Oliver Bell Bunce

“ ROSE. This is nothing but blind prejudice. It has neither sense nor justice. Hear me. That for which you discard him places him higher in my esteem—shows me how worthy he is of the respect and honour of every true woman. My greatest pride is that he to whom I have pledged my hand wears those colours.
ARMSTRONG. Generous girl!
ELSWORTH. Rose, you pain me inexpressibly!
ROSE. I am not a giddy girl, sir. I'm a woman—old enough to know my own heart, and to decide between right and wrong. Walter, go, and carry with you assurances of my unwavering fidelity.
Enter BRIDGET, hurriedly. ”

“ They are good soldiers, and fine-looking fellows.
ROSE. For which I thank their tailors.
CLEVELAND. Gay, dashing; brave of heart, and witty of tongue.
ROSE. Then they have been studying the almanac. When I saw them last, they hadn't a grain of wit—not even by scratching.
CLEVELAND. Really, Mr. Elsworth, your daughter has a sharp tongue.
ELSWORTH. It is her humour, sir. Her passes are but play.
CLEVELAND. I'll be sworn her heart is as true as her wit. She is—
ROSE. Rebel, sir, from top to toe!
[Enter ARBALD, MARVIN, and HARRY.]
Ah, gentlemen, my best welcome. ”

“ Modern comedy acting is usually a bright, brisk, touch-and-go affair, suited to modern plays; but to the mellow and artistic style of a former generation, it is as the light claret wines, now so much in use, to crusty old port. Mere facility in off-hand dialogue will not fit an actor for the old comedy. There is no form of dramatic expression so rare to find as genuine gayety.
Mr. Lester Wallack is the best of our light comedians. ”

“ Up to the extent of the savings of the nation, expenditure on railways can do no economical or financial harm; and these invaluable developers of wealth may on such a basis be rationally acquired for the public good. Any outlay made out of savings, be what it may, is innocent of mischief; it may do no good, but it does not impoverish. But what are savings? The surplus of wealth made over wealth consumed. If it is turned into capital and applied to increased production, the nation becomes richer; if it is expended on any luxury or any folly, the nation is where it is. ”

“ ELSWORTH. Have you any news of the war, Mr. Metcalf?
METCALF. News—plenty of it, and mad. The country is depopulated. There isn't a youth with the first hope of a beard upon his chin, who hasn't gone with young Armstrong, to join the army.
ELSWORTH. Young Armstrong?
METCALF. To be sure, sir. He's turned out a fiery rebel, after all—and a captain, to boot.
ELSWORTH. Heaven bless me, but this is very sad. A promising youth to be led astray! Dear me, dear me! Rose, I am very sorry to say that this is certainly your fault. You have filled him with your wild, radical, and absurd heroic rhapsodies. ”

“ It will be said that consumption is rather the product than the cause of abundance. Undoubtedly, use is greatly increased by abundance; there is, in fact, action and reaction, the one stimulating the other. It will also be adhered to by some that capital is the sole source of production. Assuredly capital is not fixed in activity, nor are human energies rigidly limited; and as the resources of Nature are fairly boundless, wealth is wrought out of her bowels in our mines, and extracted from her chemistry in our fields, to an extent immensely determined by the demands of consumers. ”

“ Christmas, with all its kindliness and charity and good-will, is, after all, deuced selfish. Each little set gathers within its own circle; and people like me, with no particular circle, are left in the lurch. So you see, on the day of all the days in the year that my heart pines for good cheer, I’m without an invitation.
"Oh, it’s because I pine for good cheer," said the bachelor, sharply, interrupting my attempt to speak, "that I hate holidays. ”

“ ROSE. [With a sigh.] Oh, sir!
CLEVELAND. Miss Elsworth! Rose! Confide in me! I am your friend.
ROSE. [With affected confusion.] I believe you, Major Cleveland. I—I—really, sir—I implore you to believe me—I have nothing to confide.
CLEVELAND. Do not be offended, Miss Elsworth. I have your interest at heart. Pardon me—but Captain Arbald— [ROSE starts and appears agitated.] believes, or at least hopes, that he is acceptable to you. I am very deeply his friend—very deeply yours.
ROSE. It is very pleasant to hear you say so, Major Cleveland. ”

“ IT is often claimed that the acting of the present day is more genuine and natural than that of former generations, and that the modern stage, breaking up the old conventional models, has sent the actor to nature instead of tradition for his authority and inspiration. But it is a great mistake to confound the "free-and-easy" style of our day with that which we call "nature,"—a style immeasurably inferior to that consummate art which conceals art, and which was once the grace and glory of the stage. It is not enough for the dramatic art to imitate nature. ”

“ Whatever the cause of the business prostration may be, it evidently is something that lies deep, something far more serious than the loss of a part of our wealth. A merchant who loses all his profits is still enabled to go on; a merchant who loses even half of his capital is still enabled to go on: how is it, then, that the community is so nearly at a standstill because a portion of its surplus was lost? Distinctly the railway over-speculation, hurtful as it was, cannot account for the paralysis in industry which now, four years afterward, so generally exists. ”

“ CLEVELAND. Ah, Miss Elsworth, this assurance gives me the greatest pleasure.
ROSE. Don't hurt the poor fellow though, Major, I beg of you. I should be quite sorry if anything happened to him. He is a good-natured, useful neighbour enough—an unpolished jewel, papa calls him. Ah, Major, our social wants in this community are lamentable enough, when we are obliged to content ourselves with such a poor substitute as you have seen, for all the polish and manner of London circles.
CLEVELAND. Lamentable, indeed, Miss Elsworth!
ROSE. The war brings one boon, at least,—the society of gentlemen. ”

“ We say nothing as to which is the wisest direction for consumption to take, with all it stimulating power; we do not deny that consumption may make champagne, diamonds, silks, broadcloth, fine furniture abundant, at the cost of more useful and desirable things. The thing is simply that the energy, the zeal, the exertion of men are so expansive, that great demand compels to great production; and, of course, we understand the economic principle that there can be no production without capital ”