Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-22

artists and managers eagerly grab at. America is fertile field for dramatic ac- tion Abundant material can be found throughout its broad domain for the pro- duction of any manner of play, whether it partake of pastoral or urban life, of com edy or tragedy. I believe in keeping as close to nature as possible and depicting scenes and incidents which happen in our own country and in our own times The rising generation should know the history of its own country-and contemporane- ous history at that-before studying that of other nations. And I know of no better instructor, no better history maker than the stage, for no teacher, no cold type, can make such an indelible impression upon the mind of youth as a well turned drama. That is tho reason l speak with such car nestness and directness.
 am not partisan by any means, and do not mean to decry foreign plays of mer 1t. Man or woman could read the works of the immortal Shakespeare or witness their presentation score or more of times and still learn something. So too, in a minor degree, with the works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Richard Labor Shell, Bulwer Lytton and men of that stamp. The plays I object to are those which givo
 
 which have hardly shrod of facts to build upon; which appeal to the worst passions of mankind instead of the noblest senti- ments; which abound in anachronisms and portray exaggerated situations which lead up to Impossible denouenrsnts. Such plays are history dcstroyers and intellect perverters.
 Of lato years 1 am pleased to note there is q strong tendency upon the part of our people to encourage home production and to applaud clean, wholesome, instructive American drama-dramat typical of Amer ioan life, pastoral and urban, political and social. Such plays, for instance, as The Mighty Dollar,' The Gilded Age," "The Old Homestead" The Senator" "Ambtion, " Shenandoah, and "Shore Acres,'' of which 1 have the good fortune to be author and am now playing at the Fifth Avenue theater, New York, have met with as pronounced favor as any of the passionate, turgid, suited, erotic dramas of foreign playwrights.
 And with good reason. They appeal directly to the hearts of the people. They are in close touch with nature, and they either recall scenes of childhood days or portray those with which they are familiar in youth or in manhood. They are pure and invigorating as well as being strong in dramatic action. I will not attempt to analyze these plays, as my readers are probably as familiar with their qualities as your humble servant, but l will make bold enough to ask what sermon could better point moral than the little pas toral comedy I am now presenting? The scene is laid off the picturesque coast of Maine, near Bar 4Iarbor. A noble fellow stifles his affection for the woman he adores and goes off to the war to serve his country in order that the younger brother he loves, who was also snittcn with her charms, may win her. When that brother docs win her, he surrenders his share of the farm to the two people he loves best on earth. In time the younger brother, now master of Shore Acres, listens to the voice of the tempter, the real estate specu- lator, and becomes money mad. Despite the protests of tho self sacrificing brother, he enters into the schemes of land i'm provement company and cuts up the homestead into village lots, after first mortgaging the farm to get the necessary funds to construct cottages, He even sao- rifces the plot of ground which cor9titutes his mothers last resting place. He has no room for sentiment" That superflu ous feeling must give way to the Moloch