thors better, felt confident that there was a public for them.
It was a notable event, and the fame of _Margaret Fleming_ is still on
its travels across the dramatic world.

There were two reasons for this result, the magnificent art of Mrs.
Herne, which "created illusion by its utter simplicity and absolute
truth to life," and second, because the play was, in fact, as one
critic said, "an epoch-marking play." It could afford to dispense with
canvas, bunch-lights, machinery, as it dispensed with conventional
plot and epithet, and as its actors discarded declamation and mere
noise.

The phenomenal success of Mr. and Mrs. Herne brought them prominently
before the literary public. Interest became very strong in them as
persons as well as artists, and from an intimate personal acquaintance
with them both, I have been asked to give this brief sketch of their
work previous to _Margaret Fleming_, for epoch-marking as it was, it
was only a logical latest outcome of the work the Hernes have been
doing for the last ten years.

Mr. Herne is a man of large experience, having been on the stage for
thirty years. He has been through all the legitimate lines. He has
been a member of a stock company, manager of theatres, and author and
manager of several plays of his own, previous to the writing of
_Margaret_ _Fleming_. His first real attempt at writing was _Hearts
of Oak_. The home scenes, and notably the famous dinner scene, which
became such a feature, showed the direction of his power. This play,
produced about twelve years ago with Mrs. Herne as "Crystal," was
their first attempt to handle humble American life, and was very
successful.

Mr. Herne's next venture was an ambitious one. It was the writing of a
play based upon the American Revolution. In the spring of '86 he
produced at the Boston Theatre _The Minute Men_, where it was received
with immense enthusiasm. It was somewhat conventional in plot, but in
all its scenes of home life was true and fine. The central figures
were Reuben (a backwoodsman), and Dorothy, his adopted daughter.
Whatever concerned these two characters was keyed to the note of life.
Like all Mr. Herne's acting, Reuben was utterly unconscious of
himself. He went about as a backwoodsman naturally does, without
posturing or swagger. With the sweetness and quaintness of Sam Lawson,
he had the comfortable aspect of a well-fed Pennsylvania Quaker.

Mrs. Herne's Dorothy was a fitting companion piece, faultle