Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-08
ONLY ONE FIRST TIME.
WRITTEN FOR THE prsPArcH. ]

lack some OF the sen nSat1OnS which accom-
panied the first seeing of the light, or the
first day OF the deed. The novelty, at least,
has passed away. We no longer look into
the absolutely unknown.
thought of this the other day at sea. The
| great ocean, 1t is true. is forever changing
and never ceases to be new. The last even
| ing of the journey, as we drew near to
| Queenstown after more than a weeks &C.
quaintance with the great deep, the restless
| water was as Interesting and as fascinating
as it was the first night / ever saw it. 1t is
| in little things that one finds the difference
| between the first voyage and the second.
One is no longer particularly attracted by
| porpoises. Even a whale or two is of little
moment. The routine of life on shipboard,
| the telling of the time by the bells. the
movements of the sailors, the appearance
| of stateroom and saloon, are now matters OF
| course. He who starts out on second
| journey over the ocean feels, as the sopho-
more does, the advantage of familiarity,
and is inclined to account himself better
than the freshman, especially II he has been
| exposed to that uncomfortable disease, the
] NAL de mer, and has not taken it, and is
| therefore reasonably sure that he is not 60
| ing to be sick. You will find him saying in
the presence Of novices who are not by any
means so sure of their own exemption, that
he hopes there will be big blow; this
smooth sea he processes to find very monot-
onous.
No Need of Introduotions.
HAPPY is the traveller who has pleasant
companyi 1t is true that one easily makes
friends on shipboard. There are plenty of
nice people. and in a few days everybody
knows everybody else. There is no need of
introduction. The passengers belong to ono
big family. Yet home friends are the best.
whom
have known before, or with whom we have
friends in common, are better than all the
other new people. Especially when they
come from Pittsburg! I am told that $500
Pittsburgers have bought tickets this sum-
mer for lands beyond the sea. Seven men,
bers of this great retinue of fortunate
tourists were on the City Of Berlin.
Who else is on board? There are three
Roman Catholic Sisters, in their uncomfort-
able garments; women past middle life, with
motherly faces, good sailors, now on their
seventh journey doing errands for their
order There is monsignor, domestic pre-
late to His Holiness the Pope, having par
ish in Massachusetts, in a diocese in which
just at present they have no Bishop. If the
appointing powers have the right kind of
good sense monsignor will wear mitre.
There is a theatrical agent, who is on his
way to interview the Pope, that he may gain
his approval of great exhibition which he
proposes to give at Chicago in connection
with the Worlds Fair-nothing less than
the Passion Play Of Oberammergau.
Plans for the Passion Play.
I HAD several talks with Mr.. Rosenthal,
who has this matter in hand. He told me
that the people whom he represents are
willing to spend $500, 900 in this venture, that
they have the refusal OF the old University
grounds upon which they intend to erect
theater exactly like the one in the Tyrol,
that the costumes are to be the same as were
used before-that is, the same in design and
color. The intention is to reproduce the play
as nearly as possible as it was played in 1890,
except that the representation is to last only
four hours instead of eight, and new music
is TO be brought in-better than the old, Mr..
Rosenthal says. He told me that Joseph
Meyer, who took the chief part, and Rosa
Lang, who acted the character of the
Holy Mother, and 2S5 of the Oberammergau
people who were in the play, have promised
to come to America. They are to live, dur
ing the six months they are in Chicago, in
house by themselves, on the grounds by the
theater, and are never to be seen except on
the stage. This is to keep them from being
contaminated by Chicago and to save them
from being gazed at by the curious. Finally
as feature calculated to win for the Chi
goers, the play is never to be performed on
Sunday!
"Have the Oberammergau people really
agreed to conner" asked Mr.. Rosenthal.
"Yes," he said, "they have"
"And you are sure that you will have the
playG''
''Yes, If public sentiment does not inter-
fere; If the parsons will leave US alone"
"What argument did you use with Meyer
and the others to get them to consent? Was
it the good they could do or the money they
could maker"
"Money; but not for themselves, for their
town."
Firm Belief in Oberammergau.
'THAT disappointed me good deal, for
have always insist ed that the Oberammergau
people did not play for money but for the
performance of their vow and for the good
of the great congregations
Nevertheless. still believe in Oberammer-
gau. am inclined to think that the theatrical
agent is too sanguine, and that the consent
of the original actors has not really been
given. As for the production of the play at
Chicago, it would be a scandal and
blasphemy. 1 was going to say that it
would be like hiring man to describe his
mothers deathbed as a part of the pro-
gramme of variety show. Indeed, that is
the most mercenary city on the face OF the
earth, as a side show by the door of circus,
for the sole purpose of making money to
fiji the pockets of irreligious speculators, it
is proposed to enact a representation of the
death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The thing is an insult to religion. I ap-
prove, indeed, of taking religion into all the
dark corners, and of bringing it In contact
with people in every way, and regard the
Passion Play as the best sermon that 1 ever
heard preached. If the clergy and good
people of Chicago desired it for the good
that it might do, I would not say
a word. But under the proposed conditions
as a show which, Mr.. Rosenthal assures me,
shall not be performed on Sunday-the very
day on which it ought to be played, If ever
it is like using the Bible for wrapping
paper, or interlining the hymn book with
advertisements OF pills, or having prayers
mixed up with minstrelsy. Mr.. Rosenthal
may say what he will to the holy father at
Rome, that good man, 1 am sure, will never
approve of such a PROCLAMATION. And whether
he approves or not, the good Christian sem
timent of the people in general will make
the thing impossible.
Burial and Wreck.
Two sad sights saw on this ocean Jour-
ney. One was a burial at sea, the other was
a wreck. steerage passenger, a young
man with a wife In the new world and a
mother In the old, fell sick in midocean and
died-stopped in his journey over the
troubled waters ana took his way into that
other country where, St. John said, there is
no sea. And we buried his body in the deep,
the prayer book service Was read at noon,
the engines OF the steamer ceasing their mo-