MISS BEATRICE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 165, 6 April 1908, Page 3

MISS BEATRICE DAY.

; AN INTERVIEW. Those who have watched her delightfully sympathetic arid .'tenderly humorous interpret tation of tho.part of Peter's Mother would bo prepared' to find Miss'.-Beatrice Day off the stage as charming'as Lady Mary herself is before itlie footlights,',apd meeting her they would h/ive idea''confirmed, for 'the-pos-sibilities-',of the/heroine'shut -in for years by bounds ,mental and physical ,have . become , actualities here, and here-is , the mental- culture; aisjl,breadth'of, by. thoughtful experience. , -.V " Our. interview' began with a reference to the luckless.lady in "The Mummy and,the Hummingbird;''- ,Iri common:with most of tbO/6tber women' who satt .that 'plajr, "Dominica " had; felt that tho;author's point of, view was rather .topsy-turvy,'.that the old'story of the husband who devotes himself to his own affairs,'.expecting his wife .to take his love for granted, 'and so leaves her exposed, to" the. alluremenfs'.'of a' shallow villain,, should'have had a',.different; ending,- . and that it. should havo the" hu'sband;who begged pardon at the laiu.. ' She also:thought that a man who showed.so much " gumption" in.his dealings with other men would have'understood his wife better than did Lord Lumlev; . • .. But, no; Miss Day thought .that ;a great many inon ; were like that,, quite, at sea in - their (.dealings with women, and that many a. girl .married/as' Lady Lumley .without in the least, understanding the. character of the man she married; Oil . 'this subject, Miss . Day holds strong views;;' and she ..thinks there.would be better chances -: for happy . marriages if . men and women-mot on more; equal'.terms, and if •' they had interests' in , common that enabled thom'';{o become really acquainted. She also thinks that in such a case there would" probably bp fewer marriages, but that, would not matter, i>s there would be less misery. .Tho best ;waj>-Would' be 'if-boys and girls had greater'opportunities of companionship.' .Not , necessarily " by;,means of co-education; though that.' iiiight help," but'in. their, -games, and. "ariius'ehients. ' Then they would growup with a' morp 1 intelligent .'.understanding and/ fewer illusions'as tb' the "characters of menfolk and womenfolk. " Girls in the: colonics,. of course," said Miss Day, ■ " have .more opportunities for .meeting men on equality, and lead a much-freer life than in Erig; land, and .that mates their, prospects of happiness , so' much greater/ ■ ' :' Like.' Joliii ]Cfewys;in -" Peter's Mother," Miss Day 'docs'not believe in'"the -possibility of much . happiness in" early ' marriages. . Though the' general-'idea is;; that a .girl matures much more'quickly 'than' a boy,- as a matter 'of : 'fact .she attains .her. 'full ..'mental , development.;muiif',later,'.arid.'the man'sho is .willing to marry at .seventeen Js .not tho man she would choose 'height or ten years, later; <.. ,

"Dominica" suggested that those who marry : rery young may settle down to a comfortable ancxciting> sort'! of' the result of ong sharing of each Others' , interests, but Ifiss Day did'not think so.. They would miss ihd; greatest happiness of perfect companionship, and there would always be; the danger of an av.'akening, when it .was -tco late—^the' r danger'of' finding that happiness lay in a ; path, that' had been missed.:' " . . •• .:. Another point that. Miss. .'Day thinks. ' mothers should look to, is 'tho training oftheir daughters for some special' employment; The girls who are taught they must get married are. not .to -"'be* blamed for regarding that as-the only way to a happy, life, -butthey should he trained to independence,, so that they may never be at the mercy of the world,__and they may . choose' marriage only 1 when Tiappiness is really to'.'bo - found .that ' way. ■:' 'i ' ~■ ON THE . STAGE." - :■ Miss ..Beatrice Bay's connection with the stage,, oven her' bowing acquaintance with it, began very, late. As. a child of eleven : she saw "Romeo and Juliet" and one other play, but. she' was over twenty .before she • went to. the theatre again.. • lier ..home .was, in the country,, and she was brought up' to' excel in housewifely arts. Even, in'the''holidays,'; when she went, home, from'; boarding-school,' she was taught to sew and do a dozen other useful things, and," like many-another capable . "domesticated" girl,-, it was ''her. ambition to be'; a nurse. , One-, can. yell';believe, that' some hospital was the poorer" her. friends, persuadedher against taking up that profession; . It'jvas.no attackrof' stage..fever that took her-! on- the stage, ibuii the need to find some employment, -''and l ; fn her . determination tol- succeed: she had. at first to win through some hard years. -'.She doesnot advise girls to hanker after a, stage life, though .110 one who ; has-Seen her act can doubt that her heart is iu the work, and v that she loves, her art. ",I.\ ' A KEENjORITIC. In a Melbourne school 'there is a small boy vrh'o.is,- says Miss .Beatrice; Day, a very interested and keen-.critic''of her performances, who notices;: very quietly if her voice drops in the middle of arid who does not at all approve of ; :t)ifc! tears in the last act of. " The Mummy tho Humming Bird." He is very'.ansiou'fJalways to see first-night notices, and exacts ..implicit information as to the sort of houses that the company gets.. He is ten years jld now,..but it is a dear little picture of lnra as a baby boy. that his mother wears Tyhen she plays the, part of Peter's ,'liis picture, that she holds out to Jdiri'tTrewys ;as ( "'the picture of my boy." . -' • ,-iV fli • • " ; :