MISS DARGON AT ROSS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 9, 20 June 1884, Page 17

MISS DARGON AT ROSS.

In the following hurried sketch I do not pretend to anything more than an imperfect description of the impressions produced on me by Miss Dargon, by a few hours in her private society and her public display at the Totara Hall last night. Pictures were wont to be called the books of the unlearned, bat Miss Dargon is a book to the learned and the unlearned, for her every attitude, look and gesture, speaks naturally and in the most convincing manner to the heart and intellect, and whether among the simple and the unlettered, or among those of greater cultivation, she leaves the stamp and influence of her accomplished eloquence on every individual of her auditory. No matter what subject she undertakes — grave or gay, sentimental or practical, religious or secular, warlike or peaceful, she has an easy knack of catching its spirit, improving the words by tone and gesture, which she makes not merely ornamental to the text, but necessary integral parts of it, and without which the full rendering of the author's idea could not be realised. Her eloquence is the talent of the very few ; she breathes life into every word she utters, which carries a charm to elevate, to melt, to soothe, to cheer, to scorn, to humiliate as she desires, and her climaxes are most powerful and absorbing in their effects. She must be seen to be appreciated. As Queen Catherine in the divorce scene in Henry VIII., she displays a marvellous combination of all those qualities with which we associate our " ideal queen," duty, tenderness, dignity, courage, and a real queenly presence. But who can describe her rendering of Tom Davis' " Fontenoy." She seemed the personification of patriotism, and to realise Virgil's words : — " With frenzy seized I run to meet th' alarms, Resolved on death, resolved to die in arms, Spurred by my courage, by my country fired, With sense of honour and revenge inspired." She did not " wet blanket " the author, his words or their meaning ; hers was no " mumbling inaudibility," each word of the immortal author received its due meaning. Courage, patriotism, fury, and revenge were depicted on every sound, every lineament of her features, and every position of her body, and which she communicated to every Irishman present, and elicited such cheering and applause as was almost sufficient to evoke the ghost of Tom himself, and make him laugh with delight. I am sorry to say Miss Dargon was seriously indisposed during the whole of to-day, but it is expected she will be sufficiently recovered to start to-morrow to fulfil her engagements at Kumara, Greymouth, Reefton, and Westport. Bhe carries the best wishes of the people away with her from here, and any man that sits listening to her soul-stirring eloquence but for an hour in a public hall, or listens to her social conversation in private society, will leave her company with regret, and go away a better man, Ross, June 11, 1884. J. J. C.