Life — December 13, 1888 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE LITTLE LORD. Js your child, my dear madame, an underbred cub with the manners of a boor or the sniveling propensities of a juvenile cad? Certainly not, and it is impertinence to suggest such a thing. Mrs. A's offspring may be disagreeable in various ways, and Mrs. B's a parcel of whining brats, but your own dear cherub, even if somewhat annoying at times, is no more of a nuisance than others of his years. Nevertheless, take the cherub to sce “ Little Lord Faunt- leroy." Don't send him with some one else, but take him yourself. You will both enjoy the play, for there is as much pleasure in it for adults as for children. More than that, you may both imbibe from the little boy in the play, founda- tions for an ideal, the contemplation of which will do you both—mother and child—much good. Don’t fear that you are going to have held up for your imitation a mere Sunday-school boy. Mrs. Burnett has managed to steer clear of that pious and revolting model, and at the same time give us a thoroughly good boy. Fauntleroy is also a“ mother's boy,” but not of the namby- pamby sort—a “mother’s boy” that every father as well as every mother would be glad to own. You will doubtless say to yourself that it is easier to create such children on the stage and in books than in real life. ‘It may also strike you that Fauntleroy is an im- possible creation in this wicked world, where there exists such strong affinity between boys and dirt, and where dogs’ tails seem especially adapted for the attachment of tin cans. Nevertheless, it will not hurt you and’several other Ameri- can mothers to try to approximate Fauntleroy in at least the manners of your respective cherubs. They need not lose their manliness thereby. Because sturdiness in a youngster is a thing to be admired, it does not necessarily follow that grace is a thing to be despised. The management of the Broadway Theatre has mounted Mrs. Burnett's play handsomely, and given it a cast which, with one or two exceptions, is excellent. Elsie Russell makes Lord Fauntleroy as winsome a little gentleman as ever lived, in or out of fiction. Her rare intelligence makes possible a realization of the char- acter which must bring joy to the dramatist’s heart as it does tears to the eyes and smiles to the faces of her auditors, “Little Lord Fauntleroy” is a pure and healthy play, good for the cause of the drama, and good for the people who witness it. Metcalfe. A SURPRISING OCCURRENCE. USTOMER (fo watter): 1 say, waiter, confound you, there's a fly in this soup! WAITER (amazed): Well, 1 do decla’, ef it yain’t sur- prisin’! Eberything seems to be gittin’ in de soup nowadays. POOR TREATMENT. | OUSIN ALICE (én Academy of Design): 1 was just admiring your picture, Byzantine. Its theme, color and treatment are absolutely perfect. BYZANTINE SMITH (6r¢terly): I don’t think much of its treatment. Look where they've hung it! WHY HE SUFFERED. LD GENTLEMAN (bestowing a trifie): Poor fellow! What has brought you to this condition of suffering ? TRAMP: Timperance, sor. | OLD GENTLEMAN: Temperance? TRAMP: Yis, sor; Oi've done nothing all day but sit in the Park and dhrink water; but wid the help av your honor's quarther, Oi'll be a new man in a few minutes. 6¢ THERE'S nothing like a little polish to conceal the defects of one’s understanding,” remarked Jack Borrowit, as he took up his worn-out shoes and proceeded to save a nickel by personal exertion. yo can’t get an insurance agent to admit that honesty is the best policy. aN ey ASSISTANCE, NOT ANNOYANCE. Friend: HEAVENS, BAGLEY! HOW CAN YOU WRITE WITH THAT BABY'S UNINTELLIGIBLE PRATTLE RINGING IN YOUK EARS? Bagley: Dox't pDistuRB US, Donson, I'M WRITING A DIALECT STORY AND THE RABY 18 FURNISHING THE LANGUAGE. comicbooks.com