Anna Dickinson is going upon the stage again and is to play male
characters, such as "Hamlet," "Macbeth," and "Claude Melnotte." We have
insisted for years that Anna Dickinson was a man, and we dare anybody to
prove to the contrary. There is one way to settle this matter, and that is
when she plays Hamlet. Let the stage manager put a large spider in the
skull of Yorick, and when Hamlet takes up the skull and says, "Alas, poor
Yorick, I was pretty solid with him," let the spider crawl out of one of
the eye holes onto Hamlet's hand, and proceed to walk up Miss Dickinson's
sleeve. If Hamlet simply shakes the spider off, and goes on with the
funeral unconcerned, then Miss Dickinson is a man. But if Hamlet screams
bloody murder, throws the skull at the grave digger, falls over into the
grave, tears his shirt, jumps out of the grave and shakes his imaginary
skirts, gathers them up in his hands and begins to climb up the scenes
like a Samantha cat chased by a dog, and gets on top of the first fly and
raises Hamlet's back and spits, then Miss Dickinson is a woman. The
country will watch eagerly for the result of this test, which we trust
will be made at the Boston Theatre next week.