TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12461, 26 March 1906, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Miss Meakin, the Two Great authoress of the latest Russians; book on Russia, had the opportunity, when she visited Russia, to ccc come specially interesting persons. For yeans past there have been two men in Russia who could say and do what they pleased, Count Leo Tolstoi and Bather Johann,' or John of Kronstedt. The latter is now more than eighty years*old, and too frail,to walk alone in the crowd that presses upon him the moment he appears in public. Soldiers walk on either side when he 'takes his way through the streets, but they have hard work-to keep the crowd from crushing their saint's life out of him. When he comes to St. Petersburg; his train of followers step the town traffic. The sick are brought thousands of miles that he may heal their diseases, or, if travel is forbidden, their friends arrive to beseech his prayers. "His eyes are supposed to have miraculous power. By looking into people's faces he can read, not only their thoughts but their history, and he adviess them about the future with such satisfactory results, that their faith is unbounded." But when repaid with purses of gold, this aged seer only hands on the fee to •the'.; next poor man who begs from him. j "Money is nothing ,to Father Johann; j he takes what each chooses to give, and' j hands it to the first who aeks." On ! the visit to Tolstoi in his home at Tula, Miss Meakin found a kindly expression on the face of the venerable novelist "which made his noble features more attractive than any photograph lias been able to represent them." His last callers had two American ministers, which naturally turned tho* conversation to American topics. Tho ministers had not made a good impression. They had never road Emerson, and know very little about him; they had not shone in the Count's examination upon Charming, barker, or Thoreau; *and shocked this great writer of another country with such ignorance as to ' writers in their own. "These are the days of telephones and euperficiality," ho pronounced. "People mias tho bost of life. What is more precious than to know and etudy the works of the truly great? Your England has never appreciated Ruskin or Carlyle as she should have done, and Franco has undervalued Voltaire." He dwelt on the importance of some inspiring reading.at the beginning of each day, and again returned to Transatlantic ' errors. "The American magazines of to-day cause a terrible waste of time by tempting people to read them. With their splendid paper and enperb illustrations, what utter rubbish they are to read!" Newspapers also came under the ban, though ho confessed that his daughter read these for him, and reported en article* worth notice. But whether in affectation or fact, Tolstoi was careful to impress his entire indifference -!to events of national interest. This* was war-time, and his own son gone to tho front. Yet affairs of this sort were nothing as compared with the question of the day—that is, whether American magazines are not becoming a curee to the nation "by teaching young people to waste their time over profitles reading." / It is quite possible that Dangerous Mr Justice Darling's proFeats. - nouneeriwnt against foolhardy feata as attractions for the public, of which we were recently advised by caMe, may be taken np by the Homo' Secretary. Last month an incident occurred in a. London music-hall whidh will be used in support of any measure that the Government may bring in. A turn in which a

man and a woman performed among fourteen lions ended in one of the. aninmls accidentally knocking over, the woman and falling on top of her. Naturally the incident was misunderstood, and there was & scene of confusion among tho > audience, which, threatened to become a general panic. Fortunatoly a Teady hand lowered tho curtain, the trainer pulled off the lion, which had been made savage by the turmoil, and the woman escaped with nothing more serious than a few scratches. Commenting on this, tho "Daily Telegraph" demanded that such exhibitions be prohibited. "It is difficult to believe that it is wholesome for man, woman, or child, to have the natural curiosity in another's jeopardy stimulated by the fantastio and extravagant. demonstrations .of hardihood to which we have lately become-so accustomed. Those who want a parallel to our present tendency will find it in the time of Home's decadence, when a pafKion for the weiid, and the horrible, and the deadly accompanied a etate of vice and moral degradation of which, only the deeper readers of history have any idea." It seems, however, to be a question whether the growth of these exhibitions is hot due. to the rivalry of managers, rather than the appetite of the public. Ouo London manager says that tho fact is -that managers ore at their wits' end to devise attractions, and are only too glad to got anything that savours of noveltyi Another man with a long experience of music-hell .entertainments says,frankly that tho public do not want sensationalism. There seems to be«e curious inconsistency in tho regulations governing London places of entertainment. In licenses for theatres, which are issued by the Lord Chamberlain, "'dangerous performances" are expressly forbidden, but in the case of the music-ltalls, wliich are controlled by the London County Council, there is no provision made for the safety of performeis. Trapezes and stage furniture are noc examined, and if an exhibition of lion-taming went on after the animals had attacked their keepers eaveral times, tho authorities would have no power to interfere. The comfort and tafety of the public are well cared for, but tho performer is ignored. It is only fair to .'ay that the English manager takes greater precautions than aip taken in America and on the Continent. Nets always used in England in trapeze acts, and even in tho case of "looping the loop" it is possible to arrange nets in .such a way as to prevent serious injury to the performer if ho comes to grief. There is so much roThe Choosing mance about the hisof Plays, tory of plays in manuscript that any information as to the methods of actors and managers in making selections is always of intcrcist. One gathers from reading in the "Grand Magazine" an article on this subject that tho playwright seldom has his work tossed aside unreal. Mr Frederick Harrison, whose management of tho Haymarket with Mr Cyril Maude was marked by quite exceptional success in hitting the public taste, says that t"he number of plays he' reads is appalling. "One oannot dare to be indifferent to the avalanche, of manuscripts that overwhelm us on every Who knows what hidden talent may be brought along?" Harrison's method is to read a play rapidly -rigTjt through at a sitting, and to make his iiiind up absolutely on the reading. To consult other people is fatal.' Mr Cyril lyJaude also reads every manuscript cent to him. Mr George Edwardes and Mr T. B. Davis give eotne interesting information on the' building up or tr'o musical comedy. The first thing .with Mr EdwaTdes ie to get a striking <*nt*al figure, and then ho elaborates, other characters to suit his company., Mr Davis adopts the method of choosing his artiste first and his'play afterwards. When he has eilected his prinia-donua., his comedienne, his low-oomody man, and .his einging hero (who was once a tenor, Hit is now a baritone), he thinks of the locale of each act. This is only to guido thoGO in charge of the scenery and the costumes; the dialogue and the lyrics are exactly similar in style whether the eoenes are laid in England or in a foreign, country. "Whether the comedian be a foreigner or' a cockney, he will be expected to sing about Mr Chamberlain." Aβ for the construction of tho play, "'it is extremely advisable that a dramatic situation nhould'bo led up to in the final of the first act, in which the baritone and prime donna should be' the ,, central figures, while, at the same time, the low comedian should be woven into the situation with a suggestion conveyed to tho audience, if possible, that, whatever predicament tJio lovers.find th'cmselvce in, it ie he who is going to help out." What a great deal is here explained! . Mr Frank Curzon says that if a play "hito him hard enough" he will produce it. But, however excellent a. play may be, it must suit the manager's company before it can be produced, and consequently a really capable writer may meet with no success for some time. Here is consolation for those whese manuscripts come back to them with disheartening regularity — consolation such as editors seek to convey whon. they tell you that the rejection of your manuscript "docs not necessarily imply lack of merit."