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Show V fl, A VflSlT TO MAL'Dlfi ADAMS' r I (Ow.itinued from Preceding Pnge.) j the" owner's catholicity of tnste, until in the scope and multitude of the ol-I ol-I unje I gaff, the career of un omnl- ! orpue render. ' tL"l)a step that brought me into the i i bopk room was charming in its re- f suits. 1 knew it at once for the own er ji main workroom. It was ini-, ini-, prfssively Individualised as repleto with character ns a fine old etching:. It 'spoke eloquently of four things sirfVplicity, eoarestness, iudustiy, and I t mdntnl alertness. I had no need to f met Miss Maude Adams after enter ing It. To see tljjs room was to know her. It was matinee day when I called ( and the mistress of the house had not i , je teturnedtrom the theater. I had J ample leisure to observe the room j, I as unlike all other rooms as she who j is lfs informing spirit is unlike nil !, v otfyr ponsonitllties) Books ntid hooks k ' and books, the cheerful crackling of . nn open fire, the comfort of a i;rent, , deep softly cushioned crimson dinn, j9 rte the solitude of the place n sense 1 of i ompanlonship and rheer. H All the little details of furnishing H or oC decoration seemed to spenk to B one. A Dnmnsenn blade, a ciuaint and Hj 1'iiWoug Idol of ancient Egyptian stone, M , nrf illuminnted mediaeval Madonna, a H 1 crucifix from some wayside Italian M 'I shrine thase things sent one's heart 1- A on a pilgrimage through the ages to jjj the ends of tho earth. But a charm- H hig f in pencil sketch by Dana Glb- M j son over the fireplace brought it back. H i And the comfortable sense of books H and the scent of fresh roses held it H w illlng prisoner in the now and Hi here H j I loafed at lm ease in a great chair m v hose bade and sides enfolded me B hipitabl . The dust and smoke, tho M nek ajul newness of worlc-n-day New m Yi.iU seemed ery far away from the" fll stlence and simplicity and tiuuintness B everything nbout me. A cheerful H fre crackled on a hearth upon tho M i 'p of whli h Mmecleer artisan had H fushioned ii rnireTl Iron letters the B er spirit of tho -place, "Old books H to rend, old wood 4p burn, old ftilonds H to love." M There was a strange charm In nl- B lMWing tho whole multitude of fancies B to come whl8perinirnbout one's sense. B The who't house was silent. One could B , well Imagine how perfectly hero B I might -the cares oTa day go to sleep B i nd leave one to snatch a joyous feel- B ' lr of dlsenthralhnent. It was here B t'i it Peter Pf.n had been creaiad, and Bj the whole spirit and atmosphere of fl lb play Imaglnelfjfrrth. Beforo these B hi truing coals and within this perfect B; quiet' and slmpllclt must hne oas- B Ily been recalled the stories of the B secret world and midnight pranks of lttitwism. The whole hand of falr- H i it an Mentand modern, pirates, In- H dlajis, trotodiles and wolves, eles and BB j sprite ( ould not but couie flitting Wm i hftwreen fanc's ej, and the leaping H I flan es . the fireplace Etn as I B iaifd I thought lu a minute thi H v.tMe making themsthes 'Nislble tu H m upon the mantelpiece ulnne HB until i loser ..t rutin proved them to IB 1 be three toyTHiIrrtiCls a wOl a. lion, nvA a do Aith an abbrevintadjall unmistaltbly "&an" all, 'doubtloss, tUa gift of some enthusiastic youth- ful admirer. I had taken up tho book nearest mo as It lay xrpen on the Ifrench wall table. Tl wa the first edition copy of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonder-h'd" Wonder-h'd" I vnn uurroundod on three sides by book c os which towered a foot or !i'oie above my shoulders. There was the same divorslty of taste here that I had noticed about tho books In the "ballroom, Avhioh, as I could now see, had simply boon crowded out of tho bookroom. Just behind at the end of the sofa and easily taken down by one who read while reclining was a re- markably complete sot of volumes on Egypt ancient and modern. There were books on tho Khedive, and the building of tho aoleUmted dnm at Assouan, As-souan, and elaborate plates of the grent Assyrian and Egyptian oxoavn-tions-inanji of (horn bodgekotl in (their margins with curious little circles cir-cles and other strange penolllngs by their owner. The set of shelves at the opposite end of the sofa wore entirely given to Shakespeare and his commentators. It seemed to rac a fine openness of mind and broadness of vlow which Could as froely accord shelf spnee to such established authorities as Ward, Floay, Furnlvall and Furnsss and at the same time to the laugh provoker, Z. Jackson, who for one Shakespear- -ean note whioh is obvious has a genius for oCforincr ten which nro nil wrntiir. ' There was not much wall space loft for pictures because of the great room given to books. But whatever each bit of wall held took one far away, as If led by Tinker Boll over tho sons to strange lands. In one space was a glimpse of Egypt and the dark oast in the form of a fine engraving of Bnalbec which revonled the Temple of tho Sun, built by Solomon for his wife who was a worshiper of Bnnl. And to look opposite was to foel something some-thing of a Tours In a group of cathedral cathe-dral etchings carofully selooted so as to indicate the fine structural linos which resulted in Isle de France ' Gothic. They were all so many tokens of one who loves llfo best when, like Peter Pan, "with a wlgglo of her shoulders," she becomes a buoyant traveler among unknown people in lands beyond tho seas. But by now twilight had ascended completely from the enst and the bookroom was enshrouded in dark-rese, dark-rese, except for tho spot of light beneath be-neath the lamp as If Tinker Boll was r.n guard. From somewhere about the house came the sound 6t a clock chiming an hour which my own watch told me was 0. My hostess had not come, but my time was up. The Inst thing to catch my eye was on of the open volumes on the floor of , the hailroom a bit of bookmaklng Ait up iiot in a day or month, but cldently in the slow, sure process of Usting workmanship. It lay open at the passu; -diiih, in hastily chosen Fnglish, ret' ils tus "3he exoelled in the gradations, in those subtle pasting from one tone to another which express the hlssl- tudes of passion. No one ever so thoroughly understood tho art of mute acting the art of listening perfectly per-fectly and yet acting with one's whole person while another character Is speaking. It does not appear that off the stage sho possessed a very striking or extraordinary boauty; but In her was an assembling, a harmony of all nature's flnost beauties. Full ot soul and of fooling, an untiring student, passionately in love with her art everything contributed to make her tho grent reproducer of tho subtlest subt-lest and flnost of human emotions and this to a degree unsurpassed 4n her own daj " In these Ur. s Sainte Bouvo had the groat actross, Adrlonne Le Couvreur In mind, and I, as I read Maud Adams. |
