AGAIN says the Sun: That is no new scheme

which the Omaha Herald attributes to Mrs. Fanny Davenport of marrying her leading man, Mr. McDowell, because it is "cheaper to support a husband than hire a leading man." This plan has been tried before in various forms, only more often by men than by women. "A hired girl," once said a back country New England farmer, "costs wages, but all a wife needs is two calico dresses a year, and she does all the work." In every marriage for avarice, however, there is bound to be a certain amount of sentiment. We do not believe that a marriage purely for money ever really happened.

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SAYS the Boston Herald: Probably no lead

ing actress on the American stage, having as many admirers as Ada Rehan, is so little known in private life. She makes few new acquaintances, and is usually seen, when not at the theatre, with Mrs. Gilbert, when fulfilling engagements out of New York. In the latter city, during the winter, she lives in a pretty apartment in one of the cross streets up-town, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. In the same building Mrs. Gilbert also has a cosy apartment, where she makes her home during the winter season. Ada Rehan is the cleverest of several sisters and a brother or two, all of whom, I believe, are in the theatrical profession. One of her sisters is Mrs. Oliver Doud Byron, of Across the Continent" fame, whose stage name is Kate Byron. She and her husband have played annual engagements in Boston for a number of years. The sensational melo

dramatic dramas they appear in have netted them very comfortable returns, all of which are safely invested in a good deal of valuable real estate at Monmouth Beach, near Long Branch. A season or two ago I was visiting some friends at this pretty Jersey coast resort, who were ensconced in one of Mr. Byron's cottages, while almost every other cottage in the immediate vicinity, occupied by some of the best known New York fashionables, were also the property of the Byrons. Personally this couple were among the most delightful people I ever met. Ada Rehan's sister strongly resembles her, while both have a peculiar intonation of voice and manner of speaking. Miss Rehan's voice is as much part of her unique individuality as are the fetching gowns she usually wears.

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WILLIAM TERRISS, who opens a' Niblo's

Oct. 7th under the management of Messrs. Augustin Daly and H. C. Miner, in "Roger la Honte," the adaptation of a French play of that name, which has been purchased by Mr. Charles Overton. Mr. Terriss (his real name is William Lewin) belongs to the Earl of Zetland's family, and is the son of an English barrister and nephew of George Grote, the historian. He commenced life in the Royal Navy, became a banker's clerk, then went into the wine trade, from which he sought relief as a practical engineer in the great Penn workshops. His next experience was on an Indian tea plantation, and finally he reached the stage at the age of twenty years, making his first appearance in 1870 at a provincial theatre at eighteen shillings a week. His next move was to Kentucky, where he engaged with Percy Tattersall in the horse-breeding business, the net result of which was a return home in the steerage of a ship. After a short interval on the stage at Drury Lane, he took to sheep farming on the Falkland Islands. This soon gave out, and so he returned home and to the stage once more. first hit was under the management of John Hare at the Court in "Olivia" as Squire Thornhill. After a varied experience at the London theatres, he settled down under Henry Irving. with whom he stayed seven years, and played with him during the first Irving tour in America. Finally, in 1886, Mr. Terriss went to the Adelphi, and has been the leading man of the theatre and the beloved of the Adelphia gods ever since.

His

W. H. TURNER, who has been with "True Irish Hearts" the past season, will play the Indian in "The Octoroon" for the coming fortnight at Niblo's.

MR. OLIVER, representing the interests of the People's Theatre, Chicago, is in town and makes his headquarters at Gustave Frohman's offices, 19 East 28th street.

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IN speaking about Edwin Booth's re-appearance in San Francisco the Argonaut says: But though the divine fire at times burns low, the great actor remains greater in his decline than all his followers in the flower of their pride. Who can emulate the finesse, the smooth perfection, the infinitely artful gradations of this personation? Who else has the power to express a world of triumphant, demoniac cunning in one flash of the eye, one curl of the lip? Beside this Iago, all others seem but clumsy blunderers, whose successful machinations prove Othello "egregiously an ass." It is such perfection of art, so quiet, so unobtrusive, so unlike acting. There are those who complain of this very subdued quality, of a lack of vividTo these, a novel of the second type, described in the sixth chapter of "Vanity Fair," would be acceptable, and villainy is only villainy in a slouch-hat, a black cloak, a ha-ha laugh, a desire to lurk in corners, or to steal darkling across the stage to the mysterious thrumming of cat-gut strings.

ness.

EMMA NEVADA writes in the Boston

46

Transcript: My first appearance on any stage was made at Grass Valley, California, at a concert given for the benefit of a local charity. Wrapped in the American flag and standing on a table I sang the StarSpangled Banner" to the apparent satisfaction of the audience. I was then just three years old. Two years later I sang at a concert given in Virginia City, before an 'audience largely composed of successful miners. They showered upon me not only flowers and bon-bons, but also twenty-dollar gold pieces, then a novelty, in such numbers that the skirt of my little frock, which I gathered up to hold my treasures, was speedily filled. Then, as new offerings were thrown to me, I was sadly puzzled what to do with them. But a bright idea struck me. I pulled off one of my shoes

and filled that in turn. My education was by no means relinquished in favor of acting or singing. I was a pupil at the Mills Seminary, and graduated there three years after the death of my mother. I took lessons in both vocal and instrumental music during my stay at that institution. The story of how I came to sail for Europe with a class of twelve other young ladies, under the auspices of Dr. Ebell, an American by birth and half Indian by blood, who was at the head of a young ladies' institute at Berlin, has already been told, and how Dr. Ebell died of rheumatism of the heart just before we landed, leaving the whole party stranded on a foreign shore without a director. Mrs. Church, the chaperon of the American girls, had come abroad to study painting. She, as well as myself, contrived to get back part of the sum we had placed in Dr. Ebell's hands for our expenses, and with the advice of Professor Ehrlich, of Berlin, we set off for Vienna, where I placed myself under the professional care of Mme. Marchesi. I studied under that excellent teacher for nearly three years, devoting ten months of that time to the practice of exercises only, and taking four and sometimes five lessons per week. When my studies were ended, I had learned twenty operas in Italian.

MISS NEVADA also says: I have been

asked to give some details regarding the regimen that I follow on the day preceding an evening's performance. In the first place, and I consider this point essential, I never talk. Anything that I have to say must be uttered in a whisper, and I speak as little as possible. I rise at half-past seven and take my bath. Breakfast, consisting of tea, bread and a sirloin steak, is served at half-past eight. Then I go to mass, and afterwards drive for two hours and walk for one hour more, unless the weather is stormy, fresh air and exercise being very essential for me. I dine at three, taking strong clear broth, another sirloin steak, rice, baked potatoes and roast chicken, but no salad, concluding with stewed prunes or baked apples and cream. I take one glass of good claret during the repast. After dinner I go to bed for two hours and try if possible to go to sleep. I dress at home, and usually arrive at the theatre just five minutes before the curtain rises. After the performance I take a supper composed of soup and beef and a single glass of beer. I am very careful to avoid overheating

either in my rooms or my dress. I never wear flannel underwear, and rely greatly for my health and strength, not only on nourishing food but on constant exercise in the open air. Some Italian professors of singing insist upon their pupils remaining in bed during the entire day preceding an appearance in public. But it would be impossible for me to follow such a regimen; I should break down under it in a week.

To my young countrywomen who contemplate embracing the career of a professional singer, I can only repeat what has often been said before they must study hard and patiently for at least three years. Also they must, during that period, live well, as abundant and generous nourishment is necessary to sustain the strength of a student as well as that of a prima donna. Above all they should have some funds at hand for their support whilst awaiting engagements. A lucrative engagement does not often await the young singer as soon as she has graduated. Then, too, there are the possibilities of illness to be considered. And above all, the advice of Dr. Johnson to Miss Burney, the author of "Evelina, should be remembered and followed, "Be a good girl, my dear."

LITERARY NOTES ABOUT THE WOMEN.

-Miss Kate Forsythe is a great reader. Her decided choice is Thackeray and Sheridan Knowles for her own entertainment. Dickens

is next, and German literature is to her the most elevated.

-Miss Carrie Godfrey prefers Gaborieau.

-Miss Annie Russell is especially fond of Scott, Tennyson, Browning and George Elliot. -Flora Walsh (Mrs. Chas. Hoyt) is particularly in love with "Ben Hur" and the works of Scott and Bulwer.

-Miss Marion Manola confesses that Goethe is her favorite, and after that Owen Meredith, Longfellow and Browning.

-Miss Fanny Rice prefers the current thoughts in the newspaper, and can discuss with intelligence the doings of Congress, Parliament, and the Reichstag. She also has her opinion concerning the President, the Tory Government, Bismarck's attitude and the Samoan difficulty.

-Laura Joyce Bell prefers Longfellow, Adelaide Proctor and Barry Cornwall, with a decided leaning toward Mark Twain.

-Miss Helen Dingeon likes modern day novels.

-Alice Gaillard thinks the writings of Dumas are the cleverest in the world.

-Laura Russell adores the "Duchess." -Miss Genevieve Lytton is now reading French in Paris.

-Mrs. James G. Blaine, Jr., is a thoughtful reader of Elliot, Dickens, and metaphysics. --Mrs. Georgia Drew Barrymore reads everything she can.

-Madame Mathilde Cottrelly is very conversant with Shakespeare.

-Miss Georgia Cayvan is especially fond of the poets and a student of political and domestic economy.

GOSSIP of the stage is that young Salvini

has an idea of starting out by himself next fall and has purchased a melodrama called "The Man in Black." Miss Blanch Walsh (wife of Charles Hoyt) has been engaged to play the role of Olivia with Marie Wainwright next

season.

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. (Modestly taken from Dunlop's Stage News and modestly inserted here with modest thanks to Mr. Dunlop.)

DESHLER WELCH, the editor and proprietor of

"The Theatre," is thirty-four years of age. He is the son of S. M. Welch, one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Buffalo, where young Welch began his journalistic career in 1870 by the publication of an amateur magazine called “Great Expectations," which he wrote himself and delivered to his subscribers on a velocipede. In 1871 he was a continual contributor to the local papers. In 1872 he "roughed it" for a year with a company of the 2d cavalry in scouting expeditions against the Indians, near Fort Fetterman. In 1873 he was city editor of the Buffalo Evening Post." In 1874 he joined the staff of the New York "Graphic," and was a special correspondent for that paper and the Buffalo "Commercial Advertiser" at the Centennial Exposition. In 1877 Mr. Welch had good training on the local staff of the New York "Tribune," and then returning to Buffalo started the Buffalo "Every Saturday," the best literary weekly every published in that city, and which attracted general attention, but the local interest at that time was not strong enough in Buffalo to support that style of a periodical, and it was given up after a hard struggle of two years. Mr. Welch then came back to New York and joined Mrs. Frank Leslie's staff of workers, remaining with her four years, during which connection he edited "Music and Drama," and subsequently wrote the "Life of Grover Cleveland." In 1887 Mr. Welch originated and started "The Theatre," a weekly publication that has occasioned much admiration by its exhibition of pluck and energy.

From New York Truth:

Mr. Deshler Welch's clever little paper, the Theatre, will be published hereafter twice a month, instead of monthly. He finds it necessary to make this change in his original programme in order to accommodate himself to the requirements of his readers and admirers. The Theatre has always been an exceedingly well conducted magazine, and merits success.