THE THE MEETING. HE elders shook their hands at last, Half solemnized and half amused, He built no church, he framed no creed; But while the saintly Pharisee Made broader his phylactery, As from the synagogue was seen The dusty-sandalled Nazarene Through ripening cornfields lead the way His sermons were the healthful talk "Thy words are well, O friend," I said; The temple never made with hands, He needs no special place of prayer Whose hearing ear is everywhere; He brings not back the childish days "Dream not, O friend, because I seek "Welcome the silence all unbroken, The freshness of the morning blew; Who loved not less the earth that light Fell on it from the heavens in sight, But saw in all fair forms more fair The coming of her beautiful feet! "I ask no organ's soulless breath To drone the themes of life and death, No ornate wordsman's rhetoric-play, No cool philosopher to teach His bland audacities of speech To double-tasked idolaters Themselves their gods and worshippers, Who borrows for the hand of love And still the measure of our needs Already savors of decay; Doubts to the world's child-heart unknown Too little or too much we know, Or look we for the Christ to be?' The soul is lost that 's saved alone. But flamed o'er all the thronging host "So sometimes comes to soul and sense That very near about us lies Blows down the answer of a prayer: "So, to the calmly-gathered thought FOUR MONTHS ON THE STAGE. BY A PAINTER. NOT long since, combined necessity 1866, having convinced that gentleman and inclination led me into an unknown country, as it were, where it was my fortune to encounter many surprising novelties. It happened in this wise. I was a painter, and had been for some years enthusiastically, but far from profitably, devoted to my art, when one day I was suddenly made aware that my exchequer had become lean, consumptive, nay, utterly collapsed, and that I must do something to get my daily bread and butter. Naturally imaginative, and having more or less closely observed men and things from the painter's stand-point, I had not been so completely taken up with my own art as to shut my eyes to the intimate relation and interdependence of all the arts. Indeed, this underlying unity had always been a favorite subject of contemplation, and I was now induced to think that, though my artistic sense might be denied the dearer method of expression, still another was left, not inadequate, and for which I believed myself in a measure fit. In short, I made up my mind to strut a brief hour on the stage, and thus put what dramatic talent I possessed to immediate use. I determined on this course, moreover, because I could offer my services as a commodity which would bring a price somewhat corresponding to its real worth in the theatrical market. Acting is in one respect like sawing wood; for a stipulated sum an alloted task is to be accomplished; beyond this arrangement one preserves as complete independence as is possiblein any business relation. Without consulting any one, or making undue delay, I sought means to carry out my intention. Having obtained from a friend a letter of introduction to Mr. Edwin Booth, and, during an interview late in the summer of VOL. XXI.— NO. 124. 15 that I was no sentimental, stage-struck youth, but well aware of the serious difficulties to be surmounted and the indignities to be borne, and that I was willing to fight, he generously extended to me the right hand of fellowship; my name was enrolled in the "Winter Garden" company, and I thus became a member of the actors' guild. Having thorough conception of the inevitable apprenticeship to be served before the first principle of art can be mastered, I did not expect that the treatment of important characters would be intrusted to me. Nor did I desire it. Thinking that a true artist may assert his feeling in carving a knife-handle as well as in hewing a colossal statue, the difference being only in degree, I deemed it an ample opportunity that I should be permitted to play what are called inferior parts, and thought it no shame to give my whole strength to the study of the most insignificant rôle in which I might be cast. For experience had taught me that, in getting at a refined conception of the essential qualities of Shakespeare's characters, it was not only requisite to study a part itself, but to comprehend the play in its entirety, and the relations of all the dramatis persona. I saw also that, though I might have in my own mind a clear image of the character I would exhibit, the limitations of the art must then be known before I could hope to make my conception evident to an audience. Art is not nature, but the interpretation of nature; and in reconciling what I knew of the latter to the exigencies of the stage, I anticipated not only difficulty, but was prepared to encounter failure if need were, and even through defeat win the laurel I coveted, - which was not a clapping of hands. Luckily, I had never acquired the |