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- A FEW WOEDS ABOUT ACTRESSES. 387
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Life Of An Actress Is To The World A...
homes where every genuine virtue and affection had hitherto guided
and cherished them . We have known actresses , as irreproachable women and patient workers , earnestly striving to use the all faculties that is
of heart and soul bestowed upon them in the service of best in art and life : we have known them thus , and therefore we desire others to believe with us that as such they existand to strip
from their idea of the actress for awhileboth , the soiled away drapings of vice and the glittering but worthless , stage tinsel that
inay From very amongst possibly the hang number about whose it . adoption of the stage has been
that a out matter gift is , demanded or of are choice not , for out absolute of the and crowd now self who - and sacrificing possess then start enoug predilection forward h to give withr those all progress
who are equal to the requirements , made upon them , and who with elevated aims pursue their course . To commence is not so very
difficult , if there is not too much ambition as to the place where this is to be done . And it is scarcely a matter of much moment to commence in a theatre of importancethe prestige of having played there
main may be fac useful 1>—that in di some learning respects the ; , Art but of it will Acting serve . Neither very little is any the
routine of instruction sufficient for this : it must be done by lifewor throug k , h not some school-work h probationary , and the labor novice if must she would be content make the to basis pass
if of she future have efforts the roug opportunity sound and sure of try . ing She her may strength be satisfied in some , therefore humbler ,
work sphere to . If do , the for trial the world is successful forgives it -many is not faults so difficult to youth to find and
enthusiasm , and the manager knows , too , that youth and enthusiasm do not stint * and calculate the labor they bestow , that they lavish
the riches of their vitality as greater experience and maturity can scarcelafford to do . We- will suppose then that in some second or
third-rate y country theatre the earliest practice is obtained , and this practice will be very hard work indeed if the ranks are fearlessly
entered and the responsibility of a situation incurred . But for those who contain the true stuff of the artistefaith in the ideal ,
anticipations of future achievement , and the real , pleasure of using their faculties and discovering their powers , will make a burden
li deteriorate ght that would onldevelop else be e heavy and , improve and drud . gery The that young would too otherwise , buoyed
value iip by nothing an ideal y which faith , are falls so short arrogant of . their They ideal tolerate . The , nothing unrewarded , they
to strugg them les . and They imperfect blame , realizations but neither of others pity nor are fear no discouragement . What have
these failures and shortcomings to do with that perfection they have conceived it possible to accomplish ? It is only their own failures
and shortcomings in after years that can teach them charity , but fer the present—wise folly of the young , happy blindness , which
hel more ps si far gnal more ly than than within the giffc the of walls sight of could _^ theatre do , ! and helps nowhere
- A Few Woeds About Actresses. 387
- A FEW WOEDS ABOUT ACTRESSES . 387
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1859, page 387, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021859/page/27/
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