Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], September 17, 1914, Page 6, Image 6

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

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CASE OF OPERA IN ENGLISH
ALSO. CASE OF ENGLISH OPERA
WHY WE DESIRE -THE WORDS"
The Way in Which Opera Can Create
the Illusion of Reality — A Gen
uine Demand for English
Opera Would Produce
the Supply.
The. London Times says: If we had
really wanted opera in English we could
probably hare had it by now. That after
all these years we have not got it seems
to show that we did not want it. People
go to the opera as they go into the hunt
ing field. A few will ride to hounds:
others have come out to meet their friends,
to make lore, to show or sell a horse, to
improve their digestion, and so on. We
cannot alter and we need not quarrel
with such reasons, but we must post
pone them to the real reason for opera—
the purging of the emotions through pity
and fear. And we may ask ourselves
some questions about opera: Why have
we preferred to have It in a foreign lan
guage? Do we now want it in English?
Do we want English operas—that is, En
glish subjects treated in opera? If we
do, how should we set about getting
them?
At first sight opera is an elaborate con
vention. two removes, in fact, from the
actual experience of life; for that experi
ence is first put into words which are
not so direct as deeds, and then into tones
which are not so precise as words. So
that it seems to be an unreal thing. But
drama and opera are quite as real as
life, though with a different kind of reali
ty. To realize a thing is to cram into
it or squeeze out of it the utmost mean
ing of which it is capable. In life we
arrive at this maximum of meaning by
doing things rather than talking, still
less singing, about them. In opera we
reach it by creating situations out of
events which in actual life are gone in a
flash, dwelling upon them and living them
to the full.
Although they cannot really be separat
ed, it is the words of an opera that on
the whole create and the music that
dwells upon the situation. If they could
be considered separately, the problem of
opera in English would be soluble; we
should merely have to translate the
words. This is a very large ■‘merely.”
however, as we may see if we try for our
selves, What is an English Brnnnhilde
to say for “Heil dir Sonne” when she
wakes up at the end "Siegfried”? Is she
to be literal —"Hail, thou sunshine:”—as
the book haa it, -personifying, however,
not the sun, but its light! Or shall she,
rather than address the sun itself, ex
pound her own relation to it—“ Light from
darkness:” —substituting “darkness,” how
ever, for “Sonne” at the telling point
of the music? May she extend the melody
and slightly overpoeticize the situation
with “The sun in glory!” or clip it and
state the bald fact—“ See! the sun!”?
There is no answer to these questions
until we consider the context; any of the
translations may do if the rest of the
passage lives up to it or reedeeaas it.
Speaking generally we are, in the mu
sical expression of our feelings, more con
cise than a German, more reticent than
a Frenchman, more controled than an
Italian. But, in particular, two instances
will show the sort of way in which the
music may require translation. English
questions turn up at the end: Russian—
if we may trust the two printed ver
sions of “Boris Godounov”—turn down.
A Frenchman makes statements in a
smooth, rising crescendo; we, when we
are not mumbling them, make them with
a jolt and a drop. In translating a French
statement, then, or a Russian question
it may be advisable—and in recitative at
any rate it is permissible—to alter the
direction of the melody in some respects.
Again, owing to the presence in our lan
guage of so many diphthongs and impure
vowels, we seldom feel comfortable with
a long note (because that has to be sung
to only one of two vowels that are in
volved), or with the lengthening of a
short vowel; we have, therefore, to fill
up the spaces. “You English use so
mans* words.” was a foreigner’s criticism.
No one would think of altering the music
unless driven to it
This double difficulty, words and music,
has decided us to sing opera for choice
in the original, or failing that in some
lingua franca: in the first case we get
rid of the difficulty; in the second we con
ceal it But we pay the price. We jose
whole tracts of meaning. Whether we
strain our ears to catch Gurnemanz's lone
story or read up beforehand what he is
going to say there is for us no direct
appeal from the singer. We miss the
purpose of opera, which is, as we have
said, to cram the utmost meaning into
a chosen crisis. The thing drops into a
story plus music: the story gives no pleas
ure and the music is unintelligible. Or
to put it another way. opera in a foreign
tongue makes exceptional demands on the
singing and acting not of a few, but
of all the cast: and these can only he
met by exceptional people.
Again, the misty heroes of the Nlbelun
genlied, the passions of a puny Italian
state make but slight appeal to our
hearts because we do not know the
nursery rhymes, the country customs, the
idioms, the family names, the local tradi
tions which link up with them. To be
really stirred we need something which
is bone of our bone. We have no na
tional epic to draw upon, and we could
not perhyis stiffer "Hamlet” to he treat
ed as "Faust” has been. Our special
literary achievement has been the novel
and novels, or still more the prose of ad
venture and romance from which they
drew—Hakluyt's voyages or Elizabeth's
progresses—would anpplv plots and inci
dents that we could believe in. It was
not from a wrong choice of subject that
“Ivanhoe” soon failed or that the “Can
terbury Pilgrims" aroused a limited en
thusiasm.
Such as these sources might .yield are
the operas we want. How are we to get
them? They will not come for whistling:
the ground must be prepared. Opera in
English must come before English opera
if our great composer of the future is to
learn his trade. A difficulty might be
expected to come from the singer's predi
lections or indolence, but if Mme Kirkbv
Lutin Can sing "Kundry” in English or
German, as required, and Mr Coates can
in the same opera sing to the chorus in
French and to the actors in Italian to
name only two instances, no doubt‘the
einger can and will do whatever the nub
ile wishes.
The Carl Rosa company in the 'Boa
and the Moody Manners company in the
’9os made valiant and not unsuccessful
attempts. If we revert to our metaphor
we may see why they were not the real
thing. Fox hunting, a national aport,
began by a few local farmers bringing
their tykes and lurchers to chase hares.
The Carl Rosa company started off at
once St Covent garden, complete; the
Moody Manners company toured, and so
forfeited tradition. Opera in English
oould be heard till recently and it will
. begin again in October, at the Royal Vic-
I toria theater. The performances there.
I without being finished productions, have
■ some admirable points. The scenery is
crude, the dresses are garish, the lime
light is a will o’ the wisp, the orchestra
■ has insufficient bass; but the singing is in
I tune, the acting serious, the dancing
I fresh and graceful, the chorus hearty, the
I audience, too intent on the play to eat
I chocolate. for the applause all of them
I are in the tiring line and there are no
reserves, and the prices rise from 2d.
Here are the essentials at any rate. It is
i possible that English opera might be born
। south of the Thames not far from the
! scene of Shakespeare's activities. But
| it must be born: not Mr Hammerstein.
• nor anyone else can make it. There is
i no harm in its being, later on. educated
j iu or near Bow street.
Frieda Hempel In London.
When Frieda Hempel sang in London
in June, the Morning Post had this to say
I of her:—
: When, a few days ago. Fraulein Frieda
i Hempel made her appearance in this conn
• try in opera it was recognized that the
1 promise of seven years ago had been fnl-
I filled. A better opportunity of judging her
! advance was provided yesterday when she
gave a concert at Queen’s hall. Fraulein
Hempel is in the direct line of succession
of the great singers of the past. Her voice
is a legitimate soprano, capable of either
light or heavy tone —as it should be if the
possessor understands the vocal art; and
above all, it is used without any effort.
There is a beautiful velvet-like tone that
falls on the ear as gratefully as the
material yields to the touch of the hand,
and, like the material, there are no rough
places. Her scale is perfectly smooth
throughout its range, which yesterday was
shown to include an E flat in alt, the sine
qua non of the modern soprano, bat in
this instance more nearly related to the
remainder of the voice than is the case
with any other singer at the present before
the public.
With her brilliant vocalization there are
combined a charm of manner, a freshness
and vivacity that suggest that singing is a
pleasure to herself as well as to her
hearers. The medium through which this
remarkable voice was displayed scarcely
seems to matter: but it must be recorded
that Fraulein Hempel succeeded in mak
ing Mozart's “Martern aller Arten” con
vincing. “Qui la voce.” from Bellini’s “I
Puritani,” has not been sung as she sang it
for years: and the Mad scene from "Lucia ’
was notable as being wholly free from
the hazardous element usually present in
this performance. All this was brilliant
colorature singing, glowing rather than
sparkling, but all the more distinctive.
Then in acknowledgment of the warmth
of her reception she sang the simple Ger
man air. "Schlaf mein Prinzen.” she re
vealed the artist in her power to hold
and thrill her audience without acrobatic
display.
Gluck and tlie Modern Opera House.
Philip Hale, writing in the Boston Her
ald. notes the bicentenary of the birth of
Gluck:—
The bicentenary of Gluck —he was born
on July 2. 1714—did not excite much at
tention even in those who are constantly
on the search after material for “copy.
C. A. Harris contributed an article to the
Contemporary Review in which he spoke
of the comparative aridity of the first two
thirds of Gluck’s life. He has much to
say about the influence exerted by Dr
Arne and Handel over Gluck during his
sojourn in London. Arne was a great
admirer of Purcell and Gluck admired
Arne, -Handel's music “seems to have
been as potent a factor in his evolution as
a century later Beethoven’s symphonies
were in that of Wagner. Though orig
inality is one of the characteristic quali
ties of genins. it often shows itself, to
quote an apt phrase of Canon Liddon’s. in
the “inspiration of selection.” And how
ever estimates may differ as to the value
of what Gluck learned to do in England,
there can be none as to what he learned
not to do. For hitherto he had met with
nothing but success, and it was the ig
nominious failure, partly from political
causes, of his three works produced at the
Haymarket theater, especially a pasticcio,
which led to his recognition of the cardi
nal principle underlying his ultimate re
forms —the essential difference between ab
stract and dramatic values in regard to
music.”
A writer in the London Times" accounts
for the position of Gluck’s operas to-day,
“one of esteem, rising at times to admira
tion. rather than the glowing affection
which both Wagner and Mozart engender.
Gluck’s dramatic form sometimes reminds
one of the psalm-couplet quoted by George
Eliot’s deputy clerk:— .
1 know what's right, nor only so,
But also practice what I know,
whereas Wagner, knowing what'* right,
often delights us by not practicing it. *nd
as to Mozart—one never thinks about his
knowledge at all.” For “Gluck was able
to give a logical conclusion to a career
which had apparently begun illogically:
because the principles upon which he had
come to act, being the outcome of expe
rience, were of an eminently sane and
moderate kind.” To Gluck repression was
almost as important as expression, “and
that, taken together with a classic calm
ness of melodic outline, has necessarily a
chilling effect.” But only Verdi, in his
latest opera, shows himself, with Gluck,
a master in the absolute certainty of con
centration.
An opera house worthy the name should
have at least three of Mozart's operas
and three of Gluck’s in its repertoire The
Boston opera house has “Don Giovanni ”
but not performed as librettist and com
poser indicated. There is something more
in "Don Giovanni" than a matter of fu
turistic scenery and a baritone conscious
of his costume, evidently designed for sub
sequent photographic purposes. The stage
setting and stage business of the last act
were rifliculou* last season. There is talk
nf Gluck’s “Orpheus” for the glorv of an
ambitious singer. Did the writer of the
article in the London Times over see
“Alceste” or “Iphigenia in Aulis" well
performed? If he had. would he to-dav
speak of the "chilling effect” of Gluck's
music? _______
Frederick Niecks, best known outside
of Great Britain as the biographer of
Chopin, has resigned the professorship of
music at the university of Edinburgh to
which he was appointed in 1891. He is
65 years old. The Reid chair of music,
which he occupied so long, is an unusually
complete professorship. There are sep
arate endowment* for the professor's sal
ary. the salaries nf his assistants, and his
class expenses. There is also a fund for
an annual series of high-class concerts.—
New York Evening Post.
TO OPEN ACADEMY THE 21ST.
Northampton Players Will First Ap
pear on October 10.
Frank E. Davis, chairman of the citi
zens' committee on the academy of music,
announces that the academy of music will
be opened the 21st with the famous mov
ing picture play, "Neptune's Daughter,"
with Annette Kellerman in the title role.
Portions of the scene* take place under
water and the pictures were taken In
Bermuda. The play will be presented three
nights. Other booking* are the following:
The 24th, “Quaker Girl3oth, "Misleading
Lady;" October 3, “Way Down East?
The Northampton players will open Octo
ber 10 The play of the first week i«
not yet selected. The plays of the next
few weeks will be the following: Second
week, “Bunty Pull* the String*;” third
week, "The Darling of the God*;” fourth
week, “Ready Moneyfifth week, “Th*
Woman. Other playa decided upon are
“Girl of the Golden West." “The Great
Divide,” “Lord and Lady Algv” and "The
Rainbow. I he tnembera of last season'*
company wnd will return are Robert Ho
m*i)s, William I'ringle, Robert Ames, Cyril
Raymond, Ralph Kline, Miss Goodrich and
Mis* Donovan. The committee will at
once atart a campaign for eubaciiptiona
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1914.
in behalf of the financial support of the
season.
PLAYS OF THE NEW SEASON.
John Drew In “The Frodignl H UR
bend"—Mrs Thomas Wbirten In a
French Comedy—The Hippodrome.
Labor day brought the usual renais
sance ,f play-producing and play a< ti
in New York. On that day John Drew
was seen in a play somewhat reminiscent
of "The Rainbow.” wherein a dissolute
man, hardened in evil courses, is awak
ened to manliness and honor by the in
flucnee exerted upon him by a sweet,
trusting child. The play is called "The
Prodigal liusbund." and is by Dario
Nicodemi and Michael Morton. Among
the other numerous openings most impor
tant were the presentation of "The Beau
tiful Adventure.” a romantic French com
edy which was seen last season in Paris,
and the annual exhibition of wonders at
the Hippodrome. For brief comment upon
the new plays of Saturday and Monnnv
we may turn profitably to the colmuns
of the New York Evening Post, which,
in spite of frequent ernbbedness of tem
per and narrowness of literary sympa
thies, nevertheless preserves a definite
ness and reliability in its point of view
and undoubtedly affords the soundest and
most exacting comment on acting to be
found anywhere in the daily press of New
York.
John Drew's New Play.
The piece was received with decided
favor, says the Evening Post's eritie. and
exhibited John Drew to greater advan
tage than he has been seen for some time.
The opening scenes, indeed, almost jus
tified the expectation that the play would
prove one of serious dramatic purpose
and quality: but the fond hope was dis
sipated quickly as the action gradually
resolved itself into a development of the
usual makeshift, conventional kind. For
some time, however, the promise of a
fresh, interesting and intelligent work
was well maintained.
When the curtain rises Michel Giroux,
once a rich and respected manufactur
er. has fallen into evil courses. Sepa
rated from bis wife —a coed woman for
whom he has real admiration—by bis
own reckless courses, he has abandoned
himself wholly to dissipation, become the
prey of dissolute companions, and is only
anxious to get a divorce—to which his
wife will not assent —that he may travel
faster along the road to ruin. In this
crisis of his career he suddenly becomes
interested in a little orphan girl, daugh
ter of his dead concierge. Her prettiness,
her grief, her simplicity and helplessness
appeal to bis better instincts and inspire
him to self-reformation.
This foregone conclusion might not
have been wholly ridiculous if the authors
had not gone out of the way to spoil a
good plot by adopting the illogical, un
necessary and disagreeable expedient of
making Michel proffer dishonorable love
to his adopted daughter. Without this
unnatural relapse his reformation and
ready resumption of the conjugal yoke
would have been sufficiently plausible.
Mr Drew was particularly happy in the
character of the dissipated and discon
tented Leroux, displaying, not indeed
much variety of method, but more gen
uine virility of temper and emotion than
is commonly found in his performances.
His semi-intoxication was excellent, and
he was admirably supported by Helen
Hayes Brown—who was notably clever as
the child, Simone—and by Jessie Glen
denning, who assumed the character in
its maturer stages. Ferdinand Gottschalk
was admirable aS ever in a bibulous part.
“The Beautiful Adventure.”
"The Beautiful. Adventure.” which was
produced with a considerable measure of
success in the Lyceum theater on Sat
urday. is an English adaptation by
George Atherton of the French comedy
of the same name by De Flers and He
Caillavet. The original play lias been
the object of warm critical appreciation
on the score of its idyllic simplicity and
purity of sentiment, virtues more or less
reflected in the present version, which,
however, is not entirely free from that
taint of cynicism which mars the fresh
ness of ro many French dramas dealing
with the relations of the sexes. Irt this
case, as in not a few others, the respon
sibility may rest, possibly, with the
adapter rather thin the authors. French
writers being notoriously more export,
than their English imitators or coadjutors
in the art of giving point to veiled allu
sion without offensive suggestiveness.
However this niiv be. it j. a pity that a
pretty and sympathetic little story, with
sufficient human charm to make it in
dependent of merely vulgar appeal, should
be disfigured in places by tactless and
mischievous indiscretions.
Dramatically it has not much value,
being slight in texture and conventional
—and only moderately plausible—in de
sign. but it contains some well-sketched
characterization, sime smart, if not par
ticularly brilliant, writing, and a variety
of effective scenes in which the senti
mental suffers by a too frequent resort to
the farcical. In the opening act Helene
de Trevillac is about to be married to
Valentin de Barroyer, a suitor chosen by
her aunt and guardian. Countess D’Egu
zon. Actually she is in love with her
cousin, Andre D'Eguzon. At the last
moment, when Helene in full bridal array
is about to start for the church, Andre
finds her alone, explains the treachery
of which they have been the victims, re
news his protestations of undying af
fection and so works upon her feelings
that she agrees to flee with him. then
and there, leaving the wedding party in
the lurch. In the second act the fugi
tives arrive, without baggage, in the coun
try cottage of Helene’s grandmother.
Madame de Trevillac, who has vacated
it for the especial benefit of the bride and
bridegroom. Here, in the raptures of re
union, they gradually realize the uncon
ventionaiity of their situation, in a scene
which is most adroitly handled. Andre
resolves to watch while Helene seeks
repose, hut ail tlmir plans arc discon
certed by the unexpected apparition of
the grandmother, whose love for Helene
has not permitted her to remain absent
The old lady doe* not know Andre, sup
poses him to be Valentin, and impetu
ously welcomes both ax man and wife.
With each minute of delay, explanations
become more difficult, and finally are
abandoned until the next morning. An
dro determining to abide by his first res
olution. But in the end his honorable in
tent is defeated by the indignant inter
ference of the innocent grandmother, the
voluntary surrender of Helene, and his
own abominable and selfish reticence. It
is at this point that the play ought to l>e
remodeled in the interest of dramatic
consistency, artistic propriety and com-,
mon *en*».
The old grandmother is a charming
study upon somewhat old lines, those of
antique habit, simple virtues, sterling in
tegrity and devoted affection. It is <, n
these lines that it Is played by that
sound and experienced actress, Mrs Whif
fen, who had a most cordial reception
and was applauded frequently and hearti
ly throughout the evening. Her perform
ance contributed largely to the total sum
of success achieved by the representation.
Charles Cherry was somewhat too ma
ture in appearance for the ardent Andro,
but playon with perfect comprehension,
assured skill, easy nqtttrnlnoa*. and—lit
the more delicate passages—with admir
able tact and earnest feeling. Ernest
Lawford also deserves warm commenda
tion for his impersonation, a real imper
sonation. of tho jilted Valentin.
"The Blnrtgeon" by Fanl Armstrong.
I’erbap* from the author’s point of
view, the piece called "The Bludgeon,''
offerer) to the public at Maxine Elliott's
theater, was worth doing. The author
'himself. Paul Armstrong, stood up before
the curtain and said so. There may even
be other points of view from which it was
worth doing—as a horrible example, let us
say. of what not to do. Regarded as a
1 dramatic entertainment for the onlooking
public, it is most charitably characterized
as a painful experiment.
The story related to a viperisb young
woman who employed a laborious German
accent to express the most cold-blooded
and atrocious sentiments and whose be
havior was a fair match for her language.
She betrayed two husbands in succession,
and a neat aickel-plated revolver in the
bands of the second ended her miserable
existence: that done, everybody, including
the murderer, prepared to live happily
ever after, and the descending curtain put
an end to the nightmare. Miss Maude
Hanaford, as the viperisb woman, for in
stance. succeeded thoroughly in being
hateful, and Carl Harbaugh, as a drunken
bounder, filled his part so well that even
that depressed audience rewarded him
with laughter and real applause. Cheap
melodrama posing as moral philosophy af
fords a distressing spectacle.
Another HMelodrama.
Melodrama of a very old type is "The
Story of the Rosary," which caused some
tears and a sufficient amount of laughter
among a large and sympathetic audience
in the Manhattan opera house through five
acts and 11 scenes. The story is interest
ing. the situations intense if somewhat
overdrawn, the action brisk, the scenery
well made and well handled, and the com
pany fairly competent. Taken all in all.
it is a good jierformance, which bids fair
to duplicate its great success in London.
Walter Howard, the author of the play,
as Karl Larue, who always turned up at
the proper time to confound the villain.
Philip, was sincere and effective. Alfred
Paumier. Paul, as the hero, presented a
tine type of manhood: James Berry,
Philip, was a typical villain, and Annie
Saker gave abundant reasons for Philip’s
infatnation and Paul's lore, while Chris
Walker as a garrulous old priest deserves
a word of commendation.
“Wars of the World” at the Hippo
drome.
War without riolatiou of neutrality
with regard to any of the nations of Eu
rope now engaged in combat was declared
at the Hippodrome Saturday night, when
Arthur Voegtlin's latest spectacle was re
realed to a public which always expects
much of Mr Voegtlin and is rarely disap
pointed. What was most notable about
the performance was the quality of the
war pictures. Mr Voegtlin has accus
tomed us to the extraordinary effects
which can be produced by mobolizing on
one rast stage a crowd of human beings
and all the resources of modern mechanics.
But some of the war pieces this time were
not only enormously effective —there was
something in them that went quite beyond
mere melodramatic “effect.” The scene
which showed in the dim morning light
a stricken field with dead men and horses,
was treated with the restraint and dig
nity due high tragedy—was, in fact, alto
gether a fine thing.
Before that had been Sherwood forest.
Robin Hood. Friar Tuck, crusaders: still
earlier, togaed Romans; later came the
gardens of Versailles, nobles of France,
and Marie Antoinette in a tumbril on the
way to the guillotine. Then it was a
camp of Arabs, first entertained by danc
ing girls and next stormed by a charging
red and blue line of French soldiers, and
when that was over the desert vanished
and Vera Cruz was captured by American
bluejackets, swarminz up through the au
dience over the footlights.
But all was not grim-vlsaged war. In
stead appeared at one time a green En
glish countryside, with costers and hunts
men and hunts Women in pink and a coacb
and-four and houseboats and punts and
a hedge (impersonated by the chorus), all
centering about thg, Henley regatta. In
one thing no improvement was observed.
The dialog was not less absurd and use
less than usual, and the singing was just
as bad as ever.
ESTIMATING ‘‘CAMILLE.’’
Vulgarity of the Play Is What a Mod
ern Audience Objects to.
When Mme Lydia Yavorska presented
“Camille” at the Scala theater. London, in
June. S. R. Littlewood, one of a dozen
London critics who write about the theater
with taste, discrimination, good sense and
a knowledge of life, delivered this well
balanced verdict on a play over which
nowadays it is impossible to shed a tear: —
Now that old Father Time is laying his
hand gently, but firmly, upon so many of
the most treasured last-Century classics,
alike of the plot, passion, and problem va
riety. what shall one say of “La Dame
aux Camelias.” that first of the Dumas
“problem-plays,” going back aa it does to
the “early 50s”? No one can quite say
that we have outgrown its technic, but in
her revival yesterday Mme Yavorska more
than proved that we have outgrown its
taste—if we had not strong suspicions all
the while.
Doubtless it will survive for many a year
still, for the simple reason that it has a
long, glamorous, sentimental “star” part,
which a great actress can turn to what
uses she will, regardless of truth. In the
days of not so long ago. when Bernhardt
and Duse were coming here every sum
mer. and Duse turned Marguerite into a
saint, and the sheer melody of Bern
hardt’s voice made that interminable
death scene endurable, it would of course
have been heresy to say a word against
“La Dame aux Camelias.”
But. curiously enough, the nearer to any
genuine realism any actress has got since,
the nearer we have come to the conviction
that “La Dame aux Camelias" is at the
heart of it a piece of rnaudlinized nasti
ness, only to be tolerated when one for
gets. not so much what Marguerite had
been ns what she continued to be. In any
ease. Mme Yavorska Is not entirely to be
blamed for the terrible vulgarity of several
of the scenes in last night’s Scala revival.
UPTOWN IN NEW YORK.
The Standard Theater Opened at
Broadway and Ninetieth Street.
The new Standard theater on Broadway
at Nineteenth street opened lost week Mon
day night under John Cort's direction, with
William Elliott's production of Catherine
Chisholm Cushing's successful comedy.
“Kitty Mac Kay.” which was moved up
from the Comedy theater after a continu
ous run of nearly nine months, and with
Molly Mclntyre and the entire original
eompuiy in the cast.
The Standard is the moȣ recent addi
tion to the uptown theater colony and 1*
the first playhouse to he erected between
Columbus circle and One Hundred gad
Twenty-fifth street for the presentation
Of first-class dramatic attraction*. Each
attraction will play an engagement of but
one week, with matinees Tuesday, Thurs
day and Saturday. Popular prices will
be in effect nt all performances.
ONLY FOOLIN’.
[From Lippincott's.)
An intensely bashful young man was driv
ing one evening with a young woman whom
he had been calling on for some time pre
vious. The stillness of the evening and the
beauty of the scene around him inspired his
courage, and sitting stiffly erect and with
bis face forward, he asked suddenly, "May
1 kiss you?”
"Surely.” she coyly replied.
"Aw,” be said, his face scarlet, and lar
ruping his horses to a run, “aw, 1 was only
fooliu.”
AMERICA’S ART TREASURES
SUGGESTIONS FOR A TOUR
This Country Has Material Enongh to
Repay the Art Lover for Much Time
and Kffort.
Art tourists who begin the work of mak
ing acquaintance with the museums of
America will find not only that there are
many more of them than they suspect, but
that each one of these institutions may be
said to make a special appeal to the ama
teur and the student who visits them.
Picking at random, the New York Press
mentions the Jnrves collection in New
Haren as an astonishingly good substitute
for a voyage to study Italian paintings:
the Boston museum for its modern French
canvases, and more particularly for its
ar ^ : the Pennsylvania academy in
I hiladelpbia for its early American paint
ings. and the Chicago museum for its
Innesses.
It would take a long journey, says that
paper, and many weeks of time to visit,
even in a superficial way, all the art mu
seums in the United States. They extend
from Portland, Me., to San Francisco and
from Dallas, Tex., to Minneapolis. And,
although some of these institutions are
small and limited in their appeal, there
are others housed in splendid monumental
structures filled with treasures that Euro
pean art savants of the highest rank deem
worthy to visit America to see. It is an
undisputed fact that the Jnrves collection
of Italian paintings in New Haven is much
better known in Europe than it is in our
own land even by those who admire Italian
pictorial art.
As a suggestion for a possible tour of
some of oiir American galleries we will
take a swing around a circle beginning
from New York—with a good many lapses
in the route. Going eastward thervis the
Jnrves collection in New Haven, the
Wadsworth atheneum in Hartford, the
Worcester art museum in that Massachu
setts city, and the Boston museum of fine
arts. Near by is the Fogg art museum of
Harvard university and the Germanic ran
aeum with its reproductions of ancient
German works of art. Of course Boston
also has the superb innrnls in the public
library and Robert Reid's thrilling Paul
Revere's ride and other Revolutionary war
wall decorations in the state-house and,
for specialists, the print treasures of the
museum.
Going northward, Portland, Me., has the
Portland society of fine arts and the Sweat
memorial museum; Bowdoin college has
the Walker art building in Brunswick
with its murals by La Farge. Vedder,
Thayer and Kenyon Cox and other art
objects. If one wants to Include Canada
in such a tour there are the galleries in
Montreal and Toronto to visit. Coming
back into New York state there nre ad
mirable little museums in Rochester and
Syracuse, and the Albright gallery in Bnf
falo is known to most American art lovers
by name at least.
Cincinnati has its museum with the John
J. Emery collection of paintings and spe
cial groups by Frank Duveneck and Rob
ert Blum. Indianapolis has the John
Herron Institute; Toledo has its museum,
and Cleveland is to open its splendid
marble art palace next summer. Chicago
has its admirable art institute, that is
visited by more persons every year than
any other art institution in the United
States. Detroit has its museum of art:
Milwaukee, the art society and Layton
art gallery: Muskegon, Mich., has its
Hackley public library that is up to ac
quiring Whistlers: and Wisconsin has the
state historical society’s collections of his
torical paintings, portraits and other ob
jects in Madison.
In Minnesota, Minneapolis has the so
ciety of fine arts building and the Walker
gallery. St Paul has its art institute. St
Louis has its splendid city art museum: in
Kansas City is the western gallery of art;
in San Francisco is the Crocker art gal
lery, and in Los Angeles is the fine arts
league with its anlleiy in the southwest
museum of history and art. In Texas are
the Fort Worth museum in the city of
that name, and in Dallas the gallery of
the art association New Orleans has the
Delgado museum; in Savannah is the Tel
fair gallery of nrts and sciences: Balti
more has the Walters gallery, and in
Washington are the Corcoran gallery and
the national gallery in the Smithsonian
institution.
On the last lap of this swing around the
circle of art museums is Philadelphia,
with the permanent collections of the
Pennsylvania academy and the Wllstach
gallery in Fairmount park: near by are the
Montclair and Newark museums. Tenta
tive and hastily prepared as this list is. it
shows that even if European picture gal
leries are closed to art students, they still
have numerous exenses for going away
from home to “study art.” Possibly they
will be surprised at the extent of study
and pleasure our American museums will
present to them!
THE OLD LYME EXHIBIT.
The Paintings Shown for the Brne«t
of the Library Include a Number of
Good Connecticut Landscapes.
One misses at Old Lyme this year some
famous names often found in the catalog,
says the Hartford Courant. Childe Hassani
exhibits nothing. Willard Metcalf exhib
its nothing, to say nothing of the fact that
canvases by such virile and important
men as Walter Griffin and Louis Paul
Deasar are not to be found upon the
walls. One misses also the vigorous work
of Henry Ranger, who has forsaken Old
Lyme for Noank, after doing more than
any other painter to make the former
place famous as a sketching ground.
Charles H. Davis of Mystic, up the Sound
a little, is another national figure whose
proximity might be expected to interest
him in the Lyme enterprise.
Among those who are exhibiting this
year is Edward F. Rook, who deserves
always a position of distinction, which he
assures, by reason of a very personal
and original technic. His "facture” is
possibly his strong point, though he is not
to bi denied higher qualities. His de
sign. however, is too often too formally
decorative to satisfy the pure realists,
and his color too fanciful to please such
a confirmed “tonist” as Ranger, bat Rook
has in him a power of expression which
borders on witchery. Hook’s present pic
ture of a “River Vista” has his charac
teristic magic of expression, if possibly
more attached to the realism of his mo
tive than Is usual with him. Tho pat
tern of foliage against the light is a tri
umph of invention.
Matilda Browne, very well known for
sunny* and spirited cattle pieces which
somehow at best assure one that the art
ist has studied the great canvases of
Van Marcke and Troyon with profit,
shows subjects most attractive In mem
selves, a "Hay Wain” and an ••Orclianl."
Carlton Wiggins, a veteran cattie painter,
whose work is sometimes said to have
slightly influenced Matilda Browne, con
tributes a subject with which he is thor
oughly familiar—an “Old Sheep Pasture”-
while hi* son. Guy Wiggins, exhibits one
Of Iris New York Street pictures, a view
in “Lincoln Square.” The Wigginses nre
frequent exhibitors, prolific painters, loyal
to the Lyme tradition. Mr Wiggin, nls,
ic an extremely versatile young man. lie
is a brisk picture maker of the most ener
getic American type.
Charles Ebert’* picture called “Early
November" is highly commended a* a
truthfully, beautiful rendering of familiar
Connecticut country-side enveloped in the
mystic atmosphere of the melancholy sea
son. Cherie* Blttinger. who has made a
name with his carefully painted interiors,
into which be sometimes introduce^J^guma.
with telling charm, is an able workman
in his picture called "The Lace Fan.”
while Frederick E. Church (namesake of
a great landscape painter) scarcely out
whistles Whistler in his “Girl in White.”
Of all the present Lyme group perli:i”»
the man who stands most purely for abil
ities as a colorist is Lewis Cohen, a paint
er who commands a simplicity and pro
fundity of tone which more thsn justifies
Gedney Bunce's admiration of him. Co
hen's subjects on this occasion afford him
good direction for his Courbet-like tenden
cies.
Harry Hoffman contributes the "Queen’s
Lace Handkerchief” and "The Rabbit's
Run," and Everett Warner exhibits a
picturesque “Wayside Cottage,” Clark
Voorhees, n resident Lyme painter, in his
canvases entitled “The Neck Road" and
“November Willows." evidences well :iu
preciated qualities of refinement and re
serve. both as regards design and color.
Other exhibitors and their subjects nre:
Frank A. Bicknell, “A July Morning”;
George M. Bruestle. “Winter Afternoon”
nnd “Early Snrim-": George R Hurt'.
“Landscape": Wil! Howe Foote. “Hydran
geas" and “Italian Girl's Head”: Will
iam H. Howe. “Evening, Black Hall
Beach” and “Dover Valley, X. Y.”: Lydia
I ongacre, “Miniature"' Britta Loniniri-.
"The Last of October": Frederick W.
Ramsdell, “Grassy Hill Road”: Will S.
Robinson, “Summer Idyl” and "Apple
Blossoms.” Edward G. Smith. “A Sum
mer Day”: .Titles Turcas, '“The Neck
Road.” “A Day in Spring” and “After
glow”: Charles Vezin. “The City of Tow
ers" and "Seaward.”
HOW PARIS TAKES THE WAR
RED CROSS SOCIETY BUSY
Huge Flocks of Sheep Are Seen In the
Bois de Boalo<ne.
I Written by Eoith Heyer for The Repub
lican.j
It is hard in those mid-August days of
the war to find much consolation in Paris.
Everyone is straining every nerve, wait
ing for the war news. and. although all
the newspapers publish three editions
daily, one learns from them next to noth
ing of the war. because, like the Japanese,
the news of battles, of wounded and dead
are not printed in the papers. Every
where one hears this phrase: “The Ger
mans must be exterminated, once for all,
and the war cannot end before Alsace-
Lorraine shall be given back to France,
and the German navy abolished.” That
is the task that some of the greatest Eu
ropean powers have set themselves. No
easy one, surely! One understands this
rampant German hatred, when in France,
for the Gormans have insinuated ami es
tablished themselves in an aggressive man
ner all over the French republic, ever since
their victory in 1870-71. To the French
this yoke has become a burden in th’elr
own land. Everything was thought out
and ready for the war thunderbolt when
it came. The strangers within the land
were the surprised ones when William II
declared war against France August 4.
All over Paris societies of every kind are .
established for the wounded, the unem
ployed women, the aged and the little chil
dren, whose fathers are at the front, dead
or alive. The Red Cross society has
opened courses for teaching surgical ban
daging and first aids. The women and
men who attend these courses, if efficient,
pass a strict examination, receive a diplo
ma. and are called upon there to go as
helpers to the front, or into the many
hospital^ which have been opened all over
France, to receive the wounded. In no
war has there ever been an adequate num
ber of competent assistants. The wounded ,
so far outnumber the trained helpers. Of
course the Red Cross society all over Eu
rope has sent its staff of trained men and
women nurses to the front. "La Croix
Rouge," ns it is called in France, was. as
you remember, founded during tho war iti
Italy in 1859. by H. Dunant. His soul
was filled with the memory of Florence
Nightingale's splendid humanitarian work.
As a tourist, he witnessed at the great
battle of Solferino the awful suffering* of
the wounded strewn over the battlefield for
days.
With some few fine women he organ
ized. in the little city of Castiglione, a
society of helpers for the wounded, he
himself dressing the soldiers' wounds. It
was to care for those miseries, these suf
ferings that Henri Dunant consecrated his
life. The troops always called him “Le
monsieur en blanc,” or “the white gentle
man.” because of the heat he always wore
white wash clothes.
The Red Cross flag, white ground with
red cross, dates from 1859. It is the in
ternational flag of this good work, the
symbol of unity through suffering, of the
suppression of national boundaries through
love and charity. In it* folds are the
precious germs of love toward one's neigh
bor, without distinction as to race or color
or religion. It is the spirit of chivalry re
vived, of humanitarian chivalry, which in
olden days was spread over the world.
Napoleon 11l became deeply interested
in Dunant's projects, and he it was who
suggested the idea of according neutrality
to the inhabitants of the countries who
carried help to the wounded. Then at the
congress of Geneva, in 1864. he ordered
three French delegates to special work.
The good Samaritan of Solferino was
Dunant. He was full of gentleness aud
goodness. The real Red Cross flag dates
from 1862. At Geneva, on August 4, 1863,
Europe, Asia, Africa, the two Americas
and Australia, which to-day are united by
precious bonds, gave to universal civiliza
tion the character ot practical goodness,
unity and generosity. But alack! alas! it
has not given the reality Of peace among
the sons of men. It really seems inane to
hold “peace conferences,” in the face of
man's barbarous love of war. The Geneva
treaty of 1882 is .jnst like otner treaties or
agreements between governments. Its pur
pose is to give in times of war the pro
tection and benefits of neutrality to mil
itary hospitals, tneir equipment, their pa
tient* and their employes, including
chaplains, priests and all those who care
for the wounded.
From time immemorial it has been
proved that there never has been a great
war in which the official mean* of relief
for the sick and wounded have been found
adequate. For this very reason all. the
powers of the world have to-day a central
Red Cross committee, in touch with the
different war departments, so organized in
time* of peace that it can without con
fusion take its niace as n supplement to
the military medical art-vice at the same
moment that the military forces of a
nation arc mobilized.
To-day all over Paris one sees “La Croix
Rouge” floating, or on men and Women's
arms. All the philanthropic, serious work
done for the war victims Is not alone ip
the hands of the French. Mrs Edith
Wharton, the well-known American nov
elist. has started un admirable work at 34
Rue Vanonu for the poor unemployed
women. They are paid a living wago and
have their luncheon given them in the
building, which Is one of the old aristo
cratic mansions of the hanburg St Ger
main. and which ha* been given up to
ambulance classes and other good worn.
I went to see MM Edith Wharton. She
gladly receives gilts of all kinds for this
work! Tho women at the moment were
sewing garments for the wounded.
All these women's husbands, sons and
brothers arc at the front, such Is the mean
ing of a universal conscription. The means
of livelihood have been suddenly taken
from them, and so to support those little
ones and their nged relative* they work
at Mme Edith Wharton’s society, 34 Rue
Vnneau, Purl*. At present the fund* (all
gift*) amount to shout JKIOO, *o one can
easily see bow welcome all gifts for the
work are. :
“Le* Femmes de France” is another flue
.organjurtiop wjiich Jlla
of the poor in those trying days. Woo
children are taken to school and returned
home, when the mother’s work is over'.
Soup kitchens for the aged are established
throughout the city, and the sick, feeble
and babes are cared for by competent, re
sponsible persons. This will be an awfnl
winter of suffering in Paris beyond a
doubt. It seems strange to see in the Bois
de Boulogne flocks and flocks of sheep
peacefully graziug. where formerly the
gay, fashionable world took their pleasure.
These sheep nre sent off daily to tho front.
They, too, in a . m-tnin sense are war vit
tims.
Everywhere on the streets one sods the
large, black-bordered last will and testa
ment of William 11, and highly amusing
caricatures of William II other sub
jects.
PRESIDENT BURTON AT HOME,
Returns After Spending 11 Week* in
Hnglnnd and Wales—The War Ex
citement—The Trip Home.
President M. L. Burton of Smith col
lege and family arrived home last week
Wednesday, after spending 11 weeks in En
gland and Wales. President Burton ilid
not go on the continent at any time, and,
therefore, was not at Lucerne when the
war broke out, and did not experience any
hardships in getting to England, as mis
takenly reported iu a Boston dispatch.
President Burton rented a house at Col
wyn Bay, Wales, for the summer, but
spent some time in London and Oxford.
President Burton says thai never before
had be approached a realization of the
charm ana impressiveness of the scenery
in the midst of which it Was hisl-ood fog
tune to spend the summer. The al
mosphere of England, President Burton
says, is unimaginably tense over the war
situation, and business is largely at a
standstill, not so mneh from necessity
as from the utter absorption of the people
in the momentous significance and prog
ress of the war. One cannot be in En
gland without being brought to a realiza
tion that present events can never again
be matched in the time of people now
living. Although the Burtons had no un
pleasant personal experiences, there were
evidences of war everywhere in Great
Britain. Not fur from Colwyn Bay a
large industrial plant bad been taken over
for a prison nnd» 16<Ml Gorman suspects
were confined there. The camps of sol
diers and sentries at the prison could Be
seen, and regulations were enforced with
so much severity that several who at
tempted to evade them were shot. All
railroads, bridges and important passes
were heavily guarded by detachments of
soldiers.
The Burton family returned on the La
conia, which made on schedule time the
voyage for which lhe Burtons made res
ervations at the time of their departure,
and reached Boston Wednesday morning.
Their summer, save for the influence
which no one living in one ot the war
countries could escape, was a delightful
< ne. and all are in excellent health and
much refreshed by a restful vacation.
The Laconia had an abnormally swollen
passenger list, the number in ' the first
cabin being three times the usual book
ing. Many of the passengers had been
through hard experiences and many were
depressed by their interest in the terrible
events of Europe. The ship had little of
the cheerful air that iu other years has
marked the return of tourists from a
pleasant summer abroad. The liner was
painted a battleship gray and no lights
were displayed. Every sign of a vessel
was watched with nervous apprehension,
and a real cause for thrills was experi
enced when the boat was approached by a
battleship. The passengers did not know
that it was an English ship, and spent :)
bud quarter-hour while the two ships mod
erated their speed and exchanged signals.
The course was u northern one and cold
weather was a cause of some discomfort
for those who were not prepared for it.
No wireless messages were sent during
the passage. Speaking of the proSoggt
for the coming year at Smith. President
Burton said that there would he some loss
of students hecanse of the war, but. if
this factor did not prove a largo one. the
entering class might prove the largest in
the history of the college.
OBSERVATIONS IN ENGLAND-
William Orr Returns From His Sum
mer in Great Britain.
William Orr, deputy state commissioner
of education, was in this city Monday, hav
ing arrived in New York with his wife and
daughter, Miss Helen T. Orr, a student
at Radcliffe college, on Saturday from En
gland. They sailed from Liverpool on
the sth on the steamer St Louis. They
sailed for England from Montreal early m
July, planning to go on to the continent,
but before they were able to do so the war
cloud blew up and they were advised t"
stay in England. They spent the summer
pleasantly there, although the tension un
der which the English people were brought,
bv the war was somewhat oppressive, and
traveled in Devonshire and W ales, besides
spending some time in London. Mr Otr
said Monday that it was a great relief
to reach America, because, while the war
was keenly felt here, there was lacking
the intense personal anxiety that pervades
England. An Englishman in Mr Orr s
presence, reading over a list of casualties,
pointed out the names of men that he per
sonally knew, and Mr Orr felt that this
direct interest in the soldiers lighting on
the continent must be the same through
out England.
The spirit of the English people is ad
mirable. however. Mr Orr noted an en
tire absence of jingo enthusiasm for war.
In the first days there were occasional
demonstrations by young men, but later
these were not noticed and the state of
mind of the people seemed to be one ot
great soberness and seriousness. They
have made up their minds that they must
fight but not gladly. They have entered
Into the war sadly, but with great earnest
ness. as upon a regrettable task that had
to be fulfilled, and Mr Orr had the im
pression that England would see it
through, whatever the cost. Young men
of All stations in life were enlisting for
the service, and Mr Orr felt that, in the
event of a long war, England would be
the deciding factor. The intense loyalty
was reflected ih the conduct of the Brit
ish newspapers, which permitted no newg
to appear that might give aid to th«
enemy. It was a matter of common know*"
edge, apparently, that British troops wert
landed on the continent within it tew days
Of the declaration of war. but it was long
after that the first public announcement
was made.
Mr Orr had the same information that
other travelers have brought home regard
ing the passage of Russian troops through
Scotland and England for service in France
or Belgium. Illa informant was appar
ently reliable, and it wan a fact that on
certain days lines of transportation were
closed to public business, the inference natn
rnllv being "that the railroads were being
used for the transportation of troops.
Mr Orr raises the question of whether the
precipitate retreat of the Germans in
France might not be due to fear of attack
by a strong allied force from Oatend or
elsewhere on the northwestern flank quite
as much as to the military operations in
France. The landing of British marines
at Ostend. Mr Orr thinks, may have been
sigiiihcant as a prelude *o some such de
velopment
From his observations iu England Mr
Orr was convinced that the British people
were opposed to war and that Sir Edward
Grey did his utmost in behalf of peace.
There doe* not appear to be in England a
resentment against the Germans as a peo
ple, but the feeling is strong that German
militarism must be crushed in the interest
of world peace. Mr Orr was much inter
ested to find on his return what the senti
ment was at home, having previously seen
only what statements of American opinion
48 W :te!«9 PuNJeheji aatiwA u „ .