The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-01-31
NYM CRINKLES LETTER
Some Sage Reflections on
Georgia Cayvan's Art.
SHE FAILED IN SQUIRE KATE"
mr.. Puehanan's Play Required Woman
WIN Could Change from sensible
c,~.e,beart TO a Tearing Termagant at
tina Drop OF the Hat.

woman OF DtlIbl' bhiA 80.
acting Is Of the quiet, demurely digniied
order when she is at her best. she strikes
Won as = woman Of strong personality,
nrim views and considerable intelligence:
Sbo Is not as handsome as Mrs. Kendall
was twenty years ago, when London ieil
in love with Madge Robertson, but her
manner reminds you OF that actress at
times. tt is less in the similarity OF APP
pearancc than in similarity OF tempera-
ment. Neither Of them wears the actress
trade mark-that indefinite, but always
oerccptible pronOnce air. Ihey III the 40
nestle scenes easily and gracefully ana 10
see them a. their best one must see theh
as happy wives, not IS adYentureases OF
firts or coQuettes or courtesans.
Mrs. Kendall has charmed the American
nublic bv her drawing room romahces.
She seemed TO have washed and bleacned
each one of them until there WASH STAN
of carnalitv on them. They accepted her
pc the exemplar Of the safe drama that
cbeered but could not inebriate.'
think Miss George C8yyan was oulit
for the same kind Of VOL. hen there
fore Mr. Frohman put her into the new
NAV called Squire Kate" and gave her
role in which she had to be unnatural, I'M
reasonable, vituperatiye ana even vulgar
she signally failed.
Nobody appeared to have looked deep
enough into the matter 70 see that MT.
Frobman's loss was her gain, and that for
the actress TO fail was for the woman to
triumph.
The play is an anomalous combination
Of exquisite rustic scenery and dramatic
fustian The most ridiculous thirgs are
done with sentimental seriousness ana the
absurdest actions take place amid the
most delightful surroundings.
We arc introduced TO Squire Kate in her
own kitchen. one of those old English
kitchens which Mr. Frohman delights 10
renroduce to its minutest detail. she
moves about among her yokels the kindly
but dignifed young mistress VINO has had
the responsibility Of the farm suddenly
put upon her and who has been accus
toned 10 take her share OF the work IN
complaiuingy
You can picture the bright group for
vourself-the men at the deal table under
the smoky rafters drinking their home
brewed ale and chatting the maids; the
overseer. who is in love with Kate, leaning
against the great chimneypiece, moody
and reticent as his eye follows the mistress
in her busting duties, and now and then
whiting his buckthorn stick; the younger
sister who comes in like a moth, very
sweet and innocent, as Miss Ellie Shannon
ALWAYS makes younger sisters, and eats
the plums while the squire makes the pud-
ding You can see the hedgerOws through
the broad. open easement and almost hear
the lark singing. 1t is a delicious picture
of English rustic life in its best estate. 1t
might have beer tinted by Jane Austin or
sketched by Charles Reade.
But what is the story that evolves itself
on this serene and sunny canvas?
Let me tell you as briefly as ! can.
Squire Kate is heavily in debt. The farm
is encumbered and there is a misery old
screw in the neighborhood who holds her
in his relentless grip, and is determined to
ruin her. He has a son, rather manly
Young fellow, who is deeply in love with
the Younger sister, and who is disguised
with his fathers sordid spirit. Squire
Kate is not aware of this attachment. She
not only loves her sister tenderly, but she
also consciously loves the young man. All
at once another old miser somewhere dies
and leaves all his wealth 10 Kate She
paws off the Indebtedness on the farm and
is herself wealthy woman. We are now
at the end Of the first act, and the lark
sings with redOubled energy.
We then proceed TO the English bayfield,,
where Squire Kate in "a French dress SUI
perintends the hayraking and IS beset
by an opera boufle quartet Of suitors.
Among them is the Old Screw, who, now
that she is wealthy, is anxious to have her
marry his son and tells her that the son
loves her, TO her souls delight. But pres
emily she discovers that il Is false and that
the Young man loves her sister And at
that point the play goes all to pieces in tho
atric Mysteries and incOnceiyable mumDo
jumbo.
In an instant the squire is converted
from a wholesome, lcyelneaded housewife
and prudent woman into an irresponsible
and vituperative stage hussy As soon as
| she gets the facts into her mind she hates
her innocent sister, declares herself an
enemy of the world and rants and raves
unrestrainedly about her incorporated
affection, and rushes off in the night 10 an
old Polonius shepherd in a lonely wood TO
get a love philter or some mandragora 10
| fix things up 10 her liking.
| The most romantic Of maiden observers
Of this catastrophe feels at once that the
bottom has fallen out OF the English pic
mic and that the spilled contents are
cheap melodrama. One feels little sorry
that the wholesome Squire Kate should so
quickly resolve herself into a superstltious
lovelorn maiden Of the Middle Ages.
There is a strong desire in the human
breast that she shall 90 on making pud-
ding and raking the hay and behave her
self But no. she not only insists that the
world is a soap bubble and her doll is
stuffed with sawdust, but she proposes to
declaim it in spite of decency and at the
slightest proyocation
Nj. Buchanan, the author OF this play,
appears 70 think that the average heroine
OF the century doesn't draw much OF a line
between serenely loving and severely
hating. She either wears ashes Of roses or
oil Of vitriol rs the mood seizes her, and
| If she can't have her own sweet way with
her emotions, she becomes in rhe twin
king Of an eye q confirmed nihilist. Her
creed is devotion OF dynamite. Beware, and
love me.
Then Mr.. Buchanan having got himself
into this conscienceless human middle, IN