The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-26

the soul to perform what Is clearly a dut
TO his fellow man, irrespective of the cor
sequences to those he loves, is the questio
here dealt with, and an extreme case is i'm
agined in order to bring the acute struggl
and the triumph fairly into view.
Something of this sort was done both i
JUDAH and in Margaret Fleming" an,
neither play was a popular success.
What would you think, asks The Herald
of young lawyer in private life who, o.
learning that his father was once false to
magisterial duty, sets to work to max
that falseness clear to the world, KNOWN!
that he will break his widowed mother
heart and ruin his sweetheart's happiness
1t seems to me that it is not difficult Il
know what the world ought to think.
If that young lawyer is attempting t,
correct a wrong, he belongs to the class fo
| whom the world has erected monument!
and of whom it has written poems.
But it seems that we cannot in our day
write plays about him.
The truth is the conventional man would
rather have a dramatic wrong than an I'M
! dramatic right, and it is equally true that
from the very nature of things virtue car
never be as melOdramatic as vice. True
heroism in our life is not demonstrative
! 1t consists less in violent defense of vir-
tue than in an abiding belief in her.
'The Broken Seal'' presents us with two
men who disregard every conventional law
in obeying their conScienceS. One of them
is priest, and he leaves his church in
! order to tell a secret confessed to him in
the confessional, that he may punish the
guilty and save the innocent. This makes
the shallow critic shudder. But it is per-
fectly allowable dramatic situation, in
which it is presumed that duty to God
may be more exacting than duty to the
church.
In Judah" a clergyman having told a
falsehood to screen woman he loved is
mainly bent upon purging himself from
that lie before the world, and the same
critic | have quoted threw up his hands
and exclaimed, "Why didn't he stick to
the lie like man" Mr.. A. NJ Palmer
produced play once at the Union Square
theater, the purpose of which was to show
that it was nobler to take a blow than to
resent it in certain circumstances. The
play ought to have been called 1.-THE Other
Cheek Also" 1t wasn't. 1t was called
''The Danicheff"
Considering that the world had been
1,S0O years trying to get that idea squarely
into its head, it was curious to observe how
far behind the ethical principle the theatre
cal Jagged. ''The Danicheff' was failure
with the populace, and the conventional
critic wanted the moral hero to pull pis-
tol and kill his assailant on the spot
/ have heard this same Mr.. Palmer say
that the theater was a place of relaxation.
The moment it tried to Go any more than
amuse it antagonized its patrons. Doubt
less this is true in a sense. Ethical prob
lens and psychological puzzles strain the
attention and burden the relaxed mind.
The ordinary theater goer wants to leave
his mind with his umbrella, in the cloak
room. The appeal OF the ordinary man.
ager is something like this: If you want
to escape from thought come here. This
is an asylum where you are safe from your
serious self.
There are several conscientious artists in
"The Broken Seal" and among them is
Miss Julia Arthur. This actress is one of
those phenomenal successes which the
theater is continually throwing to the sur
face. For long time she roved about the
country. playing with all kinds of people
and in all kinds of plays, and never achiev-
ing distinction. One of her last itinerant
efforts was with the ringmaster Mr.. Harry
Lacy. ALI at once she made a hit in an
ephemeral play at the Union Square and
was pulled into notoriety overnight.
Then everybody wanted her, and even
Mr.. Harry Lacy, who had exhausted the
horse market sent for her.
She is a woman of ability and of prepos-
sessing appearance, but hard work did not
secure for her a recognition of either. Ac-
cident did it all. She stumbled into success
one night and woke up to find the town
talking about her. Mantell did the same
thing. So did Clara Morris. So Miss
Arthur, who played for forty dollars
week for six years, can now low command
a hundred and fifty. !
The quality-if indeed il was quality at
an-that distinguished her was strength.
She is a forceful. somewhat spasmodic and
slightly old school declaimer. The very
antithesis of Marie Burroughs and George
Cayvan, neither of whom demonstrates
only suggests. She came in collision with
an actor, Mr.. Henley, whose boast it is that
be wipes the deck" with every leading
woman. He utterly failed 10 wipe out Miss
Arthur. She stood up TO him manfully,
and in the histrionic scrap scored a sue
cess" as the reporters say. That was how
she become a champion with the boys.
Put in opposition to Mrs. Booth. one sees
at once that she lacks subtlety and fnesse-
She doesn't careSS-she coerces.
But these forceful women are always a
relief to the public. They seem TO renew
the stalwartism of the past.
But enough of the arld drama. 7 have
been going to the opera religiouslv: haven't
missed night. Ii you suppose that I
have taken a score and kept nv finger on
the dotted notes. you are mistaken. have
sat in a reverie and taken in Meyerbeer.
Iounod. Thomas and Verdi with an ornnivo-
rous relish. No pent up Utica contracts
my powers The whole boundleSs musical
domain is mine
Ii has interested me to study what the /
call ''the encourage" We fc,- /
lows with musical ears get into our seats
ri clock. We never miss the overture.
About o'clock the ''horseShoe's Clittering !
curve begins to ill up. The stockholders /.
are never IL at the start. We can hear the I
SWISH Of their white dresses all through 4
-ne second act. like a flock OF doves NJ 1
mere IN their red dovecotes. Then the
lights are sottened 50 as TO give the Cia-
nonds chance, and conversation begins.
1t 5 a settled conviction Of the men in
he banquet that the beauty OF the gilt
ering curve i "A myth. sustained bv the
newspapers. The loneliness Of New York's
Is not patent. il is suppoeiti-