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
shams, he devotes himself to pure art. His highest triumphs have been
won in the legitimate branches of his profession, and won by the force
of his genius, aided only by the most careful study and an intelligent
analysis of the parts assumed by him.
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