popular and
the most thriftless man in the village; the most intelligent and
the least ambitious; the best-hearted and the most careless;--the
numerous contrasts which the _role_ presents demand versatility in
design and delicacy in execution. They are worked out with a
moderation and a suggestiveness that are much more natural than if
they were presented more decidedly. The sympathy of Mr. Jefferson's
creation is the greatest secret of its popularity. In spite of
glaring faults, and almost a cruel disregard of the family's
welfare, Rip Van Winkle has the audience with him from the very
beginning. His ineffably sad but quiet realization of his desolate
condition when his wife turns him out into the storm, leaves
scarcely a dry eye in the theatre. His living in others and not in
himself makes him feel the changes of his absence all the more
keenly. His return after his twenty years' sleep is painful to
witness; and when he asks, with such heart-rending yet subdued
despair, "Are we so soon forgot when we are gone?" it is no wonder
that sobs are heard throughout the house. His pleading with his
child Meenie is not less affecting, and nothing could be more
genuine in feeling. Yet all this emotion is attained in the most
quiet and unobtrusive manner. Jefferson's sly humor crops out at
all times, and sparkles through the veil of sadness that overhangs
the later life of Rip Van Winkle. His wonder that his wife's
"clapper" could ever be stopped is expressed in the same breath
with his real sorrow at hearing of her death. "Then who the devil
am I?" he asks with infinite wit just before he pulls away at the
heartstrings of the audience in refusing the proffered assistance
to his tottering steps. He has the rare faculty of bringing a smile
to the lips and a tear to the eye at the same time. From the first
picture, which presents young Rip Van Winkle leaning carelessly and
easily upon the table as he drinks his schnapps, to the last
picture of the decrepit but happy old man, surrounded by his family
and dismissing the audience with his favorite toast, the character,
in Mr. Jefferson's hands, endears itself to all, and adds another
to the few real friendships which one may enjoy in this life.

Mr. Jefferson is a thoroughly American actor. Abandoning all sensational