ami often sujerior in tlwroughness and artistic per-t
fei t ion of detail to those of SO or 55 years ago. But in
ju.-tice to the actors of yesterday I frankly aeknowl-s
hat thev were masters of diction. Thev not
understood how to tlieir voices, hut they hadj
same time a metrical sense which enabled them
to tarry to tla? audience the full beauty of blank ti j
line. No-alays tin si age is devoted almost entirely to modern dramas;
and j.Iauk wrse- idavs are indeed rarities. The one point required of tle
dor w that he shall avnear natural that lie shall seem on the stage!
what he and even- other modern man is on the street; heroics are out of
place; to -Wute is the unforgivable sin.
I'oiiMuently. while e hava many actors of great talent ami absolute
knowledge of t-chnbUe, the sieaking on the American stage is about as
I tad as it could Iv. Your modern actor mumbles under his breath, his in
flections are roii:j. his use of his voice ignorant and careless: your
ntodcrn at tress, no matter 1kw clever sle may 1 is affected to the last
decree in Sier sjieeeh. The success of some woman of genius on the stage
straightway inspires a school of imitators, ami the worst faults are more
carefully aped tlwn the best qualities of this idoL Tlien tlere is a grow
ing tendency to cultivate British accent. Instead of being satisfied with
our own high standards of pronunciation of English words, many of our
young Anerican actors affect a hybrkl pronunciation that is ridiculous
in the extreme. Ami our actresses particularly some of our young lead
ing wxuiten offend even more grk'vously through their willful neglect of
the rules of pronunciation and enunciation.
Nobody experts or desires to hear an actor in a modern play deliver his
lines with lite labored distinctness and flowing resonance that blank verse
entails. The two A-hools of drama require different styles of diction, but
it is a foregone conclusion titat if our present generation of players knew
bow i read blank verse they would deliver their lines in modern plays
with greater eiTeet ami assuredly with greater distinctness. As for the
young svhool of actress?, they would, if subjected to a blank verse train
ing, soon lose their morbid affectation and their absurd craving to imi
tate the intonations and inflections of bad models.
The Clothes that Union Men Make
. are the Clothes .that Union
: : Men Should Purchase : :
Proper
Training
of
Children
r cwmr u tlstt.
Children are always in what is called
by the physicians the first hypnotic state.""
ami the- younger they are the more they
are in that state. (This faculty of being
easilv influenced surrenders them to the mer
cy of their elders, ami therefore we cannot
be attentive enough as to how we influence
them.) People are always trained only by
this influence ami suggestion, accomplished
in two ways, consciously ami umaisckHtsly.
All that e teach our children from prayers
ami fables, to dam-ing ami musk is aceom
4ited through conscious influence and sug
gest HMK
Schooling, education these are tin? conscious inilucnce and sugges
tion; teaching in the iarrow by example, or as I will call it en-,
Itghtenntcnt that is unconscious influence and suggestion. Our society t
directs ail its efforts for the flrst ; but the second is involuutarily held in
contempt, because our life is so had. lYople, educators, are as a rule
cither concealing their own life ami the life of grown people in general
from the children, placing them in exclusive surroundings, in military
shools. institutes or hoarding schools, or they transfer that which should
W acompJislvd umutsi ioui v to tle domain of the conscious influence;
they presrrilw mora! laws of life, to whk-h it is neces
sary to add : fais ce que je dis, mias ne fais pas ee que
jc faia (IV as 1 tell you. but dont do as I do.)
As a result of this, education has gtunc so far
ahead in our society, ami real training ami enlighten
ment hare not remained bchiud, hut are almost en
tirely absent. If ibex- are to lie fouml anywhere it
is only in the homes of the poor working people. Ami
yet of the two-skit! effects upon the children the
first, that is the unconsckNts moral enlightenment, is
beyond measure nw important for individuals as melt
as for soviet r as a viwle.
ill I Mm
III J
I
Clothing merchants aim. to keep the goods that the general pub
lic wants and is satisfied with after buying. If the supply of axaast
made clothing is limited, it may be owing to the fact that the demand
for the label is limited. Did yon union men ever think of that? The
blame may be on the shoulders of union men, not the shoulders of
the dealer. But you have no excuse now, for we carry a splendid
line of Union-Made Clothing. Made by
Brock of Buffalo
Nothing finer in the line of Union-Hade Clothing can. be found
anywhere. We simply kept looking for the best until we found it
and Brock of Buffalo supplied it. We are awfully proud of this l
and we bought largely of it just for union men, although plenty of
men who are not unionists take advantage, of the exceptional barf
gains. In style, make, finish and durability, this Htw measures up)
with the best. The label is in every garment pants, vest and eoai
and the clothing honors the label as much as the label honors the
union workingman who buys it, We also carry a fine line of labeled
Hats and Caps, labeled Shirts, labeled Work Clothes, etc Wall
carry what you want but yonTl have to make your wants known.
Honestly, we like to have a union man demand labeled clothing for
we carry it, And when he makes the demand we know he is play
ing the union game square.
GOOD CLOTHES MERCHANTS
- str a X
o
o
o
The Church and Labor
3,
o
Advantage
of
Good
Roads
lLL CMSS.
Wherever road building has been start
ed, it has always been against vigorous op
position; hut so far as can be learned, no
community ever begau the building of hard
roads that dkl not routiuite to build them,
year after year.
The omt ground of opositkn is taxes.
IVople do M object to using fine roads, but
tmy think tWy cannot afford to have them.
The wkhwake farmer is constantly on the
a3ert to improve his farm and make it more
valua3e: he repairs his fences or builds
new ones, keeps up bis barns, plants trees.
installs a windmill and hues as much
machinery as be can a:?ord ; and su a couple of years the former owner
aoakl not recogniA it. A thousand dollars wtsvy expended will proWbly
aKI to thousand to tW va!mv of the farm.
liood ivds are just as essktitial an improvement and will add just
as sarely to tm- valte of fann lamls as these internal imprownents.
INery dollar ejwmkd ujxhi buikitng a ermatent roal will add at least
five dollars to the value of the farm propsrty serrol by it.
Under the plan of state ami national akL gooil roads can he built
within ten years all over Illinois, even in the corn belt, with a total
tax not exceeding eigat
mills, ami usually it can be
dne aith a six mill tax.
The present tax for n'.ud
- a- i
roatis is osieu as in n or s f
xoot rivan this.
III. GIVING LABOR A HEARING.
It was nvv privUese, some atoatlts
ajx. to preside at a ciurr-h and labor
crnfereace. udr ttte auspices of the
lVderathm of Cfcurcaes in one of the
feadins cities in this country. The
audience was a representative one.
c rvsisiiuj; of men and women of con
siderable influence. There were four
Well, ir thaCs the object of labor,
then thev certainty have done a sood
Job. But I take it that it should be
the aim of those who are entrusted
with leadership in the trades union
Eiovement, to enlist every possible
iiifluence in behalf of the toilers, and
among taese influences, few are more
powerful than the churches.
The churches need education in
sneakers. One of them was a renre
satative of labor. When he got th ,abor mjUeni- nd ,he ave wwd
floor, he sim)dy roasted everyooctv in
the tueetins. and save fits to the
cfcurches as a whole. Now that's all
n$hu The charefces need it. But t
have found that no one ntbs it in
hsrder than do toe preachers and
church traders, whsa they- speak ot
Ifce faitin$s of the church.
This speaker for labor insisted that
the church never $av workin$men
a chance to teU their story, and that
the church did not care, anyway.
This statement seemed rather curious,
ufeder the circumstances, and it
ceased some in his andieace to smile.
btcause he was even then the -gaest
of preachers are eager students.
There are not many better oppor
tunities for the labor leader than
right here. But the job cant, be done
vith a dub. I'd tike to feel perfectly
confident, when I recommend a labor
naa to a church convention, that he
ill be always a semlenaan, able to
present the needs of his fellow
aorkers, without beins carried away
by personal prejudice or passion, and
oeterntined to win by a reasonable
l uttins of his case.
It he fails to win, let him remem
ber that possibly he hasn't pot up
the best kind of an arswnent, or
bnndreds of churches, so that he scil cou,d Bot
alyht speak his mind, and it was
known to most ot the folks present
that he had for some months been
ccaductins labor conferences in one
at the city churches, with the priv
tese of sayinac just what h pleased,
aud JKiius with the ateetins precteety
as- he thought best
It was pitiable that my friend
masted all ot his time in pointins
out the faults ot the church, when he
r;;sht have employed It in telling
ahont the needs of workinsmen, so
that he niisht enlist the co-operation
of those whom he was addressing.
This fault of workinsmen is only
too common. When they do get a
winds.
At any rate, let him calmly think
U all out, and study wherein he may
strengthen hia arguments and bring
to the front those phases of his prop
osition concerning which there can
sot possibly be a difference of opin
ion among right-thinking men. And
thc-re are nvany such. Rev. Charles
Stetele.
THE ELECTRICAL WORKERS.
The executive board of the Inter
cational Cnion of Electrical Workers
has voted to increase the union's
eefense fund from SlOO.OOd to JV
ciance to secure the interest of ruin- j tHXMM. The board also contemplates
titers, they fritter it away by in-1 i!ereasing the death benefit for
dlging in bitter sarcasms and sharp
thrusts at real or imaginary neglect
Then they will boast ot how they
just skinned those preachers alive.-
widows and orphans. An assessment
will be made on the locals throughout
the Vnited States and Canada to
meet the increase.
THE STRIKERS,
Out on the roads they have gathered.
a hundred thousand men,
Tc ask tor a hold on life as sure as
the wolfs hold in his den.
Their need lies dose to the quick of
life as the earth lies dose to
the stone;
I; is as meat to the slender rib, as
morrow to the bone.
Tiey ask but the leave to labor, to
toil in the endless night,'
For a Httle salt to savor tueir bread,
for houses water-tight,
They ask but the right to labor and
to live by the strength of their
hands
T Ley who have bodies like knotted
oaks, and patience like sea-sands.
And the right of a man to labor and
his right to labor and joy
Not all your laws can strangle that
right, nor the gxces of hell de
stroy. For it came with the making of man
and was kneaded into his bones.
And it will stand at the last of things
on the dust of crumbled t a rones.
Edwin Markham.
m
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