THK COURIER.
biod is our task. The rest is the mad
ness of art." But tho greatest thing
that Stevenson says in those letters is
not about himself or his work, but
about things in genoral. "Tho inherent
tragedy of things works itself out from
white to black and blacker, and tho
poor things of a day look ruefully on.
Does it shako my cast iron faith? I can
not say that it does. I believe in the
ultimato decency of things; ay, and if 1
woke in Hell, should still beliere it!"
Stevenson never wrote a greater sen
tence. He was a desperately sick man,
and one who had suffered enough to
turn most men bitter. But his sutTer
ing could not convince him; Hell itself
could not convinco him. There's opti
mism for you, the kind of optimism that
produces and creates and brings into
being, that is tho source of all lifo in art
and all art in life, of character as well as
of craft.
So New York has discovered that Nat
Goodwin cannot play David Garrick.
New York that idolizes tho sidewalks
canonized by Goodwin's patent leathers
and that wears "Little Nat" written
where Mary of Scotland wore Cdlaiu.
When Mr. Goodwin made his hit as
Garrick in discriminating and discern
ing Chicago last winter, the few scat
tered western critics who said that from
tho very nature of things he could never
play that part, were pretty severely rid
iculed. Criticism in New York is not
faultless, nor even very good, but its
the best we have and it has turned
down Goodwin's Garrick. Now how
could tho jovial and frivolous Mr. Good
win play a part requiring such carefrl
ctudy and line character work? Study
of any sort is not a weakness of his. He
has tho artistic makeup and he picks up
readily and easily, but there are some
things in the world that refuse to bo
picked up, that cannot be learned from
a cigar, or a glass of brandy, or even
out of a pretty face. Not even out of
Miss Mable Amber's face.
Where has Mr. Goodwin ever had
time or inclination to even pre
pare to play Gairick? What docs
he know of that time, those
conditions, or how it feels to be in earn
est even? David Garrick was a pecu
liarly complex man and lived in a pecu
liarly complex time, a time that was
still full of the influence of Fielding and
Goldsmith and Johnson. One would
have to simply be permeated by tho lit
erature and atmosphere of that time to
play tho part, as Thackary was in Hen
ry Esmond, as Mansfield is in Beau
lirummel. They say that Mr. Goodwin
does the drunken scene better than any
of the others. That's just it, ho can
play Garrick's weakness, but not Gar
rick's strength. He can bo Garrick
tho rake and Garrick tho drunkard, but
not Garrick tho ariist and lover.
ForEeveral reasonbjit is perhaps a good
thing that Mr. Goodwin did not suc
ceed so brilliantly as Garrick. Mr.
Goodwin's laxness in his living is his
own business, but his carelessness in
his work ip the public's affair. The
young actors of Amo-iea need an exam
ple. They need to learn that there is a
great difference in degree as well as in
kind between a character actor and even
the best of tho low comedians. That
there are reasons why a man who speaks
Henry Guy Carleton's lines perfectly
may not read Shakespeare's passably.
'Ihat after all one may not serve God and
tho Other Fellow, even though he 6erve
the Other Fellow passing well.
The truth is. that if Goodwin were not
so delightful he would be a great pity.
For under all his vagabond ways nature
really gave him some of the stuff of
which the great are made. But the
world has given him too much else, too
much flattery and pleasure and encour
agement of his weakness. And then
tho man never had any conscience or
sense of responsibility. Now ho must
be content to lie on tho sunny side of
the applo tree and take it easy. Ho is
tho prince of good fellows and must let
it go at that. It is a good thing to bo a
graceful vagabond, and ho is that. Wo
are always glad to laugh with him, but
we must weep with other men. Good
win has no sincerity. That says all
there is to bo said. A man may have
everything on earth but that and still
have nothing. Sometimes, indeed, sin
cerity makes fools or shallow men, but
without it they are always fools, "gilded
fools."
Kathryn Kidder announces that she
intends playing Rosalind in "fi s You
Like It' as a mental rest after her ex
hausting labors in Madame Sans-Gene.
I have no remarks to make, but remem
bering that Rosaliml is one of the most
delicate, difficult and complex Shake
spearian roles, I should think that Mies
Kidder must be very much exhausted
indeed.
The winter sensation in Loudon will
bo the visit of tho Emperor of Japan.
The last lion was an African king, who
came with a retinuo of six wives, forty
servants and twenty overcoats, having
no faith in English weather or women.
Now if London could only have a Can
nibal chief with a war club and a cos
tume consisting of a shell bracelet
around his waist, its dreams of distinc
tion would bo realized.
-
So the Lily Maid of Jersey is going to
try it again, and with no less a peison
than the Earl of Shrewsberry. Now
why in the name of tho sacred Jo-Jo
the last of the line of the Talbots, who
fought at Orleans, wants to bestow his
titles upon a woman who will value
them no moro than she did poor Geb
hard's horses or Baird's diamonds, no
one knows. Langtry's popularity with
the gentlemen of tho nobility has al
ways been a mystery anyway. She is
essentially common, incapable of caring
for any oni and by temperament.totally
uutitted for the atTectionatu professions.
Her only virtues are dressing well and
spending money, and whenever a young
man's fortune so accumulates on his
hands that he doesn't know what to do
with it at all, he goes to the Lily, and
confides in her, and she knows what to
do. In return for his services she lets
him hold her opera cloak or lead her
black terrier with the diamond collar.
It don't all go for champagne and choc
olate drops either, but is put into bonds
that pay dividends and is stored away in
big. solid, sunny acres out in California.
For the Lily is a prudent woman and
wise in her generation.
w
I see that Lillian Lewis has made a
communication to '"the press of the
United States" which is thoroughly
characteristic of her. Miss Lewis sajs
there is a Btory afloat which "affects her
character as a woman and a wife." Now
this "story" was known to the public of
one town and to a few newspaper men
through the country. Probably there
were not half a dozen people in Lincoln
who knew it. But Mihs Lewis has
flaunted the 6candal from one coast of
the continent to the other. Miss Lewis
is very fond of little sensations of this
sort. She thinks them quite dignified
and "professional." She to'd me this
and many other stories of a similar
nature, but in spite of the fact that I
knew she wanted them repeated, I had
too much respect for her profession and
sex in general to do so. I loitbc printed
interviews, I never can think they are
quite fair and square and in good form.
But Miss Lewis, if other people have
soma regard for her, has none for her
self, and she has placed her name in
useless odium. Miss Lewis states that
Mr. Marston struck Collier without
rhyme or reason What does she mean?
What has rhyme to do with a fight? Is
the lyric Marston in the habit of club
bing people with hexameters and pound
ing them with sappbics?
LINCOLN
POLYTECHNIC
INSTITUTE
EHI
in tin' hiainspriny
Dothe lest, if not the lt, then the. tVf
possible
-ABRAHAM UXCOLX
for IXDIVIDAI-Si
anil slates
OCiCftCC l-urnlslws the mind;
II I Forges it."
Mft Dr. John lln
Mathematics
Diciiiliuen the mind;
Letters
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