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Show LAWRENCE BARRETT'S RISE. His Slow anil Tireless Adrance to Position Posi-tion of 1'roiuliienus. Harpers vvemy. Lawrence Barrett lias soenred an enviable en-viable position in an exalted walk of life. His title to tho esteem of his fel-lowmen fel-lowmen has been approved. His abil. ity to do certain things uncommonly well is generally recogni.ed. How far the ambition that has sustained him in his arduous career has been realized can not bo told until his actual hopes and aspirations have been made known when the measure of his toil may be compared with tho measure of its compensations. com-pensations. I have no doubt, thong h, that many of his contemporaries thi nk him a very lucky man, which is not true. He has never been a favorite of fortune. Ho has fought against every odds lor every leaf in his wreath of golden laurels; his 1 ifo has been ono of unremitting toil; he has encountered bitter disappointments that would have discouraged a mau less earnest and self reliant, he has grappled bravely with poverty and disease; ho has lived down the effects of tomes of adverse criticism. Tho true narrative of his life is scarsely less amasing to readers of this practical era than tho fabled account ac-count of the tests of Hercules. Tho son of a poor unlettered Irish immigrant. Lawrence Barrett, got his first acquaintance with the stage as a call boy in a country theater. At the ago of 15 years ho could barely read and write, lie had no advantages; ho secured no advancement through fav- oritism. Y'et today tho multitude, of its own accord, regards him as a scholar among actors, ami actor who is. a lit companion of scholars. Whatever tho extent of Mr. Barrett's learning may be, it is not expressed ostentatiously; he is not fond of using Latin quotations in common conversation, liko Edmund Keati, whose suppositious learning is proclaimed by his amiable biographer, Hawkins. On tho contrary, this popular popu-lar estimate of the acquired knowledge and cultivation of Mr. Barrett is based solely upon the popular estimate of the value of his work, nud the impression made by his manner of producing plays and his acting in them. What an actor knows or does not know, apart from the knowledge necessary to- the practice prac-tice of his art, really concerns tho public pub-lic at large as little as tho conduct of his private life. But tho fact that the great public has decided for itself that Lawrence Law-rence Barrett is a man of much learning learn-ing is significant. The intellectual force of the actor has been the most potent factor in forming his reputation, |