Show I T V i I I IUN V 14 I I v vA A VORD PICTURE t OF IBSEN oO Intimate Facts About the Great Grea j Author Authol 1 of Peer r t POSEUR AND MISANTHROPE 1 Real Man Showed On Only Whet When r Fever of Work lork Was f. f J Upon Him Indisputably the most picturesque que figure In the old world orId literature turc ol or tits his ls da day Henrik Ibsen was at once an ar Inveterate poseur and a a. misanthrope p a Nor Kor did ho caro care whether the whole world pointing Its Ita fingers at rim him exclaimed ex ex- ex- ex claimed Sour old man so that It Jt noticed him at Lt all aU lie He always to dread the tho of or anyone pa passing him without recognition Ho He HoI loved the gaze of ot the crowd as he loved lo his dally tipple of ot brandy and lIo soda foda a He put himself on record as ns a I reveller rc In pe pessimism for tor its Us own sa sad sake pale and ho was as IlS outspoken on In his dislike of ot s 9 as he was anxious anxious I ious Jou that they should gape at nt him and andt t comment on his personal appearance Ibsen Iben great gre t genius and sociological scholar that he was acquired in his latter years tho small vices Ices of ot a vain Child he was an Intellectual peacock To have o visited and an not top eO Doctor Ibsen would have havo been like Uke touring Egypt and missing a sight of ot tho the Sphinx and pyramids He was the most niost Interesting personage personage person person- RJ age in the Norwegian capital and capital and Ibsen before any one was conscious I of that fact t ct Down Ith tho Karl Johanns Johann's I Gado to tho the Grand hotel ho walked every very day rain or shino when hen tho tiro weather was particularly Inviting In ho paid two dally daily visits vl to tho the hotel A Punctual Man Mau On such uch da days s 's ho bo appeared punt at one ODO In the tho afternoon ah aim again at S In tho the oven c ng Ibs Ibsen n w wa above o a all things a a. methodical man mar Jib His life was waa governed b by the clock H He had bad his own table t. In the thc Jle overlooking overlooking over o looking the garden and tho the minute he hi arrived d a a. muto mute but well trained waiter wait cr er place before th the tho 0 shaggy gy philosopher pher her and ana playwright playwright- ht a bottle of or brandy brandy bran bran- brandy dy and end another of ot soda This was theauthor's tho the Authors Author's favorable stimulant and two twe glasses of tho liquor his limit at a a. a II Hitting fitting S' S With th the caro esro of a a druggist compounding compounding compounding com com- pounding a a- proscription pr he measured nd and mixed his drink life ht h sipped a swallow at a 8 time Ume with such perfect t tre re regularity that one could tell of b by his bits action the lapse of ea each h five 11 minutes min min- minutes utes with no recourse to clock dock or watch These dally daily libations seemed toward the end of ot his hiss life liCe to afford Henrik Ibsen the one one consolation of ot sn ln n existence whose Ingrained melancholy melan melan- choly Impressed Itself on all who got ot othear hear enough to him to converse conver o In In- In formally One day it St was wae borne In upon this observing old man th that t those who haunted the public cafe cae of ot the Grand hotel were were for tor the mo most t part his own t fellow countrymen and that If St he be was to bo seen by trav traveling Englishmen Americans Frenchmen n Germans and ana Italians ns it would be nece necessary to tako up his post In the hostel proper Accordingly ne tie chose for tor himself JN table blo In a a. mot most c conspicuous n part o ot of i II ilk I the galley gallei which overlooks tho bl big garden where all foreigners take thol dinners and thus it was to b bi bitho bo bothe the tho observed ob of ot all observers observer will nit no fear of being approached or Int In In- In t Into conversation Having Havins taken ken his seat at the first o 1 modern Norse writers arranged d his hl newspapers nC his hat his spectacles with all the of a stage spin spin- ster stem Six pairs of or glasses eye were I laid out In a n ro row on the tho table tabla Foi Fo every paragraph he read ho he placed m i n fresh pair of Ila glasses Ni f on his no nose e always al always al ways was pausing to polish them and holt bolt them to the light A As he read apparently absorbed Inthe Ir it the contents content of ot his n newspaper close observers frequently detected the tho old ok oldmans oldmans mans man's eyes from tho the printer printed page In the of the people n his hisa a way He Ho was WM a a. 5 sly old oh rascal was Ibsen If It ladles were wert among those who watched him tit the ruddy y face tace at onto lit up with the ra radiance radiance ra- ra diance dianee of or self self It was an nr ill Iii da day for lor Ibsen and tho the Grand hotel hate when foreigners were few in the gar Sar- den Usually lint Had an nn Audience But tho the l strange old ohl genius was rarely rarely rarely rare rare- ly without his audience and tho the more tho the stared and fluttered themore tho the more moro genial and luminous became tho the Ib Ibsen cn countenance All this seems incredible Inore in- in ore credible It Is la tho the fact and ancI In fn the fact tact you ou have a a. memory of ot the real Ibsen Few great men mon are admirable of oft off their pedestals Ibsen was wat less sp sQ perhaps than any of ot his contemporaries From his earliest childhood Doctor Ibsen's life liCe was an unhappy one and acid although success came to him abundantly abundantly antly in n his later ater days it came too toolate toolate toolate late to change or sweeten him He lie no longer longor had tho mho capacity for enjoying tho fame and the wealth which were his at the end Ho He was compelled to fall taU back bacle upon himself for tho the greatest greatest great great- est gratification of or his desires Ills whims and fads circled wholly around himself and tho the circle was as a narrow one As a lad in tho the unattractive town of ot SI lon his his native Ibsen's place Ibsen's life Ufe was sunless and poverty Till TIJI ho was as past pat middle age ago he gained neither countenance nor nOlO encouragement encourage encourage- encouragement ment in his own land indeed ho was loomed deemed a n. m man ln of ot no nc ability at all His work York was ns derided and over o each ench new day lay hung the pall of ot bitterest adver sity sUr Domestic Life Unhappy Nor was ns his domestic life Ure in an after day n a happy one ono At the limo of or his i death he was as Norwegian wealth is I estimated a very en rich man Ho U was I worth S and that Is a L. L princely fortune in n Norway Ko Ibsen did not know what to do with all this mone money FO eo he ho hoarded It ho never nc would be he traduced Induced to Invest a penny penn of ot it He Be trusted no one even in tho the most trifling tri trl- fling flInS- financial transactions In the tho faco face of his cloudy past it tt was as not therefore surprising that Ib Ibsen en grew more and more misanthropic and died shrouded In his own conceit With so little that was genuinely Joyous In his Iris life there thereas was as nothing left but tho creature comforts and the tho superficial adulation adulation adulation adula adula- I tion of oC a 0 few fe sight s. Fame Faino oven O oven In literature literature- is sure surely not founded on the thc hasty hast scrutiny of ot one ones one's person by br a handful of or Cooks Cook's tourists but that sort of or tiling thing actually brought brough complacence to the mind of oC Henrik IbE Ibsen en Knowing that the moment ho he left his house in ho he would become become become be be- come tho center of ot Interest along the tho streets street he was always alays careful careful to to to dress dross for the occasion I Most Fastidious It would add another wrinkle lo to I his brow to discover a button ml missing from his coat or a no blur on the tho beaver c of ot his tall tan silk Ellk hat His clothes were made of ot broadcloth broa cIoth of line fino texture I I his tailor was the best belt In Christiana t Ho He always alwa's worn norA a A. tile of smoothness His Isis boots were ere of pa patent pat pat- ent ont leather articles ho carried about with him always and ever every wh where re and frequently ho he brought brough thorn thom into requisition in tho the most mot nullie pub PHU- lie places While hUe on exhibition in the lie hotel hot garden In full fun view of ot a n. thron throng It was no uncommon act fo ft o him to take tako from hl his pocket et a corn cornor comb com 01 or brush and caressingly stroke hi h his famous whiskers ors or lift lUt to i lI greater creator height his equally white pompadour locks which stoc straight up In the air all like o n a l miniature Mount Count Blanc He Ile hut hud a trick e o or brushing his hat with nUl the c chis o ohis ot othis his coat Now and then ho paused long and earnestly Into tho the opening c chis o ohis of his headpiece He ll presented at nt sue suea such sucha a time lime tho the picture of a n. leonine ago sage o othe or orthe the time Sagas deep in the time maze of ot sOme vast ast pro problem lcm of ot tho the cosmos It ww waGan waG wai all an a mistake It was Ibsen viewing Ibsen There Thero was a mirror fastened in the bottom o of his hat am an and he was looking after tho mho twist of or his cravat Ibsen tho Heal Kcal Man Inn But whon when Ibsen tho the author ha formulated the tho scheme for a new nev drama an and had determined to welland well wel and mould If IE onto form then lien occurred his metamorphosis from fop to work wort workman man a man a workman oblivious of oC tin tam hoo wide world its peoples and ancl it Its passions Tho The butterfly drew rew bac back i ito li lito In Into to its chrysalis the tho feasting crowd crowds at tho the Grand hotel could no longer longe longert t feast sst their eyes on Henrik Ibsen nOl noi watch him stroke his whiskers and amI sl sir sip brandy brantl and soda 30 3 at five minute In Intervals In- In ter als The vulgar vain foolish of oK old man had become a venerable giant giani forging a u masterpiece in absolute soil soli tude tulle Suddenly he would shut himself himself him self up to write i f t He lie would wouw see n none nc no noone one one answer no communications NN Nc o cloistered monk was more Isolated Isolate from the moving world than Ib Ibsen on when tho mho f vcr Aver of was upon him He ate slept liver alone Asked 1 why ho followed tho time life of or a si a hermit while ho he was worl working upon a anew a anew new production Ibsen replied with wit characteristic terseness I 1 am living 11 with my nn- characters at such uch tithes times They Jhc arc are arc near me all an tho time 1 I write down own their coer conversation their thelt thoughts Never Era Erases cs u It J Lime Lino My work worl comes alon along cr very f fast t. t l I never mover ha have havo hato to erase a line I have ha thought bought out the time plot in my n mind Ind 1 I IJ J know now non the play from front tilt tho firs scone to U tho last la t oven even tho the tho dialogue and It Itis its Itis is s only necessary UI for mo to write it out tut as quick as pO possible During this time lime I r am arm not Henrik Ibsen I do not live ivo in Norway nor in the world My IY cj existence lonce Is apart t from lom life In a sphere phero of ot my own creation peopled IJ by y beings of oC my Jn own creation This lived Jived tho the real Ib Ibsen a two two- I ed man of ot letters und and the drama ono no all aJl frills trills and foppery vain super- super childish tho other tho mho think think- r 1 r. r the worker tho the genius The rho ques- ques iou on was put to Ibsen whether he lie fa- fa a- a ored a certain social institution coin coin- com com- ton non to tc Germany and France and bout to he be adopted b by the glau Iau laus I 1 favor It ho cried I 11 I Iam LIU am In in hm favor of or nothing I have havo no remedies emedies to suggest My IY plays plas are tot not of They tried to lo read range c new nw meaning meaning- fin lIn m my Peer They looked for problems problem where here there were none nono peer Poor G Is 3 tho the story tor of ot all human life Ute pres present present- ht- ht eel tl I in epitome it Is youth ambition Iove ye old age truth truth the the greatest thinS lag I havo have done It will be bo m my monument when I am gone it Jt wille will Ivo e 3 alter after me Time seems to be bearing out the prophecy of this foremost of ils s race The world has already ac- ac Peer as a gigantic pic- pic I turo of human lifo life and emotions and I tho the critics critic Ics aro arc agreed that ri in i 1 this wondrous spectacle of ever over changing I 1 1 existence b by the little old man mall manI of nr i I Christiana the stage has a a. work of r rI I consummate art and like of which has hasI i I not been produced since sinco Shakespeare's 1 day |