To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,
To raise the genius, and to mend the heart;
To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold,
Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold--
For this the tragic muse first trod the stage.

--_Pope_.




ACTORS AND ACTRESSES


An "Uncle Tom's Cabin" company was starting to parade in a small New
England town when a big gander, from a farmyard near at hand waddled to
the middle of the street and began to hiss.

One of the double-in-brass actors turned toward the fowl and angrily
exclaimed:

"Don't be so dern quick to jump at conclusions. Wait till you see the
show."--_K.A. Bisbee_.


When William H. Crane was younger and less discreet he had a vaunting
ambition to play _Hamlet_. So with his first profits he organized his
own company and he went to an inland western town to give vent to his
ambition and "try it on."