Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-09-03
BRET HARTE'S PLAY.
The 1.-TWO Men OF Sandy RaT,' as Pro-
duced at the Union Square Thea
ter, New York.
A Most Objectionable sstxture of VuI-
garity, Barbarity, Profanity and
Miners ImmOraIIIIes.

New York Tribune.l
The genius of Bret Hsrte IL OF high
order. 1t uses, with the grace of spon-
tsDeous power, that great and victorious
touch which calls DIP the smile aud the
tear at the same instant. It's art method
is bold, yet delicate and subtle, so that it
makes itself felt before 1t makes itself
understood. American literature had
not received, in the course OF many
years, such startling endowment as
Bret Hsrte's first book of stories 1t was
vital with real character and with ire
sistible humor and patbOs. Beautiful
attributes Of human nature and beauti-
fol instances of heroic conduct, found in
social outlaws or in the victims of hos
tile and cruel circumstances-like the
flowers that grow in the crevices Of the
rocks-were depicted in it with poets
tenderness and an artists felicitCus pre-.
cision. "The still, sad music OF human
ity" was heard throueh those pages, and
the countrymen Of this author have Lis.
tened to him ever since, with their
hearts. He comes before them now as
a dramatist, and in his play called The
TiOo Men of Sandy Bar, which was pro-
duced last night before numerous and
eager assemblage, at the Union street
theater, he has endeavored by means of
action to sound the same stops which
ne fGrmerly sounded by means of narra-
tive. Opinion will greatly differ, at
present, with reference to the sue
cess of the experiment. Our own
Impressions are generally adverse
to the piece; and we think the
verdict of time, while it will RECOGNIZES
popular elements and respect literary
ability, will reject the drama, both be-
cause OF it's Ingredients and because of
the crude manner in which they have
been combined. The piece, indeed, con-
tains materials-by which we mean
character, thought, sentiment, passion,
humOr and sententiOusnees Of style
that lift it above the American plays
usually acted in this period. But, when
all is conceded that this implies, the re-
manning impression is that OF painful
effjit, distorted form, languid move
ment and vsguepess of Specification.
The merits are strong bits of real char
acter, situations made pathetic by the
contrast Of innocence and repentant
guilt, flashes Of farce fun, glowing and
c)ntrasted strokes of color, and some
epigram Of language. The persons,
however, who used to interest when in
story-rousing the imagination and
Touching the heart-drop down, in this
stage showing, to the level Of coarse
commonplace. There ara sixteen OF
them, mostly blackgusrds. They fig
ure through f. ur acts, at or near San
Francisco, and most of the experiences
through which they are seen or under
stood to pass are PROFESSIONALLY impos-
sibie. The plot, which twists up at
least four strands of the narrative, is ex.
| tremely exaspersting, and suggests that
sort of a tangle skein which its owner
promptly cuts in two IN the middle and
drops into the fire, by way of making it
straight. To the spectator who has not
read Mr.. Hsrte's stories, comprehension
of it-involving anything like correct
and suitable idea Of his genius-wculd
be next to impossible. In BRIEF the
method of the sketch ia no adequate sub
sIilute FOR the method Of the dramatist,
and the two copjoined, as they meet il
this instance, are like two speut swim
NETS thai do cling together, and choke
their art" All the types ci character
with which Mr.. Harte has generally
dealt are reproduced in the play, aud ia
this respect the work teens with fertil-
ity, like some rank garden; but these
| characters are found to be representa-
tive, and.not dramatic; they attract or
they repel in consequence Of their con-
| dltion and not their action; it is to what
persons are, and not to what thew
do, that the attention is mostly
| drawn; snd that-as s.udious OBJ
| servers Of the stage have lately had
occasion to remember, in looking at Lord
Byr0n's SITddndpGlttS, is not tie na'ur-
al method OF dramatic art. A play
which stops at pOrtraiture of the surfsce
life Of 3 set OF characters in chosen re-
fhn Inc ~ faifhfCl
photograph, but it remains common In
art unless its substance be halloWed by
the ideal touch. That touch Mr.. Harte
has given in his stories, and that he may
yet give in drama; but we do not feel
it in the ItOo Men OF S1ndy Bar. The
scene with the white flower and the
school mistress, and the scene of the old
mans blessing came nearest to it-re-
calling the Red GItlcb and Thompson's
Pf0dig0t, The first two acts are devoted
to illustrating the entanglements of the
persons; the other two exhibit q slow
unEeeting of every body's topssils. There
are melodramstic situations, with rob-
bers and with pistols, but these are
thrown in, pretty much as "Captain
CuFtle's" hat was by "MIs. MacSting-
err" and they are turned into farce By
their examinations. The best Of the
piece Is in the first two acts and q bit OF
the fourth. Whether perfection of form
would commend the drama to differ
ent estimate will be questioned. There
is no doubt whatever, though, that the
excision of its vOciferous profanity would
greatly commend it to more patient en-
durance. Since the days when Julia
Ward Howe's dronaotis personG fl led in
with brief utterance of all the heated
monosyllsbles in the vocabulary, we
have heard no such public swearing as
there was in MI. Harte's piece last
night. 1t was doubtless in perfect keep
ing with the extraordinary crowd that
the piece Tetuscitated. They are proba.
BILE, natural, and so is garbage. barrel,
and one has IS good title as the other
to illustration in art. They could win
sympathy on the printed page, swathed
in the glamor of beautiful style, and
made pitiable by that tender humanity
which recogn'Z g the good even in the
dregs Of our race. They are different
when they meet the eye-and the nose
coming up in sections, like rows of
pins. "At short distances" says Mr..
Emerson, "the senses are despotic."