The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1889-11-09

after night, and has crammed Il from pit
TO dome for year pastP And what an
audience IL Is; unlike that Of any other
theatre in New York. Go to the Fifth
Avenue, the Madison Square, the Casino.
the Broadway, or the Union Square. scat
tered about the hsuse you will see scores
OF old blaze theatre-goers who are only
there to pass away the time and don't care
a fig fer the play or the PLAYERS. Not so
at the Academy, there Is quiet earnest
ness and intense interest about the entire
house which proclaims an audience unused
TO the theatre, and from the moment
Uncle Josh comes on the stage, following |
his oxen as they enter bis barn with load
of hay, till the curtain falls upon that
cheery old NewEngland dance, the theatre,
the scenery, the music all fade away and
the audience are standing among those
rugged old New Hampshire hills listening
to the story of heartbroken old man, the
staff of whose age has drifted away from
home, drifted awav perchance meyer to
come back; who may have sank out OF
sight in that distant Solom whose treach-
erous quicksands have engulphed and
swallowed up the drift and wreckage Of
every city in the Union, and whose great
avenues and splendid parks are but monu-
ments of withered hopes and blasted lives
filling our daily records and making the
idle gossip of the hour.
am not unused to the theatre. think
l have seen and studied acting in all its
phases. Yet as l sat looking at the "Old
Homestead" the other night, the man and
the piece were mystery. II you should
put the question To him, Are you great
actorp the chances are million to one he
would tell you, No. Never was there =
more apparent complete Inconsistencies
of self; such a thorough self-abnegation.
From the moment he steps on the stage
till he leaves it, it is not apparent that he
is in a theatre OF knows that he is playing
before an audience. In the first act he is
, in Swanzy among the New Hampshire
= hills, and as the curtain goes up veu catch
the odor of the new mown hay and the
: sweet, clean breath OF the mountains.
1 UCLC 10 nO EbHkC uHOH ouOub bhO uOuoc,
the barn or the well with the long vel
pole aud moss covered bucket, exactly like
that from which in happy boyhood's day
. drank a thousand times in my own ole
: New England home. Who hasn't seen the
" rude tin basin with the big chunk Of brown
= soap standing on the wooden horse Of
~ bench Just outside the door? And wheI
. Uncle Josh washes his face It isn't stag,
: wash. but real, genuine, good old Yam
. kee wash, just a. he did it in Swanzy lonl
years ago before he ever dreamt Of tn,
% trumphs OF the Academy. The scene il
the house of his fashionable friend has it
counterpart every day in the experience
u of our successful business men, who ar
i mostly from the country. One of the mos
u impressive scenes In the play is Grac
4 church, supposing to face on Broadway
d The setting is grand and impressive. A
ID the curtain rises disclosing the magnificen
d church bathed in the soft moonlight, tb
g chimes ring out loud and clear joyou
d Jubilee, then is heard the deep diapason @
the grand organ which thunders its melod
till the building fairly rocks in the wonder
u ful waves of sound. A chorus of swee
. voices chants the glorious Episcopal sci
u vice, and now almost like revelatio
. comes sweep of melody, soft at first bu
;. increasing in power till the wonerous voic
)" fills the vast theatre with melody like tina
with which the angels are supposed to sin
= around the great white throne. Uncl
" Josh's uncovered head sinks reverentl
upon the railing and hundreds Of heads 1
the audience are bowed In prayer, and
requires the rude shock of the entrance G
= the Salvation Army to break the spell
Objection has been made to this featur
by some Of the captious critics, though fc
the life of me can't see why. The scen
- is one which may be witnessed every ever
ing on Broadway, and the emily fault ths
: | felt inclined to find myself was, that Nj
Thompson's Salvation Army was muc
IN more respectable body of men and wome
" than the original Jacobs of Ballingto
IN Booth.
ne Here then isa piece where the pulpit an
Id the stage seem TO have shaken hands; nc
ic word, not line. not thought is suI
gested but is sweet as the new mown ha
just rolled in from the SwanEy meadow
~ Its success will evidently turn the thought
70 of our American plsyrights to the develol
u ment of a clean domestic drama. It is ev
" dent the public are ripe for It, Will it pay
At least give 1t fair and honest tria
ne meanwhile, would say to my friends frol
!" the country. If you find yourselves in Ne,
York Of an evening with nothing to do, q
be and see the "Old Homestead" You nee
% not be in hurry, for from present appear
a ances IL is permanent fixture, and II
MS pretty sure to last till our centennial eel,
bration.
Ever since Joseph Hoftnan, the pianis
lg was spirited away from Manager Abbey b
re Commodore Gerry. the president of tn
ry Society for the Prevention of Cruelty I
. Children. he has been securing the Worl
for musical prodigy to supply his plac,
and this bringe me to few reflections o
ne the work of the Society. Don't let me b
understood ~ undertaking their worl
80 fer DO not. recognize the fact tina
they have saved several thousands OF nj,
no cradle children fron the abuse and ne
70 glect Of drunken parents. and fTsA cor
n ditlon worse than dSsth; but there are esl
Tain things In connection with their mar
agement which never could understand
n When Joseph Hoffman performed here
4. was In the highest possible condition 9
physical health; he boarded At the anes
IN hotel in New York; be had = retlnus Q
IN servants TO wait upon him, asd he had on
ge Of the most skilltul and expensive phys
IT. clans especially engaged 10 look after hi