Old Wilds. Edited by "Trim." Reprinted from the Halifax Courier.
(G. Vickers.)—We have in these pages a very striking and vivid picture of the palmy days of the provincial players, days which have gone for ever ; for though companies still " star " it, the theatres have become permanent, and the stroller's career is no longer proverbial for its vicissitudes. The Wilds, father and son, were the princes of the strolling profession, and their name was synonymous with fame ; yet Sam Wild ended his days in poverty, and dependent on charity. "Alas !" as " Trim" says, "that we should ever grow old !" For, indeed, old age is the greatest enemy the player has, for his calling demands the utmost strength, and the failure of that strength means want. The history of " Old Wilds" is a wonderfully moving narrative, a stirring story of the ups and downs of a theatrical life, constantly presenting the alternations of success and defeat, of want and plenty, and of hope and what must nearly touch despair. Hope, courage, and never-failing resources the player must have, for once the grim phantom gains his heart, he is lost. The provincial theatre in those days must have taxed to the utmost such qualities as man needs for his daily struggles ; a sterner school did not exist. " Old Wilds," originally a travelling conjurer's show, long held sway as the nursery of strolling players, until eventually, by its "own progeny, it was ruthlessly elbowed out of the field." The esteem and affection by which the Wilds were regarded in the Lancashire and Yorkshire towns were due no less to their high character than to their dramatic powers. The narrative, as we have said, is strikingly vivid, and mingled with details of per- formances, successes, and arrests for debt, are many touches of genuine pathos and pleasant humour. The description of the three old cronies, "Jimmy Wild" (the founder of " Wilds "), the performing pony, and the deerhound, is very natural, and the deaths of the elder Wild and his energetic wife, "the Queen of the Travellers," are told with genuine pathos and feeling. The fascina- tion which the book has exercised on us is undoubtedly due as much to the personal manner of the style, which is lifelike and natural, as to the romantic vicissitudes of "the King of the Strollers."
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