Litchfield enquirer., 1875-04-01
'.Neighbor JackWond."

NStSu0Ot 0OVAWWOsSSs The above play has now been twice per formed by the Washington Dramatic As sociation-on Monday evening the 18th ult.. to a very full house. and. on Thurs day evening of last week, to considera- bly, smaller audience.
 The excursion from Litchfeld (of the 18th) was a success, as nearly every ex- cursion to Washington has hitherto prov ed. The number which appeared on the platform was just about double that which could be induced to subscribe their names at the postoffice; and this, too, is about the proportion previous experience had led us to expect. On arriving at the Washington station very large number of teams was found in attendance, but not quite enough to take up the entire hun dred and fifteen who turned out for trans- portation. The few who were left had to exercise considerable patience waiting for return teams that, through some misun- derstanding, were very slow in returning. Reaching the Hall it was found to be nearly full already and soon seats were brought into the aisles making further in- gress or egress matter of impossibility.
 The new scenery is great improvement on the old. In fact we had gazed at the Mt. Vernon of the old drop curtain, at various times (once in Litchfeld, tool till it's constant contemplation had be- come a trife wearisome. The new cur tain is much finer work of art, although the gondola that occupies a prominent place in the middle ground draws less water than any craft of that description it has ever been our evil luck to paddle.
 Soon the stage manager (dubbed ''the original of the Birds-nest," by the Sentin- ell critic) appeared and read the cast of characters, as follows:
 Neighbor lockwood, Vim. J. Ford. Enos Crumlet, M. Aspinwal Hector Dunbury, J. c. Brinsnade. Squire Greenwich, E. w. Gum. Robert Greenwich, Frank Kinney. Parson Rukely, Geo. E. Andrews. Abmelech, Burtie May.
 Dickson, Charles Hall
 Oliver Dole, ". c. Hager. Landlord. F.. whitehead. Sheriff, Arthur Thompson.
 Camille, Florence Canfeld.
 Mrs. lockwood, L. Maria Gum.
 Grandmother Rgglesty, May Canfeld.
 Matilda Fosdick, Mary Titus
 Phebe lockwood, Alice Tilton.
 Berthy Berkely, Anna Brinsmade.
 Mrs. Greenwich, Mary Church.
 Etty Greenwich Fanny Babcock.
 Mrs. Sperkley. Grace Bliven.
 The performance of the play which fol- lowed was always good and in many re- spects excellent. The most important and best sustained character, as it seemed to us, was that of the typical Yankee, a commodity of low cunning, 'cowardice and meanness such as we see so often on the stage and so seldom off it. Aspinwall did not personate Enos Crumlet, he was Crum- let. No one thought of him as anything else. "Tildy," Mrs. Crumlet that-was.to- be, played the country coquette to a charm; but there was a general feeling she was "too good for Enos," and fear that he would abuse her after marriage, that may, or may not, have been a com- pliment to her acting.
 Neighbor lockwood, Yankee farmer of somewhat higher order, was admirably sustained by MT. Ford. There is mix ture of the burlesque and the serious ill this character which make it, we judge, a difficult one to present properly. Ca mille was we'll played in many respects by Miss F. Garfield, though she seemed wanting sometimes in the energy the character demands. Miss M. Garfield was perfectly odious old Grandmother Rigglesty, one of the greatest successes of the play. Of course. the Original of the Birds nest" was a splendid Squire Green wich. We never saw anything finer than the expression of unutterable horror and disgust with which he turned away from his rascally son in the prison scene when the scapegrace, after acknowledging for gery which the old man bore quite heroic ally, confessed to running off with mulat- to girl. Kinney, as young Greenwich, had so inferior part. as compared with his St. Clare and Legree in Uncle Tom, that its performance, though good in itself, did not seem satisfactory. Mrs. Greenwich looked the repressed second wife of the Squire to perfection, and Phebe, Abime- lech, Dixon, and others, also deserve honorable mention" The play itself is much inferior to Uncle Tom, The Last Days of Pompeii, or The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. but it has one advan- tage in plentiful mixture of the comic vein which is SO much easier of reproduc- tion on the stage. We do not consider Neighbor lockwood by any means the best thing the Washington Dramatic As sociation can do. Still it was very good and the excursionists, if a little wearied with it's length, came away very much de- lighted with their trip. We hope to visit our Washington friends in force occasion ally next season, and that we may have a chance now and then at a good lecture as well Rs at good Drama.
 Washington.
 Our people have been providentially spared from broken limbs during the past icy winter until last Friday when Mrs. Alvin Clorlr foll oD1 I,roka bar lar