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I
IV
Some Early Experiences and
Mistakes
HAVE said a single word about the
earnestness with which I entered upon
my critical profession. That earnest-
ness, honest though it was, moved me to
pursue a course one line of which I much
regret. It was the day of resident stock
companies, and the critic was confronted
weekly, during a whole season, with the
same players. Some of these actors —
leaders in their troupe and others— I found
to be faulty, " retrograde " to all my artistic
" desire," and therefore fit subjects for un-
favorable comment. There was one vari-
ety in particular with which I could not,
and cannot, be patient : namely, the hard,
dry, hyperemphatic sort, usually feminine
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