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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
America." The passage began, ^' Dear
Bwother," Mr. Sothern reading the open-
ing words of the epistle; then he made
one of his pauses, and, with a character-
istic cHck and hitch in his voice, commented,
—
" Sam alwa3's calls me his bwother—
because neither of us ever had a sister."
Left without further description, the
phrase might pass with the reader as rather
droll; but on the words " because neither
of us ever had a sister " the actor's voice
became instantly saturated with mock pa-
thos, and the sudden absurd demand for
sympathy reached the amazed auditor with
soul-tickling effect.
Mr. Sothern played several other parts
brilliantly well. His impersonation of
David Garrick was surpassed upon our
stage only by Salvini's. Dundreary's Bro-
ther Sam he made an interesting figure of
fun; and during the latter years of his life
he achieved great success in The Crushed
[ I02 ]