Louisiana capitolian., 1881-11-19
THE AMERICAN DRAMA.
San Francisco Chronicle.


drama has at last been written. Its au-
thor is DR.. C. w. Selden, of New York,
and its title saTHE TRAGEDY OF ABRA-
HAM LINCOLN, OR THE RISE AND FALL
or THE CONFEDERATE STATES 1t is a
| tragedy in five acts and requires forty
seven 9ramGtis persOR0, besides citizens
and soldiers to no end. The drama be-
| Gins before the war and presents nearly
allthe notable men of the war, OF the re-
bellion and the cOnspirators, John
Wilkes Booth, Mrs Surratt, Harold. At
zerot and Payne. The language OF the
play embraces every known style, from
comedy Dutch to high-tragedy
blank verse. An extract or two will be
sufficient to show the artistic skill and
rare perception of character possessed
by its author. The first symptoms Of
the rebellion are shadowed out by. Gen
eral Sigel, who speaks after this Gus
Williams fashion:
Mine Gott in himmel! what for is all
dis fuss been aboud9 Dose negro men
been yust go good as a white man OUT
den he only behave hisself, und Oncle
Sam he make dem free pooty quick, py
| |iimminy grashus. Amt dot sos
President Lincoln, of course, is a trit1e
more digniiied, and in q soliloquy upon
his success at the election, remarks:
viii endeavor to uphold our nag,
| Preserve the Constitution and the law,
And shall be governed in my public acts
According to the dictates my heart,
But history doth repeat itself, and now
| Eleven Southern States have armed themselves
And formed an empire out Of slavery,
| Choosing JEFF Davis as their hgurehead.
Thus am plunged into hornets nest,
| And find no other course than civil war.
Secretaries Seward and Stanton try
poetry, but Horace Greeley, who bya
stretch of DR.. Selden's imagination is
made Quaker, speaks in plain prose,
thus:
Yes, truly, this is not work, and if |
get back to my Tribune Office once more
| | will fill her columns With such soul
stirring editorials that the North, the
East and the mighty West will arouse
from their inactivity and blow Jefferson
Davis and his fellow-conspirators like
unto chaff before the whirlwind.
The rebels, however, have tempora-
1y success, and Alexander Stephens
thinks it best to sue for peace whilst
victory sat perched upon their brow,
but President Davis, having taken the
bull by the horns, declares
My life, my fortune, and my honor, all
Are pledged for its accomplishments, and l.
Sooner than YIELD would far prefer to pitch
All to the dogs, and die in the last ditch.
Fred Douglas addresses Lincoln like
a fnll-blooded brudder:
Good ebenin', Massa Lincnm Ihab
called in behalf of de cOlOred citizens of
desc United States to thank your Ex-
cellency for de noble Emancipation pro-
clamation, whereby more dan 10000
downtrodden cullud people of desc
| Southern States am given dere freedom
and dere rights in order dat day may
cast their votes for de great Republican
party.
| General Sherman is a humorist of the
most pronounced order, and lets Oft the
following string ofieur de mots::
Now I've a brilliant military notion,
That can march to the Atlantic ocean,
fl can flank the Secesh cavalrie
Which occupies the edge of Tennessee.
Yes viii see if ! can see the sea
BY marching through the State Of George
From Tennessee until see the sea.
That he was troubled with the fore
bodings OF i'll on the night of his assas-
sinatioD. Lincoln shows by exclaiming
to his wife in the box at Ford's Theater:
/ hayea strange presentment, my dear,
As though some great disaster doth approach !;
Now don't you think I'd better call our coach |!
This wonderful drama concludes with
a grand transformation, the addres of
| General Grant to the triumphant army
and the singing of a demoniac song by
Jefferson Davis, one verse of which is {:
Fige hundred THOUSAND Yankees
! Lie stiff III Southern dust ttAt
We lostthree hundred thousand
| Before they conquered US.
They died of Southern fever,
And Southern steel and shot,
wish it was ten million
Instead Of what we got.
! After this there will be no need to
| look for "the" American drama. 1t has
been written whether it will be play
ed will largely depend upon the amount
OF money its author has to throw away
IN intrn1unipr hiS rnopstrositv tn an