The sun., 1878-09-08


man sheds its own benign Illusion over tho
whole OF II.
There ie one scene where. at the eide Of the
poor dead woman in her ghrrot, ho bends him
sclf, knceiinR. over n wooden chair. 10 pray
silently lin the good old rustic style that be-
longs to himl, because tho stress Of the mo-
ment Ia too much for worda Whom the drunken
husband comes In and. reel NJ. stumblcs over
the corpse Of his wife, and almost upsets Josh.
tho hero v II up and. srlzing the sot by his cx-
trcmites. throws him out Of the window and
goes back to his prayers. Ths trivial incident
becomes magnificent the moment II happens.
becauso Joshs whole conduct Ia simply a nat
ural determination not to he interrupted In his
devotions. The humor Of II. unlike the humor
OF every sketch OF the kind that has preceded 1t,
springs from the exhibition Of character, and
not from the ludicronsncss Of tho action.
In the last act we have a picture q Josh's
home. and hcrc the smell Of the country per-
vadcs everything. No such pre- -Taphaclite
draught OF rusticlty has ever been set upon our
boards. II is true the story goes nowhere. II
buy,s dreamlly round and round like n
vaRrant bee. but We know thero are flowers
somewhere.
Tho benignity OF tho old man rests on tho
s"cne with summer glory. When he tells how
him before he died and they sat there on the
fence and reminded each other Of tho times
when they were boys together the tender pathos
OF Il "rccps into all hearts unawnres.
When his boy-the last of his family. and tho
old mans pridc-is arrested charged with rob
bing the Cheshire Bank. all the despair and
shame and misery Of this stanch old heart flows
ont Of him. and nobody in the audience can tell
whore the acting is or fix upon the method. But
all eyes are wet and every man. woman. and
ch lid fnels the potency Of IL.
declare to you that the efficacy OF this little
series Of pictures. which they call II drama. has
bafliad me. cannot formulate it. The charm
appears to me. now think Of II. to reside in its
evan"s,sncc. in its very vaguenrss. which II
like one Of Corots landscapes that give US the
spirit Of a scene without the body; or rather let
me s~Jy 1t is the charm Of the unpluckcd flower
which delights IA while we pass, but to pluck
which il Ia tr-n Or sovereignty Of beauty into
a dead souvenir.
shall be told that II is cur duty no less than
our privilege TO search for art at ~ thc-,:rc in
stead of nature.
shall not deny II. But thcrc IL n composite
art overshadow ny us in the playhouse that is
wcarisome. The Joint efforts Of the painters
and costumers and rcvivalists grow trinc
wearsome. Too often we have seen tho utter
inadoquacy OF splendor and magnitude TO do
more than crafty our curiosity. Now and then
VIZ are convinced that simplicity and truth are
far more operative.
II Ia In such little wayward fragments as
Josh Whtcomb" that the eternal melody
huns.
Here, the other day Mr.. Bronson Howard
erected on the stage Of the Park Theatre one of
his grotrsquc edinces. and all the human inter
ests that were invited 70 the opening preferred
TO sit down In the delightful outhousc Of a
sketch that preceded 1t. Hurricanes was
only meant 10 be funny. Sapcncy. which does
not understand fun. mistook It for immortality
but everybody understood " Old Love Letters. %
thanks 10 the better art of Mrs. Booth.
Honcsty-to quote Josh WhtcOmb will. one
OF these days. BE- the basis Of art, and then
everybody can take all they want without rob-
bing anybody NYM CRINkLE.