by Dixie Hines.
_Illustration by Dan Smith._
“All the world’s a stage,
And men and women merely
players.”
The profession of the player is one of the oldest recognized and in
its growth and achievement stands foremost of all the arts.
In its crudest form little is known, but as a profession it may
properly date from the Chinese and Grecian periods, when players
were chosen from among the infant slaves and trained to the art by
masters, not unlike the painter and the bard.
To the immortal genius of Shakespeare does the world owe its
inexpressible appreciation of the artistic development, realizing
to the fullest degree the possibilities, and subsequently the
mastery, of the art, placing it at once on the highest pinnacle of
achievement and according to it the laurel of universal popularity.
To this genius is added that of others, each attaining a greater
degree of appreciation, until to-day the art of the player
encompasses the highest attributes of the allied arts.
The player is one who loves, and understands, nature. To do so
he must feel, in the highest sense, the emotions of the artist,
the poet and kindred spirits, because from each he must cull the
choicest petals—the inspiration of the poet, that he may portray
the character; the genius of the artist, that he may imbue it with
life, and the passion of the bard, and to this the sympathy of a
Madonna, the tenderness of an angel, the love of a mother and the
strength of a giant.
The development of the art of the player records the development of
civilization itself. The player and his art obtains wherever there
is civilization. In its highest form it is at once Literature, Art
and Music in harmonious arrangement. In its possibilities it is
Religion, teaching the whole world by its power:
“I’ve heard that guilty creatures at a play,
Have, by the very cunning of the scene,
Been struck so to the soul, that presently
They have proclaimed their malefactions.”
The player, supreme in his art, is master of every emotion.
[Illustration:
“_Little Betty’s._”
_Drawn by Nell Brinkley._]