Comedy

    I AM the Comic Muse,
    Soft as the summer rain,
    Come the children I bear
    Out of the breath of my brain;
    Love,—and Laughter that lifts,
    Joy with the lilt of a song,
    Beauty that's born of praise,
    And Faith that has righted wrong.
    I am the heart of a child,
    I am the trust of a maid,
    Spirit and passion of man,
    Love that is unbetrayed;
    I am the Muse that smiles,
    Lo ! and gladness is rife,
    Comedy, I am called,
    I am the mirror of Life.

            Tragedy

    I am the Tragic Muse;
    Born of the web of my brain,
    Lo ! my children shall pass,
    Poverty, Pathos, and Pain;
    Labor,—and Love forsworn,
    Each in their turn I name.
    Jealousy, evil born
    Sorrow, and Sin and Shame.
    I am the World's despair,
    I am the heart's despite,
    Woven of me is fear,
    Shadow of mine is night;
    I am the Muse that weeps,
    Out of my grief is Strife,
    Tragedy, I am called,
    I am the mirror of Life!

VERSES WRITTEN FOR THE OFFICIAL BENEFIT FOR THE RELIEF
      OF BELGIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN, DECEMBER 8, 1914,
      STRAND THEATRE, NEW YORK, TO INTRODUCE THE DIS-
      TINGUISHED ACTORS AND ACTRESSES WHO GAVE THEIR
      SERVICES

Comedy was for Miss Sybil Carlisle, and Tragedy was for Mr. Walter Hampden. Other participants were: Miss Edith Wynne Matthison as "Everyman"; Miss Viola Allen as Hermione, in "A Winter's Tale"; Mr. Holbrook Blinn as Jack Marbury, in "Salomy Jane"; Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Melisande, in "Pelleas and Melisande"; Miss Ethel Barrymore as Mme. Trentoni, in "Captain Jinks"; Mr. William H. Crane as "David Harum"; Miss Frances Starr as Juanita, in "The Rose of the Rancho"; Mlle. Dorziat as Countess Marina, in "The Hawk"; Mr. Francis Wilson as Cadeaux, in "Erminie"; Miss Jane Cowl as Mary Turner, in "Within the Law"; Miss Annie Russell as Kate Hardcastle, in "She Stoops to Conquer"; Mr. Henry Miller as Sidney Carton, in "The Only Way"; Mr. William Gillette as "Sherlock Holmes"; Mr. William Faversham as Iago, in "Othello"; Mme. Nazimova as "Hedda Gabler"; Messrs. Weber and Fields; Miss Rose Coghlan as Lady Gay Spanker in "London Assurance"; Miss Marie Doro as "Oliver Twist"; Mr. Henry Dixey as "Adonis"; Miss Mary Shaw as Mrs. Alring, in Ibsen's "Ghosts"; Miss Blanche Bates as "Madame Butterfly"; and, Miss Ellen Terry as Portia, in "Merchant of Venice".

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