Page:Woman of the Century.djvu/30

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AMORY.
ANDERSON.
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occasional poems. Her well-known "Aunt Martha Letters," published in the Elmira "Telegram," in 1882, and later the more famous "Aunt Chatty" series in the Minneapolis "Housekeeper," have made her name a household word. Among the journals that have given her articles to the public are the "Ladies' Home Journal," "Mail and Express," "Epoch," Cincinnati "Enquirer," "Journalist," "Union Signal," "Babyhood," "Golden Days" and a score of others. In addition to her family cares and literary work, Mrs Amory has often had classes at home and in the school-room, besides classes in music. Her family consists of two children, a son and a daughter, and her home is now in Belmond, Iowa. From her mother Mrs. Amory has inherited qualities of soul and mind that have endeared her to a large circle of friends; and from her public-spirited, talented father, a broad, enthusiastic nature, that allies her actively with the advance thought and movements of the day.


ANDERSON, Mary, Mme. Navarro, actor born in Sacramento, Cal., 28th July, 1859. Her maiden name was Mary Antoinette Anderson. Her mother was German descent, and her father was the grandson of an Englishman. In January, 1860, her parents removed from Sacramento to Louisville, Ky., where she lived until 1877 Her father joined the Confederate army at the beginning of the Civil War, and was killed at Mobile, Ala., in 1862. Her mother was married again, in 1864, to Dr. Hamilton Griffin, a practicing physician in Louisville. Mary and her brother Joseph had a pleasant home. Mary was a bright, mischievous child, whose early pranks earned her the name of "Little Mustang." Afterwards, when her exuberance was toned down and she had settled seriously to study, she was called "Little Newspaper." In school she was so careless of books and fond of mischief, that at the age of thirteen years she was permitted to study at home. There, instead of the usual studies, she spent her time on Shakespeare. Fascinated by the world that the poet opened to her she began to train her voice to recite striking passages that she committed to memory. The desire to become an actor was born with her. At the age of ten she recited passages from Shakespeare, with her room arranged to represent the stage scene. Her first visit to the theater occurred when she was twelve years old. She and her brother witnessed the performance of a fairy piece, and from that moment she had no thought for any profession but the stage. Her parents attempted to dissuade her from this choice ; but she pursued her studies with only her inborn artistic instincts as teachers. She was known to possess dramatic talent, and friends urged her parents to put her in training for the stage. In her fourteenth year she saw Edwin Booth perform as Richard III in Louisville, and the performance intensified her desire to become an actor. She repeated his performance at home, and terrified a colored servant girl into hysterics with her fierce declamation. The performance was repeated before an audience of friends in her home, and in it she achieved her first success. Her interrupted course in the Ursuline Convent school of Louisville was supplemented by a course of training in music, dancing and literature, with the idea of a dramatic career. By the advice of Charlotte Cushman she made a thorough preparation, studying for a time with the younger Vanderhoff in New York. That was her only real training—ten lessons from a dramatic teacher; all the rest she accomplished for herself. Her first appearance was in the rôle of Juliet, on 27th November, 1875. in Macauley's Theater, Louisville, in a benefit given for Milnes Levick, an English stock actor, who was in financial straits. Miss Anderson was announced on the bills simply as "Juliet, by a Louisville Young Lady." The theatre was packed, and Mary Anderson, in spite of natural crudities and faults, won a most pronounced success. In February, 1876, she played a week in the same theater, appearing as Bianca in "Fazio," as Julia in "The Hunchback," as Evadne, and again as Juliet. Her reputation spread rapidly, and on 6th March, 1876, she began a week's engagement at the opera house, in St. Louis, Mo. She next played a week in Ben de Bar's Drury Lane Theater in New Orleans, and scored a brilliant triumph. She next presented Meg Merrilies in the New Orleans Lyceum, and in that difficult rule she won a memorable success. Prominent persons overwhelmed her with attentions, and when she left New Orleans a special MARY ANDERSON. engine and car bore her to Louisville. She now passed some time in study and next played a second successful engagement in New Orleans. Her first and only rebuff was in her native State, where she played for two weeks in San Francisco. The press and critics were cold and hostile, and it was only when she appeared as Meg Merrilies the Californians could see any genius in her. In San Francisco she met Edwin Booth, who advised her to study such parts as "Parthenia," as better suited to her powers than the more somber tragic characters Her Californian tour discouraged her, but she was keen to perceive the lesson that underlay ill success, and decided to begin at the bottom and build upward. She made a summer engagement with a company of strolling players and familiarized herself with the stage "business" in all its details. The company played mostly to empty benches, but the training was valuable to Miss Anderson. In 1876 she accepted an offer from