The evening world., 1893-09-19
A TEMPERANCE TOWN."

| The author Of "A Hole in the Ground
Square Theatre last night. and called
II "A Temperance Town" IT was a
great success in Boston. but New York
crs arc free and unprcjudiccd, and they
came to see IL Just the same. MIR. Hoyt.
IN his latest work, has tried sincerely to
get away from himself. as people viii
do at times. Variety IL 80 charming.
don't you know. that there must he mo-
mcnts when Irving signs to appear as
Little Lord Fauntlcroy, and Sarah
Rernhardt longs for farce. lIoyt tried
his hand at the serious once before in
A Midnight Bell" and did extremely
well. He has been successful in "a
Temperance Town"
Tho piece is n quaint combination Of
comedy and mclodrama; the former suC-
gests broadway, tho latter the Bowery.
The comedy Is dainty aud thoughtful;
the hitter Is cuarsely conventional. with
mournfhl heroine In n black dress.
pushed out into the snow and fainting
by the steps of a church. The writers
Of mclodrana always believe that the
instant they put girl into black
dress she becomes an imbccilc, and VIII
cry steadily until they take 1t off again.
A modern audience gets irritable nova
days when 1t sees the black dress
trottcd out. Almost all the melodrama
in "a Temperance Town Is weak, be-
cause ordinary
The fun, however, is bright and at
tractive, and 1t will go with the pub
lie, because nothing is considered more
In, inL
drink. Strong men las Laura Jean
would say are convulsed, and guffaw
at the jag jest, the FUR epigram and
the good simle. although Hoyt does not
Use these. 1t is a humorous state of
affairs. You couldn't lure a smile from
man. strong or otherwise. on the
subject of sarsaparilla or lemonade.
Hoyt satirises the liquor laws of Yer
mont, and he does 50 cleverly, although
we occasionally feel tempted to ask
why We should advertise puny little
Vermont by according II a three hours
attention. The playwright has taken the
curious case Of n man sentenced to
Imprisonment for more than life because
he sold liquor. The villains force him
to sell, and then raid his shop. The
heroine warns him; the hero says nice
things about him, and the good people
in the piece are all "wid" him, for he
was Union soldier. According to
Ioyt. as one Of his own characters re-
marks, you can be a murderer or a
skittish little assassin, and it will be
all right, II you were Union soldier
beforehand. The moral OF "A Temper
ance Town" seems to me to be: BE a
Union soldier" 1t is a good thing to
have military career lurking about
your past.
There are some rather irreverent al
lusions to the Deity in "a Temperance
Town." and a few proper audiences will
refrain from laughing when the thresh-
ing machine placed on the steps of a
church becomes toboggan slide, upon
which the congregation descend. The
cast was fairly good one. Richard j. |
Dillon, George Richards and Eugene
Garfield did the best work. Garfield
was particularly humorous. but his sur
pa ssingly ugly face is his fortune, and
he Is funny before he says a word. Miss
Caroline Miskel. who has been most
cruelty doomed. Is very pretty. but she
suffers from wild Western method
OF rolling her RS that is simply oppres-
sive. When she says "Poor-r-r-r
you feel inclined to get
up and chop Off a few OF the tenacious
RS. Mis- Miskel was really respon-
sible for the late hour at which the
performance ended. 1t took her such
a time to roll those RS. She is, how
ever. pleasant and placid. and she orna-
mented chair with garlands of flow
ers much more effectively that she or
several OF the situations of
the piece. f. +. Nagle was very weak
as the rumseller, and Miss Lulu Tabor
terribly loud as Judge Does daughter
George ODER was very good as the old
judge, but his other role, that of a non
ogenarian. was somewhat overdone.
Please note that the author of "A
appearance Town" is no longer Charles
SIoyt. He is Mr. Hoyt. Never
e say Charlie. any more than YOU
%ll Mr.. DAILY Gussie. There is
s"S sentiment against Christian
aan hey are very rude and vul-
gar De "Hers, and assume a dignity.
even II 'ouNave it not.
N ALAN DALE.