of her services to his company. The gift was the more appreciated from the
fact that it was a very exceptional specimen of managerial generosity in
America!

The criticisms of the press during the early years of Mary Anderson's
theatrical career are full of interest, viewed in the light of her after
and firmly established success. They show that the American people were
not slow to recognize the genius of the young girl, who was destined
hereafter to spread a luster on the stage of two continents. At the same
time they are full either of a ridiculous praise which is blind to the
presence of the least fault, and would have turned the head of a young
girl not endowed with the sturdy common sense possessed by Mary Anderson;
or they are marked by a vindictive animosity which defeats its very
object, and practically attracts public notice in favor of an actress it
is obviously meant to crush. These newspaper criticisms are further
amusing as showing the family likeness which exists between the _genus_
"dramatic critic" on both sides of the Atlantic. Each seems to believe
that he carries the fate of the actor in his inkhorn. Each seems blind to
the fact that _Vox populi vox Dei_; that favorable criticism never yet
made an artist, who had not within him the power to win the popular favor;
still more, that adverse criticism can never extinguish the heaven-sent
spark of true artistic fire.

The verdict of Louisville on its home-grown actress has been given in a
preceding chapter. The estimate, however, of strangers is of far more
value than that of friends or acquaintance. The judgment of St. Louis,
where Mary Anderson played her earliest engagements away from home is, on
the whole, the most interesting dramatic criticism of her early
performances on record. St. Louis is a city of considerable culture, and
stands in much the same relation to the South as does its modern rival