Review of Reviews, 20J2/06. 



Leading Articles, 



189 



STORIES ABOUT IRVING. 



Mr. Joseph Hatton contributes to the Grand 

 Magazine further chapters about Sir Henry Irving. 



THE ACTOR AND PREACHER. 



The writer tells many good stories about the great 

 actor, of which one of the most striking is this : — 



On his last visit to Toole in the July of the year of his 

 death he was driving along the King's Road at Brighton 

 with his friend ana two others when suddenly a voice 

 •called after them, "You are going to Heli! Irving 



stopped the carriage and waited until the prophet of dooni 

 came up. He was a well-known preacher accustomed to 

 address Brishton in a general way on the sands. He had 

 been an officer in the Army, but gave up soldiering to 

 warn sinners of the burning pit. ' You are Irving?" he 

 said. "Yes. that is my name,'' replied the actor; where- 

 upon, with an inconsequential volubility, his aggressor 

 began to expound the fate of actors and playgoers. "" But 

 you might as well quote the Bible accurately, " said Irving, 

 correcting a text which the preacher burled at him. 



In a brief passage of controversy the actor showed that 

 he was more intimately acquainted with the Holy Scrip- 

 tures than the preacher who professed to be Heaven's mes- 

 senger, a second John crying in the wilderness. A crowd 

 gathered round and everybody was deeplv impressed with 

 the calm dignity of Irving and the adroitness of his Scrip- 

 tural repartee. " You may be the richest man in London, 

 but riches won't save you.'' shouted the preacher. " I am 

 not rich,'' said Irving; "I am a poor man.' "But you 

 are an actor, and you are accursed; you cannot escape 

 damnation!" "Is that the judgment of your God?" asked 

 Irving. " From the beginning of the world;" replied ^_e 

 fanatic. 'Then your God is not my God; my God is a 

 God of mercy and of truth, who forgives not seven times, 

 but seventy times seven. That is my God! Drive on, 

 coachman!" Irving looked a veritable prophet as he rose 

 to his full height. It was as if the spirit of Becket had 

 taken hold of him. As the carriage drove off the crowd 

 was hushed. Even the false prophet was silenced. 



HIS AUNT A BORN QUEEN. 



In one of his conversations with Irving, which 

 "were to form the basis of a biography. Mr. Hatton 

 quotes this tribute to the woman who had much to 

 do with his bringing up. Irving said: — 



If ever there was a born queen it is my aunt, a Tem- 

 perance Methodist; the sort of woman who, in her simpie, 

 grand way. walks with God. . . . Well, now, about my 

 Aunt Penberthy's character, and the way she lived with 

 her husband. They never quarrelled; they were always 

 happy. She was always cheerful; but one day, when she 

 was out, her husband came home from the mine offended 

 at something there, or at home, and, to our amazement, 

 walked into the kitchen where we youngsters were, and 

 began to smash everything he could lay his hands on. He 

 took up the chairs and broke them across his knee, and 

 they were pretty strong, too — nothing, however, to him; 

 he snapped them as if they had been the merest sticks. 

 Drawers, tables, he smashed everything; then walked out 

 and went back to the mine. We were all terrified while 

 this was going on. As for me, I got behind the door or 

 anywhere else out of his way. It was a fine old Cornish 

 kitchen — ingle-nook, great oak beams, bacon and bams 

 hanging on the beams, a regular farm-like country kitchen. 

 When he was gone we breathed again, and no lonser 

 feared. We simply waited for the queen's return, only 

 wondering what she would say. In the evening we went 

 to meet him as usual, my- aunt with us. There lie was 

 coming along as before, with his great wide arms and 111 

 the same flannel costume, the very self-same giant of the 

 day before. We gave him the same old greeting; he re- 

 ceived us in the same old hearty way. My aunt and Le 

 walked together in their customary manner, she leaning 

 on one arm, he putting the other great arm round her 

 waist — a big hearty giant of a fellow. When he trot home 

 he paused at the open doorway of the- kitchen. Bung back 

 bis chest, and gave forth a great burst of laughter, l'ou 

 never heard such a laugh; it was tremendous. My aunt 

 laughed, too. What do you thing he laughed at? The 

 wreck of the furniture had been got together and displ 

 by my aunt, as if the whole business was a huge joke. 

 Broken chairs, table-legs, a cupboard door, pieces of an 

 old seat, all manner of things, were hung upon the walls 

 as if they were pictures, articles of vertu, bric-a-brac. And 

 this was all that occurred. There was no scene; only the 

 laughter. 



THE GERMAMSATION OF BRAZIL: 



A Challenge to the Monroe Doctrine. 

 In the Fortnightly Review for January Mr. F. \Y. 

 Wile publishes an article which will give President 

 Roosevelt much food for thought. Mr. Wile de- 

 clares : — 



Germans long for a foothold in Brazil, because its 

 mighty area of unpre-empted virgin wealth fulfils dreams 

 of an economically independent Greater Germany over-sea. • 



But they are not by any means content with long- 

 ings. They are hard at work attempting to fulfil 

 their dreams. 



The results of their combined efforts save the commen- 

 tator the precarious task of drawing conclusions. Already 

 5^0,000 Germans, emigrants and their offspring, are resident 

 in Brazil. The great majority of them, it is true, have 

 embraced Brazilian citizenship, but their ideals and ties 

 are essentially and inviolably German. In the south, 

 where they are thickest, they have become the ruling 

 element. German lactories. warehouses, shops, farms, 

 schools and churches dot the country everywhere. German 

 has superseded Portuguese, the official language of Brazil, 

 in scores of communities. Twenty million pounds of vestea 

 interests — banking, street railroads, electric works, mines, 

 coffee plantations, and a great variery of business under- 

 takings — claim the protection of the Kaiser's Hag. A cross- 

 country railway and a still more extensive projected system 

 are in the hands of German capitalists. The country's 

 vast ocean traffic, the Amazon river shipping, and much 

 of the coasting trade are dominated bv Germ; - 



Over and above this purely commercial conquest, how- 

 ever, looms a factor of more vital importance to North 

 American susceptibilities— namely, the creation of a nation 

 of Germans in Brazil. That is the avowed purpose of three 

 German colonising concerns, which have become lords and 

 masters over 8000 square miles of Brazilian territory— an 

 area considerably larger than the kingdom of Saxony. 



So fast and so far have they progressed that the 

 Grcnzbotcn proudly predicts that: — 



Within a few years we shall see the rise on the other 

 side of the Atlantic of a vigorous German colonial empire, 

 which shall perhaps become the finest and most lasting 

 colonial enterprise old Europe ever created. 



Based, then, upon their achievements so far and their 

 expressed hopes for the future, the German programme in 

 Brazil would seem to contemplate: — 



1. Colonisation of Southern Brazil with Bettlers, who shall 

 remain German in language, trade, ideals and surround- 

 ings. 



2. Expansion of German commercial. industrial and 

 financial activity, with control of means of communication, 

 both inland and oceanic. 



3. Abandonment or modification of the Monroe doctrine 

 by the United States, which shall eventually permit 

 economic predominance to be turned to political account 

 without war. 



To the student of moving events the passing of the years 

 promise no more fascinating prospect than the develop- 

 ment of this chrysalis of great expectations. 



How to Educate Children. 

 The Theosophical Review for December publishes 

 an interesting paper by the Italian teacher of Helen 

 Keller on the secret of educating abnormal children. 

 What is good for the abnormal child is also good for 

 all children : — 



The word why is the door by which the child passes from 

 the world ol sense to that of reason and reflection. 



1. Teach the abnormal child by the way most accessible 

 to him. that words denominate things, actions, and senti- 

 ments. 



2. Never speak of tbiners which do not interest the 

 pupil, or, at least, try to awaken his interest in what you 

 wish to teach him. 



3. Do not leave any question of the pupil without an 

 answer; thi- excludes absolutely the imposition of silence 

 on his many questions, which is the greatest obstacle and 

 t he most injurious to li is inquiring mind 



4. Do not worry if the pupil does not understand a given 

 word, sentence, or explanation. 



