[88] It was during this tour that Miss Terry made her third marriage, to James Carew, an actor of her company. Charles Wardell (Charles Kelly) died in 1885.
[89] During this tour the honor and affection she had won in the minds of Americans were attested by various testimonials. She was given at a special ceremony the Founder’s Medal of the now extinct New Theatre in New York, a “farewell banquet” was tendered her there, and in both New York and Boston she received an elaborate “book of welcome,” signed by many notable people and accompanied by poetic addresses, composed in one case by Percy MacKaye and in the other by Josephine Preston Peabody.
[90] In January, 1914, she appeared at King’s Hall, London, as the Abbess in two performances of Paphnutius, a play written in the tenth century by Hroswitha, a Benedictine nun. It was on this old play that Anatole France founded his romance Thaïs. Thus did Ellen Terry, at nearly three score and ten, continue to furnish proof of her still youthful spirit and readiness for work. Later in the year she went to Australia to give there her Shakspearean lecture-readings. The great European war broke out, and conditions in Australia became so unfavorable that Miss Terry sailed for the United States, where she again lectured in a few of the larger cities.
For some years she had had increasing trouble with her eyes. Frequently she would spend the periods between the scenes in a darkened room. On February 23, 1914, in New York, Miss Terry underwent an operation, which proved successful, for the removal of a cataract from her right eye. In June, 1915, she reappeared in London on the occasion of a matinee given at the Haymarket in aid of one of the war charities. The play—a ballet pantomime called The Princess and the Pea—was the first musical piece in which Miss Terry ever took part. On this occasion also her two grandchildren made their stage début.
[91] In “The Yellow Book,” Vol. II (1894).
[92] Further precedent for Gabrielle’s career was furnished by her aunt, Mme. Naptal-Arnault, at one time a pensionnaire of the Comédie Française.
[93] For much of the information in the early part of this chapter the author is indebted to Loges et Coulisses, by Jules Huret.
[94] Who, twenty-eight years later, with Pierre Berton, was to write for her Zaza, one of her most successful plays.
[95] Mme. Réjane recalls that her costume on this occasion was the object of much solicitude on the part of Regnier. On the day of the contest he came to her house at nine in the morning to pass judgment on her dress, which was made of white tarlatan at nine sous per metre, and cost in all about ten francs. Mme. Regnier loaned gloves for the occasion.
[96] Aimée Olympe Desclée (1836–1874), of the Gymnase, who excelled in modern French emotional plays. She acted with success in London, and also appeared in Belgium and Russia.