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A FEW WORDS ABOUT ACTRESSES. 395
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...
to be done , and how could she be parted from the dear little girl who was the only solace of her hard life ? The little girl who
that alread wer y hel e ped required to support and herself laying b y them playing so well all the too children and b ' eing s parts , so
fond of _har work ! , So fate p would doubtless make an , actress of the little Francesthough her mother thought and feared , and desired
, other things for her . For her love . prompted her to try and save her child from the hardships and difficulties she had herself
encountered . In character and principle she had been too strong to be broken down into any kind of disorderbut her sufferings
there-, fore had only been the greater , for it is the painfulness of resistance which makes so many sink rather than endure it . Frances
may stand as a type of some of the good life that drifts stagewards ; but many contrasts to her and her mother are to be found . Weary
women there are , who , with more work of all kinds than they can domore parts to play than they can studymore children than
, , they are able to take care of , have given up the battle against disorder in despair , and as fortune , or rather misfortune , roughly
tosses them hither and thither , are content if they can only fall with little hurt . Their childrenearly warped and spoiled in nature 9
, escape gladly from their home in some comfortless lodging to the more light and cheerful theatre ; and there they beat about , visible
now and then in the last act of " The Stranger , " or as the small fairies of pantomimelearn to dance a littleget employed in the
, , ballet perhaps , or by degrees work into inferior lines of acting , and fall in to do their part in the general scramble . So , from very
different sources , the stream of theatrical labor gets supplied . In the preceding pages we have endeavored to give some
indication of what the various classes of theatres are . But though they may be broadldivided into classes , each theatre will have a very
distinct individuality y of its own , and probably every theatre newly entered by an actor or actress will be a new experience . They are
so many petty states , where the character of the ruler determines pretty much the fate of his subjects . Whether the manager is a
good man , who respects what is good in others , and has faith in the sacredness of human tiesor an evil man whose laws are the
pas-, sions , or a man of refinement with some ideal of his function , who rather strives to raise the appreciation of his audiences to his own
standard than descends to their lower tastes , or a mere moneymaking man who cares not what sacrifices of art and propriety are
made so that the one end of money-making is achieved , —whatever , in briefmay be the character of the manager , will be found to be
of material , import to those in his ; service . We know theatres where the discovery of anything disreputable or immoral would
insure an immediate dismissal , and others again where vice is almost a necessary As regards dip the loma dramatic . art itself , we must say a few words .
That vox . ii drama . is a positive institution of human nature 2 d 2 few who
A Few Words About Actresses. 395
A FEW WORDS ABOUT ACTRESSES . 395
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1859, page 395, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021859/page/35/
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