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A Python Data
Analyst’s Toolkit
Learn Python and Python-based
Libraries with Applications in Data
Analysis and Statistics
—
Gayathri Rajagopalan
A Python Data
Analyst’s Toolkit
Learn Python and Python-based
Libraries with Applications in Data
Analysis and Statistics
Gayathri Rajagopalan
A Python Data Analyst’s Toolkit: Learn Python and Python-based Libraries with
Applications in Data Analysis and Statistics
Gayathri Rajagopalan
Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xix
v
Table of Contents
vi
Table of Contents
Indexing������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 169
Type of an index object�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 170
Creating a custom index and using columns as indexes���������������������������������������������������� 171
Indexes and speed of data retrieval������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 173
Immutability of an index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 174
Alignment of indexes����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 176
Set operations on indexes��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 177
Data types in Pandas���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 178
Obtaining information about data types������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 179
Indexers and selection of subsets of data�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 182
Understanding loc and iloc indexers����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 183
Other (less commonly used) indexers for data access�������������������������������������������������������� 188
Boolean indexing for selecting subsets of data������������������������������������������������������������������� 192
Using the query method to retrieve data����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 192
Operators in Pandas������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 193
Representing dates and times in Pandas��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 194
Converting strings into Pandas Timestamp objects������������������������������������������������������������ 195
Extracting the components of a Timestamp object������������������������������������������������������������� 196
Grouping and aggregation�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 197
Examining the properties of the groupby object����������������������������������������������������������������� 199
Filtering groups������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201
Transform method and groupby������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 202
Apply method and groupby������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 204
How to combine objects in Pandas������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 204
Append method for adding rows����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 205
Concat function (adding rows or columns from other objects)������������������������������������������� 207
Join method – index to index���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 210
Merge method – SQL type join based on common columns����������������������������������������������� 211
viii
Table of Contents
ix
Table of Contents
lmplot���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 266
Strip plot������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 267
Swarm plot�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 268
Catplot��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 269
Pair plot������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 270
Joint plot������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 272
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 273
Review Exercises���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 274
x
Table of Contents
Index��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 393
xi
About the Author
Gayathri Rajagopalan works for a leading Indian
multinational organization, with ten years of experience
in the software and information technology industry.
She has degrees in computer engineering and business
adminstration, and is a certified Project Management
Professional (PMP). Some of her key focus areas include
Python, data analytics, machine learning, statistics, and
deep learning. She is proficient in Python, Java, and C/C++
programming. Her hobbies include reading, music, and
teaching programming and data science to beginners.
xiii
About the Technical Reviewer
Manohar Swamynathan is a data science practitioner
and an avid programmer, with over 14 years of experience
in various data science related areas that include data
warehousing, Business Intelligence (BI), analytical tool
development, ad hoc analysis, predictive modeling, data
science product development, consulting, formulating
strategy, and executing analytics programs. He’s had a
career covering the life cycle of data across different
domains such as US mortgage banking, retail/ecommerce,
insurance, and industrial IoT. He has a bachelor’s degree
with a specialization in physics, mathematics, and
computers, and a master’s degree in project management. He’s currently living in
Bengaluru, the Silicon Valley of India.
xv
Acknowledgments
This book is a culmination of a year-long effort and would not have been possible
without my family’s support. I am indebted to them for their patience, kindness, and
encouragement.
I would also like to thank my readers for investing their time and money in this book. It is
my sincere hope that this book adds value to your learning experience.
xvii
Introduction
I had two main reasons for writing this book. When I first started learning data science,
I could not find a centralized overview of all the important topics on this subject.
A practitioner of data science needs to be proficient in at least one programming
language, learn the various aspects of data preparation and visualization, and also
be conversant with various aspects of statistics. The goal of this book is to provide
a consolidated resource that ties these interconnected disciplines together and
introduces these topics to the learner in a graded manner. Secondly, I wanted to provide
material to help readers appreciate the practical aspects of the seemingly abstract
concepts in data science, and also help them to be able to retain what they have learned.
There is a section on case studies to demonstrate how data analysis skills can be applied
to make informed decisions to solve real-world challenges. One of the highlights of
this book is the inclusion of practice questions and multiple-choice questions to help
readers practice and apply whatever they have learned. Most readers read a book and
then forget what they have read or learned, and the addition of these exercises will help
readers avoid this pitfall.
The book helps readers learn three important topics from scratch – the Python
programming language, data analysis, and statistics. It is a self-contained introduction
for anybody looking to start their journey with data analysis using Python, as it focuses
not just on theory and concepts but on practical applications and retention of concepts.
This book is meant for anybody interested in learning Python and Python-based libraries
like Pandas, Numpy, Scipy, and Matplotlib for descriptive data analysis, visualization,
and statistics. The broad categories of skills that readers learn from this book include
programming skills, analytical skills, and problem-solving skills.
The book is broadly divided into three parts – programming with Python, data analysis
and visualization, and statistics. The first part of the book comprises three chapters. It
starts with an introduction to Python – the syntax, functions, conditional statements,
data types, and different types of containers. Subsequently, we deal with advanced
concepts like regular expressions, handling of files, and solving mathematical problems
xix
Introduction
with Python. Python is covered in detail before moving on to data analysis to ensure that
the readers are comfortable with the programming language before they learn how to
use it for purposes of data analysis.
The second part of the book, comprising five chapters, covers the various aspects of
descriptive data analysis, data wrangling and visualization, and the respective Python
libraries used for each of these. There is an introductory chapter covering basic concepts
and terminology in data analysis, and one chapter each on NumPy (the scientific
computation library), Pandas (the data wrangling library), and the visualization
libraries (Matplotlib and Seaborn). A separate chapter is devoted to case studies to
help readers understand some real-world applications of data analysis. Among these
case studies is one on air pollution, using data drawn from an air quality monitoring
station in New Delhi, which has seen alarming levels of pollution in recent years. This
case study examines the trends and patterns of major air pollutants like sulfur dioxide,
nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter for five years, and comes up with insights and
recommendations that would help with designing mitigation strategies.
The third section of this book focuses on statistics, elucidating important principles in
statistics that are relevant to data science. The topics covered include probability, Bayes
theorem, permutations and combinations, hypothesis testing (ANOVA, chi-squared
test, z-test, and t-test), and the use of various functions in the Scipy library to enable
simplification of tedious calculations involved in statistics.
By the end of this book, the reader will be able to confidently write code in Python, use
various Python libraries and functions for analyzing any dataset, and understand basic
statistical concepts and tests. The code is presented in the form of Jupyter notebooks
that can further be adapted and extended. Readers get the opportunity to test their
understanding with a combination of multiple-choice and coding questions. They
also get an idea about how to use the skills and knowledge they have learned to make
evidence-based decisions for solving real-world problems with the help of case studies.
xx
CHAPTER 1
Getting Familiar
with Python
Python is an open source programming language created by a Dutch programmer
named Guido van Rossum. Named after the British comedy group Monty Python,
Python is a high-level, interpreted, open source language and is one of the most sought-
after and rapidly growing programming languages in the world today. It is also the
language of preference for data science and machine learning.
In this chapter, we first introduce the Jupyter notebook – a web application for running
code in Python. We then cover the basic concepts in Python, including data types,
operators, containers, functions, classes and file handling and exception handling, and
standards for writing code and modules.
The code examples for this book have been written using Python version 3.7.3 and
Anaconda version 4.7.10.
T echnical requirements
Anaconda is an open source platform used widely by Python programmers and data
scientists. Installing this platform installs Python, the Jupyter notebook application, and
hundreds of libraries. The following are the steps you need to follow for installing the
Anaconda distribution.
2. Click the installer for your operating system, as shown in Figure 1-1.
The installer gets downloaded to your system.
1
© Gayathri Rajagopalan 2021
G. Rajagopalan, A Python Data Analyst’s Toolkit, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-6399-0_1
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
3. Open the installer (file downloaded in the previous step) and run it.
Please follow the following steps for downloading all the data files used in this book:
Now that we have installed and launched Jupyter, let us understand how to use this
application in the next section.
JupyterLab is the IDE for Jupyter notebooks. Jupyter notebooks are web applications that
run locally on a user’s machine. They can be used for loading, cleaning, analyzing, and
modeling data. You can add code, equations, images, and markdown text in a Jupyter
notebook. Jupyter notebooks serve the dual purpose of running your code as well as
serving as a platform for presenting and sharing your work with others. Let us look at the
various features of this application.
Type “jupyter notebook” in the search bar next to the start menu.
This will open the Jupyter dashboard. The dashboard can be used
to create new notebooks or open an existing one.
Click inside the first cell in your notebook and type a simple line
of code, as shown in Figure 1-4. Execute the code by selecting Run
Cells from the “Cell” menu, or use the shortcut keys Ctrl+Enter.
3
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
5. Renaming a notebook
Click the default name of the notebook and type a new name, as
shown in Figure 1-6.
Table 1-1 gives some of the familiar icons found in Jupyter notebooks, the corresponding
menu functions, and the keyboard shortcuts.
5
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
Adding a new cell to a Esc+b (adding a cell below the Insert ➤ Insert Cell
Jupyter notebook current cell), or Esc+a (adding Above or Insert ➤
a cell above the current cell) Insert Cell Below
Running a given cell Ctrl+Enter (to run selected cell); Cell ➤ Run
Shift+Enter (to run selected cell Selected Cells
and insert a new cell)
If you are not sure about which keyboard shortcut to use, go to: Help ➤ Keyboard
Shortcuts, as shown in Figure 1-8.
• Shift+Enter to run the code in the current cell and move to the next
cell.
T ab Completion
This is a feature that can be used in Jupyter notebooks to help you complete the code
being written. Usage of tab completions can speed up the workflow, reduce bugs, and
quickly complete function names, thus reducing typos and saving you from having to
remember the names of all the modules and functions.
For example, if you want to import the Matplotlib library but don’t remember the
spelling, you could type the first three letters, mat, and press Tab. You would see a drop-
down list, as shown in Figure 1-9. The correct name of the library is the second name in
the drop-down list.
7
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
One commonly used magic command, shown in the following, is used to display
Matplotlib graphs inside the notebook. Adding this magic command avoids the need
to call the plt.show function separately for showing graphs (the Matplotlib library is
discussed in detail in Chapter 7).
CODE:
%matplotlib inline
Magic commands, like timeit, can also be used to time the execution of a script, as shown
in the following.
CODE:
%%timeit
for i in range(100000):
i*i
Output:
16.1 ms ± 283 μs per loop (mean ± std. dev. of 7 runs, 100 loops each)
Now that you understand the basics of using Jupyter notebooks, let us get started with
Python and understand the core aspects of this language.
P
ython Basics
In this section, we get familiar with the syntax of Python, commenting, conditional
statements, loops, and functions.
C
omments
A comment explains what a line of code does, and is used by programmers to help others
understand the code they have written. In Python, a comment starts with the # symbol.
8
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
Proper spacing and indentation are critical in Python. While other languages like Java
and C++ use brackets to enclose blocks of code, Python uses an indent of four spaces
to specify code blocks. One needs to take care of indents to avoid errors. Applications
like Jupyter generally take care of indentation and automatically add four spaces at the
beginning of a block of code.
Printing
The print function prints content to the screen or any other output device.
CODE:
print("Hello!")
To print multiple lines of code, we use triple quotes at the beginning and end of the
string, for example:
CODE:
Output:
Note that we do not use semicolons in Python to end statements, unlike some other
languages.
The format method can be used in conjunction with the print method for embedding
variables within a string. It uses curly braces as placeholders for variables that are passed
as arguments to the method.
Let us look at a simple example where we print variables using the format method.
9
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
CODE:
weight=4.5
name="Simi"
print("The weight of {} is {}".format(name,weight))
Output:
The preceding statement can also be rewritten as follows without the format method:
CODE:
Note that only the string portion of the print argument is enclosed within quotes. The name
of the variable does not come within quotes. Similarly, if you have any constants in your
print arguments, they also do not come within quotes. In the following example, a Boolean
constant (True), an integer constant (1), and strings are combined in a print statement.
CODE:
Output:
The format fields can specify precision for floating-point numbers. Floating-point
numbers are numbers with decimal points, and the number of digits after the decimal
point can be specified using format fields as follows.
CODE:
x=91.234566
print("The value of x upto 3 decimal points is {:.3f}".format(x))
Output:
We can specify the position of the variables passed to the method. In this example, we
use position “1” to refer to the second object in the argument list, and position “0” to
specify the first object in the argument list.
10
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
CODE:
y='Jack'
x='Jill'
print("{1} and {0} went up the hill to fetch a pail of water".format(x,y))
Output:
I nput
The input function accepts inputs from the user. The input provided by the user is stored
as a variable of type String. If you want to do any mathematical calculations with any
numeric input, you need to change the data type of the input to int or float, as follows.
CODE:
Output:
V
ariables and Constants
A constant or a literal is a value that does not change, while a variable contains a value
can be changed. We do not have to declare a variable in Python, that is, specify its data
type, unlike other languages like Java and C/C++. We define it by giving the variable a
name and assigning it a value. Based on the value, a data type is automatically assigned
to it. Values are stored in variables using the assignment operator (=). The rules for
naming a variable in Python are as follows:
• a variable name cannot have spaces
11
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
Operators
The following are some commonly used operators in Python.
Arithmetic operators: Take two integer or float values, perform an operation, and return
a value.
• **(Exponent)
• %(modulo or remainder),
• //(quotient),
• *(multiplication)
• -(subtraction)
• +(addition)
CODE:
(1+9)/2-3
Output:
2.0
12
Chapter 1 Getting Familiar with Python
In the preceding expression, the operation inside the parenthesis is performed first,
which gives 10, followed by division, which gives 5, and then subtraction, which gives the
final output as 2.
Comparison operators: These operators compare two values and evaluate to a true or
false value. The following comparison operators are supported in Python:
• >: Greater than
• < : Less than
• <=: Less than or equal to
• >=: Greater than or equal to
• == : equality. Please note that this is different from the assignment
operator (=)
• !=(not equal to)
Logical (or Boolean) operators: Are similar to comparison operators in that they
also evaluate to a true or false value. These operators operate on Boolean variables or
expressions. The following logical operators are supported in Python:
Output:
False
CODE:
(2>1) or (1>3)
13
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
to be fish, which Lord Li said was dried oyster. It seems there is a
particularly large oyster in China which has a sort of bag protrusion.
This bit is cut away and sun-dried, when it makes the flavouring and
decoration for the chicken.
We had not finished yet. Duck was the next course. This came on
a plate and had its bones entire. It was also covered with thick
brown sauce and finely shredded vegetables. His Excellency told us
there were many more vegetables in China than in England, and that
some of them were prepared for export. These appeared to be
shredded in the same way as vegetables are cut for Julienne soup.
With it was also served a great dish of rice, and in ordinary Chinese
households rice is served with every course.
“In the rich homes we eat much meat and little rice, and in the
poor homes much rice and little meat,” said the Minister. This dish I
did not care for at all, besides finding it next to impossible to detach
the meat from the bones with the chopsticks.
Our next course was a very pretty one. On a plate sat a row of
little dumplings, into which lobster, finely shredded with ham, had
been daintily tucked.
I was struck by the fact that with the exception of the duck
everything had been passed through the mincing machine or
chopped. Beef, by the way, is so bad in China that it is rarely eaten.
Then followed the pudding, which was altogether a success,
entitled “Water lily.” The sweet was also served on plates. Lord Li
maintained that the foundation was rice; if so, it had been boiled so
long that it was more like tapioca. Round it were stewed pears and
peaches, and all over it little things that looked like white broad
beans. These had a delicate and delicious flavour, and I guessed a
dozen times what they could be, but in each case was wrong; and
the Minister explained they were the seeds of the lotus flower.
No wonder His Excellency lives on Chinese food at home when it is
so good and so well cooked. The native wine or spirit I did not like;
it rather reminded me of vodka.
Our meal finished we repaired to the drawing-room, where was
set out a silver tray of beautiful Chinese workmanship, with a silver
teapot and silver cups lined with white china and with ordinary
handles.
“You ladies must sit on the sofa,” said Lord Li, “for it is the fashion
in China for the host himself to dispense the tea.”
Accordingly, he lifted the entire table and placed it before us, then
poured out what appeared to be the palest green liquid.
“Surely that is not tea!” I exclaimed.
“Oh yes, it is green tea. Not green tea made for the English
market, but real green tea, uncoloured, such as we drink in China
without sugar or milk.” And, putting the spoon in the pot, he
produced the leaves, very long and broad, each one separate from
the other and absolutely devoid of stalks and dust.
“This I have sent over for me specially from my own estate,” he
said, “and this is the tea of which I drink thirty or forty cups a day.”
It was refreshing, and reminded me of the orange leaves used so
much in tropical Southern Mexico in the same way. With this ended
our quaint Eastern meal.
CHAPTER XVIII
H OW youth adores the stage! It ever has in all climes and ages,
and probably ever will.
This was amusingly borne in on me just after my boy had gone to
Cambridge. A particular play with a particularly fascinating actress in
the principal part was announced for production there.
Of course, all Cambridge went.
A day or so later, when a lot of “men” were raving over the
beauties of the fascinating actress, buying her photographs, wanting
her autograph, and so on, one of them turned round to my son and
said:
“Isn’t she lovely? I’m just dying to be introduced to her. By Jove,
she is a ripping girl. What did you think of her, Tweedie?”
“I did not go,” he replied.
“Why not?”
“Well, you see, I know her pretty well; she went to school with my
mother.”
A bomb might have fallen.
“Went to school with your mother?”
“Yes, and she has a girl nearly as old as I am.”
Bomb number two.
Charming and pretty as she is, a woman old enough to be their
mother, she stirs the hearts of the undergrads, who, across the
footlights, innocently think she is a girl of eighteen.
So much for the delusions of the stage.
Still, it is marvellous how some actresses seem blessed with
perpetual youth.
There is no doubt about it that Miss Geneviève Ward is one of the
most remarkable women of the age. One morning in March, 1908,
came a knock at the door, and in she walked.
“Out for my constitutional, my dear,” she exclaimed, “so I thought
I would just look you up. I have walked six miles this morning, and
after a little rest and chat with you I shall walk another mile home
and enjoy my luncheon all the better for it.”
“You are a marvel!” I exclaimed. “Seven miles and over seventy. I
saw your ‘Volumnia’ was a great success the other day when you
played it with Benson.” For “Volumnia” is one of the grand old
actress’s chief parts.
“Yes,” she said, “and the next day I started for Rome. I got a
telegram to say one of three old cousins, with whom I was staying in
Rome a few weeks previously, had died suddenly; so four hours after
receiving the message I set out.”
“Were you very tired?” I asked.
“No, not at all. I knitted nearly all the way and talked to my
fellow-passengers, and when I arrived, instead of resting, went at
once to see to some business, for these two old sisters, one of
whom is blind, were absolutely prostrate with grief, and had done
nothing while awaiting my arrival. I stayed a fortnight with them,
settled them up, and arrived back two days ago.”
Miss Ward has one of the most remarkable faces I have ever
known. Her blue-grey eyes are electric. They seem to pierce one’s
very soul. They flash fire or indignation, and yet they literally melt
with love. And this great, majestic tragedienne is full of emotion and
sentiment. Geneviève Ward is the Sarah Siddons of the day. Her
“Lady Macbeth,” “Queen Eleanor,” “Queen Katherine,” and her other
classic rôles, are unrivalled. Her elocution is matchless. Her French is
as perfect as her English; anyone who ever heard her recite in
French will never forget it, and her Italian, for purity of diction, is not
far behind. On the stage her grand manner is superb. She is every
inch a queen, and yet, strange as it may appear, she is only a small
woman, five feet three at most; but so full of activity and courage
that she impresses one with immense power, height, and strength.
I happened to tell her that I had again seen an account of her
marriage in a paper.
“Some new invention,” she laughed. “And yet it is not necessary to
invent, for the romance and tragedy of my life were acute enough.”
And she then told me the following story:
“I was travelling with my mother and brother on the Riviera in
1855, when we met a Russian, Count de Guerbel. He was very tall,
very handsome, very fascinating, very rich, and twenty-eight. I was
seventeen.
“He fell in love with me, and it was settled I should be married at
the Consulate at Nice, which I was; but the Russian law required
that the marriage should be repeated in the Russian Church to make
the ceremony binding, otherwise I was his legal wife, but he was not
my legal husband.
“It was arranged, therefore, that I should go to Paris with my
mother, the Count going on in advance to arrange everything, and
we would be remarried there in the Greek Church. When we arrived
in Paris it was Lent, when no marriage can take place in the Greek
Church; and so time passed on.
“He must have been a thoroughly bad man, because he did his
best at that time to persuade me to run away with him, always
reminding me that I was his legal wife. The whole thing was merely
a trick of this handsome, fascinating rascal. He promised me that, if
I would go to him, he would take me to Russia at once, and there
we should be remarried according to the rules of the Greek Church.
Being positively frightened by his persistence, I told my mother. At
the same time rumours of de Guerbel’s amours and debts reached
her ears, and she wrote to a cousin of ours, then American Minister
in Petersburg, for confirmation of these reports.
“My cousin replied, ‘Come at once.’ We went; I, of course, under
my name of Countess de Guerbel, which I had naturally assumed
from the day of our wedding at Nice, and we stayed at the Embassy
in St. Petersburg. The Count’s brother was charming to me. He told
us my husband was a villain, and I had better leave him alone. That
was impossible, however—I was married to him, but he was not
married to me, and such a state of affairs could not remain. It
became an international matter, and was arranged by the American
Government and the Tzar that we should be officially married at
Warsaw. The Count refused to come. The Tzar therefore sent sealed
orders for his appearance. Wearing a black dress, and feeling
apprehensive and miserably sad, I went to the church, and at the
altar rails, supported by my father and mother, and the Count’s
brother, I met my husband.
“It was a horrible crisis, for I knew my father was armed with a
loaded revolver, and, if de Guerbel refused to give me the last legal
right which was morally already mine, its contents would put an end
to the adventurer’s life. There we stood, husband and wife, knowing
the service was a mere form; but the marriage was lawfully effected.
He had completed his part of the bargain and we had learned his
villainy.
“At the door of the church we parted, and I never saw him again.
We called a cab and drove direct to the railway station, and thence
travelled to Milan.”
Romance, comedy, tragedy! As I sat looking at that beautiful
woman, still beautiful at seventy, it was easy to see how lovely she
must have been at seventeen, and to picture that perfect figure in
her black frock on her bridal morning—a pathetic sight indeed!
She was continuing her story:
“Determined to do something, I at once began studying singing
for the stage on our arrival in Italy, and in a year or two made my
appearance in Paris, London, and New York.
“I made a success in opera; but in Cuba I strained my voice by
continually singing in three octaves, and one fine day discovered it
had gone. Then I took to teaching singing in New York. But,
unfortunately, I hated it; most of my pupils had neither voice nor
talent; it was like beating my head against a stone wall.
“In my operatic days critics had always mentioned my capacity for
acting. Then why not go on the stage? Thus it was at the age of
thirty-five I appeared at Manchester, under my maiden name of
Geneviève Ward, and in the end, having played Forget-me-not some
thousand times, all over the world, I retired from the profession
when I was about sixty. I have occasionally appeared since.”
This gifted tragedienne was going to Stratford to play in the
Shakespeare week in 1908.
She came to have tea with me, and as she sat beside me looking
the picture of strength and dignity, I asked if it took her long to get
up her part.
“Good heavens, no!” she replied. “I have never forgotten a
Shakespearian character in my life. Every word means something. All
I do is to read it through once or twice—perhaps three times—
before the night.”
“I own,” she said, “that sitting here now I do not recall a word of
Forget-me-not, and yet I played that several thousand times. But
then, there is nothing to grip hold of in the modern drama; however,
I could undertake to go on the stage letter-perfect even in that after
a day’s work. I am sure, after reading it through, it would all come
back to me. In Shakespeare I not only know my own part, but most
of the other people’s, and I can both remember things I learnt in my
youth and have played at intervals during my life, and memorise
now more easily than my pupils. I did so last year when I got up
those classical plays for Vedrenne and Barker.”
One cold February day Benson’s Company played Coriolanus at the
“Coronet.”
As Miss Ward had sent me the following note, I was amongst the
pleased spectators.
“Dear Mephisto,
“Here is the Box for Saturday. I hope you will enjoy
‘Volumnia.’ I love her. Come on the stage after the play, and let
me take you home.
“Yours cordially,
“Geneviève Ward.”
ON WOMAN NOWADAYS
“Edinburgh,
“November 26th, 1909.
“My dear Mrs. Alec Tweedie,
“I am very pleased to hear that you are disposed to take a
more active part than heretofore in demonstrating your support
of Women’s Suffrage. The London Society, of which Lady
Frances Balfour is the President, is non-party in character and is
opposed to stone-throwing, whip-lashing, and other methods of
violence. The London Society is one of more than a hundred
Societies, which together form the National Union of Women’s
Suffrage Societies of which I am President. I have asked Miss
Strachey, the Secretary of the London Society, to send you a
membership form, and if you approve of our methods and
policy, we shall be most grateful if you will join us. I am away
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