The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-11-01
The motif of the play is the discovery /

The motif of the play Is the discovery by
the sans culottes of young woman who is
evidently child Of aristocratic birth. That
was her offense. 1t was enough in those
days. If 1 had lived in those times would
have returned to my early methods and
eaten my pie with my knife. That way
only safety seemed to lie To be an aristo-
crat or the child of an aristocrat at that
time was a most unhealthy thing to do
This young lady is Fabienne Lecouteux.
The part is played by Miss De Wolfe, who
certainly earns her salary, being pulled
around over the stage by the wrist most all
of the time either by her lover or the sans
culotte, cdndille sndrdzzle dazzle of the highly
sensitive and explosive French nation. She
seems to be in an almost constant scuffie
with some one while asking all hands to be
kind enough to avaunt.
No one in the audience weeps. The heart
is not touched. You watch the spectator
during the entire play and you see no tear
only the wild, frightened, apprehensivs
eye of one who has just lighted ten-inch
cannon firecracker and is waiting for 1t to
bust.
Martial Hugon Is the lover of this girl,
and although she is very fond of him, she
| is almost sure that it is not right, for she
has associated herself with the Ursuline
sisters, thinking him dead. SO she is all
torn up in her mind, and when at the end
of the play she was lead away to be be-
headed could see that she was really glad
of it,
In Sardous work, the whole play and all
its characters cluster about the guillotine
in the last act. In mine they gather shout
watermelon.
How different the motive! How diamet-
| ri oally and totally different the method and
| the motif.
Labussiere is an old friend and school
mate of Martial, and he gives his attention
entirely to saving the life of the Unfortunate
Fabienne, but fails after all, SO that in the
last act we have the pleasure Of seeing her
go the guillotine and her lover shot down
! like big red steer in the Chicago dbdttoirs.
For this reason we say as we go away: at
is mechanically perfect. Nocritic will ever
attack the construction OF this play, but ]
never shall want to see it again"
In the first act Labussiere rescues Fa-
| bienne from as tough a crowd of Norman
washerwomen as ever sozzled their soiled
! linen in the Seine. He being g clerk (pro-
nounced clark in the department of public
safety, assists in saving her from the moi
and directing her and her lover to the house
of Nine. Berillon, where
ANOTHER GRAECo-RoMAN sCUFFLE
occurs between Martial and Fabienne, he
| trying to get her to fly with him on buffet
car to some unknown land where they can
revel in each others love and cracked wheat
far beyond the power Of la guillotine
where royal foot hath never trod nor bigoi
| forged chain; oh, would that were safely
| back in that bright land again!'
Fabienne concludes at last that her love
for Martial is wicked, as it gives her deligh,
and takes her attention away from her dc
4 votions. She finally, therefore, decides t.
20 to the behesding works so that she may
love him in heaven alone. He does not like
this, preferring to love her in both places
both here and hereafter.
/ A great many people are that way. i