| Show A AVORD WORD PICTURE Of IBSEN Intimate Facts About the Great Author Autho of Peer I G Y nt 1 r POSEUR AND MISANTHROPE MISANTHROPE ROPE fl I 1 Real Showed Man Man r Showed Only Ony m When Fever of Work Nork Wets Was Upon Uon Him I 0 IlI Indisputably the most picturesque j. j i t figure In the old world literature taro of oC his IJa day Ibson Ibsen Ib was nt Rt once an 1 Inveterate pos poseur and a misanthrope Nor did ho care car whether t tio whole world orld pointing pointing- Its lingers ers at In him hie ex exclaimed exclaimed exclaimed ex- ex claimed Sour old man ma so 0 that it Jt noticed him at all He seemed always Iwa s 's sto to dread the of or anyone anone passing passing- a ing him without r recognition He Ile loved lo tho the gaze Jao of 1 the ho crowd as he hei j i m loved his Ills dally daily tipple of brandy an and t soda noda He put himself elf on rE record as aR a R reveller rc In pessimism pc fur for ft its own sad md fake and he was s a as outspoken in his dislike o of strangers as nJ ho was anxious anxious I ious lous that the they should hould cape at him and comment on his p ps personal appearance arance Jb Ibsen en great genius and antI scholar that he wn was war acquired In his latter atter years ear tho rho small vices of ot a vain child he ho was an nn Intellectual peacock To have hae visited Chri and not notee see lSe ee Doctor Henrik Ibsen would have havo been like Uk touring touring- Egypt mid and missing missing- a n sight fight of ot the tho Sphinx and p pyramids i Ifo Iro was was- tho the most Interesting person- person J age ga In Jn the Norwegian capital capital and and J Ibsen before any one ono was conscious I Of br that fact t ct Down tho the Karl Johann's Johanns Gade to the Grand hotel ho he walked i every wery da day rain rain- rainor or 01 shine when tho the weather w was was' particularly inviting inviting- he f- f J paid two dally daly visits to tho the hotel A d Punctual tan Jinn On such days ho appeared punt punctually I tully at ono In the afternoon an and mi again at 8 in the evening Ibson Ibsen w was as above c all things a methodical man His life Ute was governed I by tho the clock H Ho HI I had his own table in tho the callery overlooking over o looking th the garden gardel and the minute he arrived ed a a. mute muto but well trained waiter wait wait- er place before the philosopher pher and pla playwright a bottle bottlo of brandy brandy bran bran- dy and another of ot soda oda This was theauthor's the theauthor's authors author's favorable a stimulant and two glasses classes of or tho the liquor his limit at a sitting With tho the care of ort a druggist compounding compoundIng compounding com com- pounding a a. pr prescription on he measured and nd mixed his drink which ho sipped a II swallow at a time with t uch such perfect regularity that one could tell toll of IJ by his action the lapse of each elch o Il-o minutes mInutes minutes min mIn- utes with recourse to clock or 01 watch The Theeo Theco o daily Jl libations Illations s seemed toward the end of ot his life to fo afford Henrik Ibsen the tho ono one consolation of ot otAn an existence nce whoso ingrained melan- melan impressed itself elt on all nIl t who ho got ot near enough to him to to converse in In- In formally One Ono da day it was borne in upon this observing old man than that those who haunted the tho public cafe caCe of or the Grand hotel wore for tor the most part his own fellow countrymen and that if It he was to be bo seen b by traveling Englishmen Americans Frenchmen Germans and Italians it would be nece necessary ary to take up his post In the hostel bostel proper Accordingly tic the choso for himself a table in a most COIl conspicuous part of ot t 1 tho h gallery alJer which overlooks time the bl big bis I garden where all foreigners tako take theft dinners and thus U It was to bethe bo be boI I the hc observed of ot all 1111 observers with I no fear ar of being approached or in inI inveigled in- in into conversation I Having taken talen his hiM seat ut the tho first of t modern rn Norse writers arranged arn hl hi his newspapers his lint hut hl his spectacles spin with nil all t f fussiness of a u stage spin ster Six of pairs e eye cyc e s were laid out in a row on the tho table talIe For very every pr P paragraph Iw he read ho he placed afresh n a fresh pair Jail of ot glasses A on his no nose noe e. e al always always al- al wa ways R pausing pausing- to polish them and fold them thorn to the light AH 14 he ho read apparently ab absorbed In tho lie contents of oC his newspaper close observers observer frequently detected the oldmans old oldmans mans man's eyes from rout the tho printed page In the direction of o the people n hi hl his way war Ho Ito was WUi a 1 sly old oldra ra rascal cal was Ibsen If Ir Nol ladles Wf were rc among those who watched him lilac the ruddy face ac at ut once III ilL up with the tho ra radiance radiance rn- rn diance of or self self-sath self It was an ill day for fOI Ibson Ibsen and the Grand GIand hot hotel I when foreigners were few Cew In the gar tar den lien an ala Audience But tin tho strange old genius was WilS rarely rarely rare rare- ly h without h his audience and the more moro the audience stared and Muttered fluttered themore the themore themore more genial and luminous became the Ibson Ibsen n countenance All II this seems incredible In Incredible In- In credible It Is the tho fact and antl In tho the fact you ou have a no memory of or the thc real Ibsen Ihsen F Few W great mon men are arc admirable off their pedestals Ib Iben Ibsen n was nR less les so o p perhaps than nn any of his contemporaries From his earliest childhood Doctor Ibsen's life was an unhappy one and although success s camo came to him abundantly abundantly antly in his later latel days day It came too toolate i late to change or sweeten him Ho He no longer longel had tho the capacity for ur enjoying tho the fame famo and the wealth which were his at the end enc He was compelled to full back upon himself for the greatest great great- est gratification of his desires His Hia HI whims and fads falls circled wholly around himself and tho the circle was a narrow one oneAs As a lad in tho the unattractive town of oC Skim his n his native place Ibsen's life liCe was sunless s and poverty Till Til ho was past middle age he gained neither countenance nor encourage encourage- encouragement ment mont In his own land Indeed he ho was deemed deeme a man of ot no ability at all His work was wa derided eri ed and over each new da day hung the pall poll of oC bitterest t adver cr sity t I Domestic Ufo Life Unhappy Nor or was tats Ills domestic life In an site niter r da day a n happy one At t the limo of or his death ho was as Norwegian wealth is estimated a n. very rich man He was worth and that is 11 a princely fortune in Norway Ibsen did not know what to do with all nil this money mony so w he lie hoarded it Il ho never would be he Induced to Invest est a n penny penn of or It IL He trusted no one even in tho the most h tri trifling trl- trl i- i fling financial trans transactions In tho face faco of ot his cloudy cloud past it act was wis was not therefore surprising that Henrik Ibsen grew more and more mOle misanthropic and amid died shrouded In his his' own conceit With so little that was genuinely Joyous in his life liCe there therb was nothing left but the tho tho creature comforts and the superficial adulation adulation adulation adula adula- Famo Fame tion of a fow fors' sight oven ovon In literature literature- Is Js surely not founded on the hast hasty scrutiny of ot ones one's I person by br a handful of ot Cooks Cook's tourists tourIst but that sort of oC thing thin actually brought complacence to tho the mind of or Ibsen Knowing that the tic moment he lie left his house in he would become be bo- become come the center of oC Interest lon I along tho the street he wa was always as careful to 10 dress for fo tho the occasion Most o t It would add another wrinkle to his brow Grow to discover a button missing I from Crom his coat or 01 a a. blur blu on tho the beaver beavor I of his tall silk hat His Ilis clothes were made madd ml of ot broadcloth of ot fine fino texture his tailor tailo was the best in do Christiana HP II alwa always wore won a UI tile of metallic smoothness smoothness' Ills boots boot were of oC patent patent patent pat pat- ent leather Tonto articles ho carried about with hint him always s 's and everywhere everywhere every every- where and anal frequently ho brought them Into requisition c in tho the most t public pub nib lie lic places place While on exhibition In the thc hotel garden In full ull view of or a cot cosmopolitan throng It was no uncommon act net for him to take tako from Crom his hlll pocket a comb or 01 brush bru h and lI caro ln I stroke his hi famous white or lift to a u greater r height his hl equally q famous white pompadour locks which stood straight ht up In tho the air like a II miniature Mount Blanc He lIo hud bud a trick of brushing his hat with the sleeve alcove of or hits his coat cont Now ow and then OHm he h paused looking long and earnestly Into tho the opening of oC hl his headpiece lIe He presented at such sucha a time line the tho picture of a It leonine sage of oC the Sagas deep in tho Iho maze of some s-omo omea a vast t problem of or tho the cosmos It Il was all a R. mistake takA it was Ibsen critically viewing Ibsen There Thera was Mas a a. mirror fa fastened in tho the bottom of or his lint hilt and he he- hewa was wa looking nt after r tho the twist of ot hI his cravat Ibsen Il Ih en cn the time I Heal Seal Man Inn But when lb Ibsen en n tho the author had hod formulated d the tho schema for to a tL new now drama and had determined to weld and mould It Into form fonn then occurred his metamorphosis from rom fop to work work- man n nan workman oblivious of the tho whole wide world Its peoples and Its Jn passions ions The butterfly drew back huck into in into into to its chr chrysalis the tho feasting crowds at tilt the rand frand Ian hot hotel 1 could no longer longor feast their h fye eyes on Henrik Ibsen nor nOl watch him stroke hi his whiskers and sip Ip brandy and soda oda at live minute In in- in ter al Tho The vulgar vain foolish old man had become a venerable Yf giant slant forging Con a ma masterpiece In absolute soli soli- tude Suddenly ho he le would shut himself himself him- him self up liP to write He Tie would f see C no noon on ono one 1 answer n w r no communications No cloistered monk was more mOlO isolated from rein the th moving world than I Ibsen Iben when tho the fever fr of or composition I Iwas was upon him tin Ho He ate nh slept lIeda lived lI a alone Asked why hp hI followed the life liCe of ot u a hermit while he was working upon anew a anew new production Ibsen replied with characteristic terseness s N I am living ins with m my characters character at tit such Rueh times tines Thc They aro arc near nell nib nio all tho the time I 1 write down clown their conversations their thought thoughts Xo o cr cr Knifes e. e a n Line Julie My I work worl comes along alon e very fast I J never lava havo t to era cra so n a line I have ha thought out tho the plot in my mind I know the tho pIa play froth from om the first scene cene to tu tho the last last even n the tho dialogue and It ItIs Itis Itis Is only necessary for Cor me to it out as all quick as possible During this time I am nm not nol Ibsen I do rho not live in Norway a nor In tho world 11 My existence Is apart from life In a II sphere of oC my any own o n c creation peopled IJ by beings of my o own n creation This lived th the real Ibsen a two two- sided man of letters and th theO the drama one all frills rills and foppery vain supercilious supercilious super super- cilious childish the other othel tho the thinker think think- er cr the thc worker the genius The Tho question question ques ques- I tion was put to Ibsen Iben whether ho favored fn- fn fa favored ored a certain social institution comI common com coin mon men to Germany and France Franco and I about to be he adopted b by the tho 1 glnn gians ians I 1 favor or it he cried I J I II Iam Iam am In favor of nothing I havo have no I remedies to suggest My I plays play's are I Inot not Tho They tried to read strange ne new meaning meaning- inn fin my Peer rhe They looked for fOl problems where thero were none Peer G nt I j is the story of or nil human life liCe present presented ed In epitome It Is youth ambition love lovo old age truth truth truth-thA the greatest st thing thine- I have done It will bo ho my my I monument when I am gone Sono It will wll live after me mc Time seems to be bearing out the I prophecy of or this foremost writer r of or I I his race The world has accepted accepted ac ac- ac- ac Peer Per as aR a gigantic plc pic ture of human life lite and emotions and the critics arc are agreed that lima in mst this wondrous spectacle of or ever changing existence by the thc little old man of f Christiana the stage has a work of lIt consummate art and like of which has not been pro produced since slake day lay |
