The record-union., 1894-05-19

an alInShouSe, among quarrellng Oiu pau
pers, by the village teacher. who mas res
cued her from the river. beaten anu
frightened she had lied from her drunken
step-father: her mind weakened by bod
lily suffering, she sprang into the stream,
because, as she tells lamely on the stage,
she imagined she saw Christ at the bot
tom 5eckoning to her. Faith in Chris
tian promises of hereafter is all she mas
in her miserable life. and the pictures OF
her future are very real. They make ner
long for death.
Tie play develops from this gloomy
beginning along two lines, one psyche
logical, the other allegorical or religious.
Hannele is laid on a couch moaning and
starting up in delirious fright at lmag-
ined dangers. She is unable to tell her
story 10 magistrate and a nurse, SO all
efforts are directed TO soothing her. Lett
alone with the nurse, Sister OF Mercy,
her delusions begin to take forms sue
cesSiVely clearer and more complicated.
Her fear OF her step-father sees his flgure
in a hat and coat on a rack. This Is re-
moved by the nurse, who goes out 1or
water. In her absence Hannele sees the
figure of her father rise at the foot OF her
couch. In this instance, and In all That
come after, her illusions are represented
on the stage 10 the spectators. The father,
Mattern, curses and threatens her, I'LL
conscious to the floor. The nurse rushes
in, but the apparation is gone, and Han
nele is put back to bed. y few moments
later the child's dead mother appears 10
her, announces to Hannele that she must
die and comforts her with the praises OF
Heaven. The image OF death comes up
seated in the fireplace. Hannele is fright
ened, and feels the dread of death, while
yet the desire TO die is strong in her.
Death approaches with upraised sword,
but IS prevented from striking by the
mother.
When this vision vanishes and the
nurse returns, the child is humole ed In
her belief in its reality, and now she be-
gins to speak of The teacher who saved
her life. He is beautiful; she loves him.
and his form is more and more identified
with her conception OF Christ. In the
midst of her chatter of these two per-
sonages, angels appear and again death
is announced. tHanneie, in dismay,
points to her ragged clothes, asking II she
must go with the white angels in those.
A dapper tailor, out of Cinderella, leaps
bowing.and grinning upon the scene.
He clothes her as that princess was
clothed and dances away. Continuing
the peculiar confusion of dream, the
author, alter drawing upon child's
Imagination of fairies, blends the form
OF the nurse and the mother, the latter
coming in IN the garments OF the former.
Hannele, now content to die, is laid upon
the couch. Mourners come in, paupers,
children who have scotfed at her cloth
ing, and, true to the nature OF the mind
that is dreaming, the wonder OF all Is at
the beauty of the dying child and her
clothes, not at her impending death. The
teacher re-enters and is followed by the
drunken. swearing father.
Here follows the scene which was the
one that gave otfense and almost pre-
vented the enactment of the play. The
teacher bides the father confess and
paraphrases the words Of Christ. When
the father admits he has murdered his
step-child he fees, saying he will hang
himself. The teacher approaches
Hannele, again using Christ's words.
His dark garments fall Oft ana in white
comes to Hannele's coffin. He raises her
and conducts her up the stairs to heaven
between The rejoicing lines of angels.
Suddenly the scene is darkened. and as
suddenly the original aspect Of the old
almshouse is restored. Hannele is IN bed.
The teacher and the nurse return and say,
the one ''Sne is dead" +" the other 'She is
in heaven.' The dream has come true
and the play is over. 1t has lasted one
hour and twenty minutes, is of one act
and one scene.
To be exalted or offended by all this
one must be Christian. There is moth
ing in il all that does not do credit to re-
ligiOn, and psychologically it is wonder
fully correct in detail and as a whole.
Whether it has a sufficient meaning, or is
clear in its meaning, is a
doubtful question. The Mayor. the Gerry
Society, and the police have caused it 10
be greatly altered and cut, SO that the
plainness Of the original German text is
Emotionally the effect of the
play is depressing. Intellectually it is
not rich in suggestion. All that seems
worth while is the attempt made to draw
from new fields of dramatic work. The
field chosen is the Oldest known to the
drama-that of the early mystery plays,
and is not very valuable. But Haupt-
mann has tried others. He is leader,
and will no doubt have followers who can
avoid where he has offended. Aside from
the various questions raised by his
"Hannele," its production here is an
event of importance in the history of the
American stage. 1t may make our play
wrights think. If it does it will be
blessing.
Governor Flower has vetoed the most
important of the reform bills passed by
the Legislature, and is confidently ex-
pected by his friends to refuse to sanction
others. He signed the bill making the
Office of Sheriff salaried one, and cut
ting down the remuneration from about
100000 to $4,000 q year, and the bill
which provides that the Dock Commits
sion of this city shall do waterfront work
by contract, not by lis own employees.
This last will affect the method of ex-
pending several millions year, and cuts
off an enormous amount of patronage.
The two signatures are accepted as a sop
for the refusal to pass the bill which
would have enabled the next Mayor to
1.QFs nf n rfr TafS no
veto did not cause storm of protests, for
the message went back to sound prin-
ciples for a justification, and cleverly
quoted the decision of reform committee
of twenty years ago against the concen-
tration of such absolute power in the
head of the municipal government. That
committee consisted of the chief advo-
Gates of the recent bill. In effect, the re-
formers, in their effort to alter the organ
ization of the city government to fit ex-
pected changes III the personnel, gave the
Governor an opportunity to rebuke them
with great show of right and wisdom
on his part. They have little to say III
reply. =--
A change has been made in the rules of
the New York Stock Exchange which
sweeps away the most picturesque and
and one OF the most useful functions of
the board. The Governors have prohib-
tied ''arbitrage BROKERAGE" Any one
who has watched the floor of the Ex-
change from the galleries will remember
that the widest men were those who kept
one hand in the air with their fingers ris-
ing in funny way. These were the
arbitrage brokers. They were taking adj
vantage OF the difference in prices OF two
or more markets. Their operations were
confined usually to dealings in one stock
and between two cities, say. for example,
Reading" between New York and Phil
adelphia- At the opening of the two Ex-
changes at 10 o'clock it very frequently
happened that the stock sold in Philadel-
phla Tor a quarter OF dollar less than
here. The broker on the New York floor
in the Reading crowd' signaled the
opening price here to his telephone clerk,