t that the stage offers very strong and dangerous temptations to
young and pretty women is a fact which every one who knows any thing
about the subject will admit. These temptations are not in the
theatre itself. The profession of acting is conducted on purely
business principles. Life behind the scenes is dull, uninteresting,
matter-of-fact. The actors and the actresses are full of their work,
and the whole place is decidedly unromantic. But there are great
temptations from without the theatre, into the details of which it is
not necessary to enter. It is not necessary that she should yield to
these temptations, nor are they, probably, all things considered, any
greater or stronger than the pretty shop-girl has to meet. But if she
values her character she will, when she enters this profession, make
up her mind to devote herself thoroughly to work, and she will be
particularly careful about the acquaintances she forms with the
opposite sex, and above all avoid that large and growing class of
silly men, both young and old, who love to boast that they number an
"actress" among their female acquaintances.

In the _North American Review_ for December, 1882, there was published
a symposium on the subject of success on the stage. There are so many
young ladies whose ambition lies in the direction of the drama, and
the contribution referred to contained such wholesome advice, that I
am tempted to quote from it at considerable length. There were six
contributors: John McCullough, Joseph Jefferson, Lawrence Barrett,
William Warren, Miss Maggie Mitchell, and Madame Helena Modjeska. The
views of the lady contributors will be found of especial interest to
the readers of this book.

The article was addressed more particularly to those whose ambition it
is to reach the highest rank in the profession, but the extracts
contain many useful hints for those who are simply looking forward to
a respectable, well-paying "utility" position on the stage.

Miss Mitchell says:--

"To succeed on the stage, the candidate must have a fairly
prepossessing appearance, a mind capable of receiving picturesque
impressions easily and deeply, a strong, artistic sense of form and
color, the faculty of divesting herself of her own mental as well as
physical identity, a profound sympathy with her art, utter sincerity
in assuming a character, power enough over herself to refrain from
analyzing or dissecting her part, a habit of generalization, and at
the