Airs Bancroft on the Employment of Children in Theatres

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 413, 23 October 1889, Page 6

Airs Bancroft on the Employment of Children in Theatres

Writing to some of the London papers, Mrs Bancroft says :— .My experience of our fchreati^S^is that children aie there &o petted and made much of, so coddled and cared for, that when the run of a play in which tliey have been employed comes to an end, the little creatures often cry bitterly at the thought of being taken away, probably in their hearts dreading a return to squalor, neglect or rough treatment. I have seen such children kindly cared for in vatfous ways, and have .known the poverty of their parents relieved by subscriptions, and in many cases weekly allowances from very meagre purses, often when the money could be ill spared. I have also known actresses so teach some of these children that by jihe time their term of service ended they have been able to spell and read fairly well, surely a comparison to many neglected ones 1 pqteide the i playhouse. The only matter in my opinion to be regretted in conneotion with the engagement of humble children for pantomimes or occasional productions is their having often to return to gutter acquaintances and gutter morals, What is more touching on the stage than the prattle of a clever child ? What more refining to itself ? If none of tender years are allowed to aot, what wilt become of King Richard and the Princes in the Tower, of Charles I, without his boy and girlj or where will be the sorrows of poor Triplet if robbed of his starving littJe ones, and will not dozens ot other delightful plays be lost to the public ? A.«» one who has been a ' stage child ' herself, and who well remembers the val^e of her little earnings, Jet me plead, tor tbosg now in a like position, for I will hopeithafc, my voice may be regarded in some t way ai that of an expert.