an excellent cast, and the personality of Miss Maude Adams could make it, and yet it has probably received more adverse criticism than has any other production in which Miss Adams has starred. Whether the fault lies in the interpretation of the character of Pepita or wholly in the construction of the play, may not be determined. As a drama it lacks substance in its plot, and unity, but is very cleverly held together by means of a certain consistent symbolism in the treatment of episode and details. In the action one finds a prodigality of emotion expressed which is hard to reconcile with ideals existing in northern latitudes, and notwithstanding the strong atmospheric illusion produced by clever manipulation of local color, one feels the constant effort of making allowance for Spanish temperament. However, Miss Adams' way of doing things is all her own, and its merit is to a great extent a matter of personal opinion. Her magnetism is so strong and so individual that it would fail inevitably to appeal in the same way to everyone. This magnetism could have no more striking opportunity for its manifestation than is offered in several instances in this play, when the main action is being carried on at the back or off the stage while Miss Adams alone at the front succeeds in keeping the attention concentrated upon herself. For example, in the scene outside the bull-ring, although the extraordinarily effective mob action almost reproduces in the audience the horror supposed to be experienced by the spectators at the bullfight, yet it is in the face of Pepita that the interest is wholly centered. Yet, however intense the illusion produced by any dramatic effect, this cannot help being annihilated by the raising of the curtain after the end of the scene. After the proof of such excellent taste in scenic effect as is displayed during the progress of the scenes in "The Pretty Sister of Jose", it is very strange that a miserable anti-climax like that should be permitted at the end. At the Academy of Music, March 17, "Lord and Lady Algy”. More and more one has cause for reflection concerning the work of the modern playwright in its quantitative aspect. Is the supply diminishing or is the demand exhorbitant, that nonclassic plays which were abandoned several years ago are again being presented? But to discuss the performance of "Lord and Lady Algy" without regard to its raison d'être, its cleverness is of a sort which is sustained to the end without wearing, and, with the exception of an occasional bit of sentimentality, the amusement which one may derive is continuous. Each character shows the touch of a connoisseur in the selection of significant type, while the treatment is distinctly original. Above all, the heroine who can understand the situation without the application of either apology or explanation is an unusual and gratifying conception. This rôle seemed as well adapted to Miss Opp's talent as did the delightful part of Lord Algy to that of Mr. Faversham. At the Academy of Music, March 19. Miss Nance O'Neil in "Hedda Gabler". The action of Hedda in drawing the curtains in the first act to close out the sunlight is typical of Ibsen's treatment of the plot of this play, if not of all. It may be true, but it is true for only one aspect of life-the utterly sunless side. The plot takes its course and the characters fulfil their destinies as logically and inevitably as might the eyeless fish that have their being in the cold waters of some subterraneous stream. Miss O'Neil's was a wonderful portrayal of a personality abnormally developed on the side of self-consideration, which deformity naturally works out its own destruction. Such was the quality of the acting that it seemed to be Hedda Gabler whom one saw, rather than Miss O'Neill. The latter is undeniably an actress of extraordinary ability in tragedy. ALUMNE DEPARTMENT The five following articles were contributed by the Smith College Club of Washington, D. C. On a hill overlooking the surrounding country, stands a cluster of buildings devoted to university purposes. In the distance one sees the tall, graceful Smith's Youngest Sister needle of the Washington Monument, and the Soldiers' Home is visible from a favored point. This group of buildings form the Catholic University of America, one large building of which, standing in its own campus of thirtythree acres, is devoted "to the higher education of women". This latter institution is called Trinity College, and bears scholastically a similar relation to the Catholic University that Radcliffe does to Harvard; the professors are the same as in the men's college near by. Trinity is empowered to grant degrees. The internal government is in charge of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Belgium). It was what southerners call "a pretty day" when a Columbia College chum and I made our way out to Trinity College, and sending in our cards, asked to see the institution and to meet some one who could tell us about the work and life. room. The parlors in which we waited resembled the usual convent reception rooms, save for a cabinet of shells and another of ornaments in the third The conchological exhibit and the scrupulous cleanliness reminded me of a Massachusetts "best room" fitted with the presents of a seafaring grandfather, and as innocent of the slightest particle of dust, or the least disarray of its furniture. After an appreciable wait, the sweet-voiced portress who had opened the door for us ushered in the Dean of the college, Sister Mary, who proceeded to shake hands with us cordially and proposed to cicerone us about herself. It seemed like an imposition to take this intellectual-looking woman from her more congenial duties, but of course we appreciated how much more we could learn of the real spirit of the place by putting our questions to her, than if some lesser person were to be the guide. First we saw the dining-hall, which is a vast chamber capable of seating perhaps three hundred people. At present one-half of it is used for recreation, and a grand piano and beautiful palms and rubber plants mitigate the severity of its proportions. A little peep into a small but well-fitted laboratory came next. Strange to say there was no suggestion of H, SO, whose penetrating odors always seemed to permeate the laboratory at Smith, and the red and blue litmus paper must have been neatly put away before our arrival! But test tubes and individual sinks and blowpipes were there in abundance, and I thought that Professor Stoddard would at any moment put in a chemical appearance at the very least. In one of the class rooms Dr. Paice, professor of philosophy on the university faculty, was giving a lecture on pedagogics. My Columbia chum is vice-president of the New York Public Education Association, and I despaired of ever getting her to "move on" without a New York policeman's club after she heard a few sentences on her enthralling subject. The room was sunny and pleasant; the chairs of the same pattern as ours at Smith. About thirty students were busy taking notes, while on the last rows were seated a half-adozen sisters of the order, whose sober black gowns, wide, round white collars and simple black head-dress made a picturesque group as they too followed the lecture with attention, their pencils keeping pace with the lecturer, and their entire effect in the room being like a restful shadow in a brilliant sunshiny painting. There are four classes of students, graduate, undergraduate, specials and "hearers”. All but the last named must pass the entrance examination which is on a par with those of Smith, Yale and others. There are no admissions on certificate. Specials must elect at least sixteen hours a week : hearers, twelve. To us this seems rather full measure for thorough work. In the regular courses all work in the first year is prescribed; and, by the way, the catalogue recognizes the terms freshman and sophomore which are so carefully banished from our catalogue. From the end of the first year, the group system is maintained, the students having eight groups of studies from which to choose. At the end of the course the degrees given are A.B., B. L., and B. Sc. Nine scholarships are offered prospective students. Upon the payment of a fee of five dollars a matriculating student need not journey to the college for her entrance examinations, but can take them at some one of thirty-three centers in the United States and Canada. The Bible (including questions of authorship, genuineness, etc.), philosophy (including logic and psychology), and church history are prescribed studies throughout the entire four years. There are special Biblical lectures on Women of the Old Testament and Women of the New Testament. Economics, history and language work are strongly represented both in prescribed and elective courses. Each lecture room has a "professor's room" near by, where the lecturer can sort his notes, or write between periods. This seemed to us an especially happy idea. How often at Smith and Barnard have I seen a harassed lecturer, with arms full of a sheaf of loose papers and books full of bookmarks, waiting outside of a lecture hall while a resistless stream of girls poured out, their swinging wraps nearly sweeping the whole educational paraphernalia out of his encircling protection. The college library is tiny, but attractively arranged, with alcoves and broad windows; and there is "room to grow". Library and reading-room are one, and there are two long tables covered with the current magazines. The students live under the same roof with the lecture halls, but this is probably temporary. As the college grows the cottage system will undoubt edly have to be installed. The girls' rooms are most attractive, furnished as those of any college girls would be, with a bewildering riot of small objects, personal and patriotic memorabilia of every variety. Of course the tea-table, with its plethora of cups and saucers, and its chronic lack of a spirit lamp, was in evidence in every room, and brought back many a memory of a spread at Smith, and our hostess tripped from the bathroom with water which we vainly pretended was "warm enough to brew tea with "! Each student's room has an alcove in which the bed can stand in undisguised frankness; half-drawn portieres separate this from the study, in which the college furnishes a desk, besides the usual chairs. Many of the bedrooms have immense connecting bathrooms, which give room for a bureau, a dressing table or two, besides the usual fittings. These bathrooms are all tiled and have mosaic flooring. The same general care of her room is required of each student as at Smith. At first some of the southern girls, it seems, objected to this, but when they found all the other girls making their beds it did not seem such an indignity, after all. Basket ball and tennis are both played in the open air. We saw no gymnasium, and to our discredit, be it said, were so interested in all that we did see and hear that we forgot to ask whether there was one or not. The Dean asked me some questions about the chaperone system at Smith, but our provisions would scarcely do, I imagine, here. The little hamlet of Brookland is a dirty, shiftless sort of place, but small enough to make a walk in it perfectly safe. But as to Washington, I have lived long enough in our capital city to realize that it more nearly resembles Paris than Springfield, and that its municipal government and its whole atmosphere are foreign rather than American, so that I think that the present liberal policy of the Trinity authorities will have to be somewhat modified. Perhaps a board of lay chaperons will be appointed, or at least a list of people approved by the house officers, as at Smith, West Point, etc. The college was founded in 1900 with eight students. Now there are twenty in the senior class, which will be the first to graduate from Trinity. Of these, about ten are preparing to teach. Altogether, there are ninety women pursuing collegiate courses, of whom the majority are from Massachusetts, many from the west, and a scant few from the south and New York. Before we left we were presented to the mother superior of this Chapter of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, and she seemed much pleased and interested when she heard that we were both college women. We were invited to register our names, and there any readers of the SMITH COLLEGE MONTHLY may find them, modestly inscribed, without our degrees or titles to honors, as domesticated wives of our respective husbands, for, after all, "that is what it all leads to ". ALICE STERNE GITTARMAN '91. The first thing that impresses a true born Bostonian in Washington is the streets. They are wide; they are well paved; they are not over-crowded; there are no trolley wires; and, wonder of wonThe City of Washington ders they are straight. Now up to this time the Boston girl has supposed that city streets, from the nature of them, had to be narrow, dark and serpentine. Fancy, then, crossing a street and looking on and on, over an ever-narrowing tract |