Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v4.djvu/178

 590 Non-English Writings I house, under the able management of Leon Wachsner, the stock company developed an artistic ensemble during some seasons not inferior to Conried's best. As at the Irving Place Theatre, stars were not altogether banished, and visits were welcomed from Spnnenthal, Kainz, and Agnes Sorma, but they were introduced toward the end of the season. A just local pride has been felt by Milwaukians in their German theatre, as is shown by the pajonent of heavy annual deficits incurred to keep the standard high. Many other cities with large Ger- man populations, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, and Cin- cinnati, have had German theatres intermittently, with the same history : early amateur beginnings, then professional play- ers and the star system until some skilful manager brought together a company of resident actors. A very promising foundation was the Deutsches Theater of Philadelphia, for which a handsome home was built in 1906 and successfully maintained for several seasons, until it jnelded, like so many other noble theatrical ventures, to the pressure of deficits in- evitable in the history of high-class theatres. II. French To furnish an account of the French literature of Louisiana is not a simple task. The facts that are known concerning the lives of many of the writers, particularly in the early periods, are few or none. Nor is there any complete collection of the works which comprise this literature; unique copies of impor- tant books repose in private libraries, or lie moulding in the cellars of old Creole homes. The beginnings of Louisiana were wholly French. The colony was founded by Iberville at Biloxi, in 1699. The im- migrants during the following century were for the most part well-bred, and spoke the best French; during that century it was customary for the more favoured sons to return to France for their education, so that the colony kept fairly abreast of the parent civilization. Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1762, and although Spanish thus became the official tongue, French continued as the language of society. When the territory was purchased by the United States in 1803, French was still almost universally spoken. Not until the middle of