b, a course of lectures on physiology, by women, was
recently given in Orange, and well attended. At the house of
one of the members a discussion was held on this subject:
"Does the Private Character of the Actor Concern the
Public?" Although the subject was a general one, the
discussion was really upon the proper course in regard to
M'lle Sarah Bernhardt, who had recently arrived in the
country. Reporters from the New York _Sun_ attended the
meeting, so that the views of the club of Orange gained
quite a wide celebrity.

Of Mrs. Hussey's remarks, the Newark _Journal_ said:

The sentiments of the first speaker, Mrs. Cornelia C.
Hussey, were generally approved, and therefore are herewith
given in full: "I have so often maintained in argument that
one has no right to honor those whose lives are a dishonor
to virtue or principle, that I cannot see any other side to
our question than the affirmative. That the stage wields a
potent influence cannot be doubted. Let the plays be
immoral, and its influence must be disastrous to virtue. Let
the known character of the actor be what we cannot respect,
the glamour which his genius or talent throws around that
bad character will tend to diminish our discrimination
between virtue and vice, and our distaste for the latter.
Some one says: 'Let me write the songs of a nation, and I
care not who makes the laws.' The poetry that Byron wrote,
together with his well-known contempt for a virtuous life,
is said to have had a very pernicious influence on the young
men of his time, and probably, too, blinded the eyes of the
young women. I recall being quite startled by reading the
essay of Whittier on Byron, which showed him as he was, and
not with the halo of his great genius thrown around his
vices. It seemed to me that our national government
dethroned virtue when it sent a homicide, if not a murderer,
to represent us at a foreign court; and again when it sent
as minister to another court on the continent a man whose
private character was well known to be thoroughly immoral.
Even to trifle with virtue, or to be a coward in the cause