Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-12-20

Rand, 40 pearl Of womznhood, !"
daughter Of millionaire. but sweet.
flank and pure for All that. aud tells
her the story Of HE msssing slstsr. IL
Is the old, old story city villain, .
trusting maiden, IN slopement. mock
marriage. desertion-but in the telling
of II Hosea falls in love with virgie.
This he quantity eompares with his de-
sire for the moon in hls haoyhood
days- Now Ward Andrews. the VII
lain. appears, bat concesls his identity.
OF course IL comes 10 the surface, and
finally the two confront each other.
"And you call yourself christian"
sneers Andrews a. Hosea becomes az
gressiye.
"I'm tryin' hard To be" answers Ho-
sea. grittirg his teeth, but lts terrible
hard" And when his SISTERS betrayer
slaps his face the old Adam boiis up
and Hosea throws him OF the veranda
down into the valley below.
"Where is Andrewss' demand the
people. who rush on the stage.
"He's just dropped IN on mother"
Gays Hosea - the curtain falls.
At the end Of the first act Mr.. Rus
cell stepped out before the curtain.
He delivered brief address in which,
among other things, he said: "The
critics have tried to explain the reason
OF my excessive success. Some Of them
ascribe II to my winning smile,
others TO my general homelinese. All
OF them say that my pedal extremities
have something TO do with IT. l wish
knew the reason, might DO able to
build upon il. IL 10 our aim to present
clean and Wholesome play" Mr..
Russell's peculiar nasal utterance
added zest TO his remarks- He apollo
gised for his speech by saying that he
filled the time while the carpenter was
changing the set.
The second act shows tho humble
home of the Howes. Here you get 40
Quainted with Hosea's dear old mother.
who, like all other mothers, thinks "her
own goose is . swan" There are some
rare touches of New England life in
this act-Hosea hoeing on the hillside.
and later on. shaving with all the awk-
wardnsss of his tribe. There 10 . dainty
bit of love-making, too, between Hosea
and Virgis, interrupted by mother, who
fears that the sweet young girl has "de-
signs" on her boy.
"Mother." says Hosea, anxious to
continue the tete-a-tete, 'don't smell
your cake burnin'?"
"Iain't baken' today. replies mother,
peerlng shrewdly 1T her boy. over her
spectacles.
Then comes Hosea's chance to get .
position in New York, and hunt for his
lost sister. He jumps at it eagerly.
There is q tender parting between
mother and son.
go. my boy, if you must" finally
says the old lady.
"Mother," says Hosea, his native wit
coming to the rescue and preventing
unmanly tears, "there's rip In my
gray pants want you to mend"
But at tho last moment the vii lain
persuades Virgle's father to refuse him
the New York position. Hosea's car
petbag 10 packed and he is determined
to 60.
''The railroad amt yourn," he breaks
out, "ths turnpike amt yourn. New
York amt yourn. and I'll 20 there if
have to walk every step of the way"
The third act il in New York and
things move rapidly. Virgie has set .
detective at work trying to find the
lost sister. She comes to tho house in
search of honest work; Hosea arrives,
too, after his long tramp irony ermont.
All efforts of Andrews TO keep them
apart finally fail, and in scene full
of pathos Hosea meets his hayward
sister. To cap it all the mock mar
rage turns out to have been real and
news 10 received that the Howes have
won q long pending land lawsuit which
makes them rich. This enables Hosea
TO checkmate the villains final effort
and the curtain goes down on happy
denouem
The character of Hosea 10 the absorb.
ing one, of course. It 10 fine true
picture of the gawky Yankee youth
that Mr.. Russell draws. There 10 VEN
of deep, poetic feeling beneath his con-
slant flow OF dry humor and now and
pathetic description OF his missionary
instance, or his Characterization Of his
feelings toward Virgo. cts like
honey an sunshine an music an
flowers. all twined round rainbow"
be says. When Virgie tells him she is
going away IN few hours, he turns
away to struggle with his feelings.
Goodbye" he says simply. but with .
world of meaning IN the way he turns
"why. you're oil trembling" says
"Yes," replies he. hiding his grief be-
meath his humor, cit runs in the fam
lily. Grandfather was shaker"
Very epigrammatic are HE quaint
sayings. The razor has IN edge on il
like IAN old maid attendin' somebody
else's weddin'." The girls shy at him
a. il he were 50 last years bunnit."
The smooth detective skaters his
ideals. He thought detective wore .
cloak, q slouch hat, . scowl, and said
"Ahav' Young Jack Farquhar was 90
fast that when he came TO spend the
summer he did IL in week. And tho
blind man 10 whom he gave s cents
said, "I'll see you later" After .
frultless search for the pocket in his
mothers alpaca dress, he says: SWIM
men don't have such trouble - that
findIn' mems pockets" And 90 on.
The briIliants sparkle oil through the
piece.
Mr.. Berger has surrounded Mr.. Rus
cell with q strong supporting company,
which includes Miss Minnie Radcliffe.
Anna Belmont. Lillian Chantore,
Charles Il. Brandt, Alfred Hudson.
Edward Vroom. Arthur Byron.
Tonight. "A Poor Relation" revised
and rewritten, will be acted.
"The Dago." now current in the
Grand. 10 an ordinary construction OF
m ordinary piece. interpreted by ordi-
nary players. The plot Is essentially
threadbsre. but interest in its portrayal
is maintained by the very clever little
girl, Annie Robinson. without whom
the piece would be barren Of life.
There are some very effective passages