The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-12-29
JAMES A. HERNE,

artists and managers eagerly grab ut.
America is a fertile field for dramatic nc
ton. Abundant material can be found
throughout its broad domain for the pro-
duction OF any manner OF play, whether 1t
partake of pastoral or urban lifo, of COM
edy or tragedy. 1 believe in keeping as
close to nature rs possible and depicting
scenes and incidents which happen in our
own country and in our own times. Tho
rising generation should know tho history
of its own country-nnd contemporaries
GUS history ut that-beforo studying that
of other nations. And know of no better
instructor, no better history maker, than
tho stage, for no teacher, no cold type, can
mako such an indeliblo impression upon
tho mind of youth rs we'll turned drama.
That is tho reason speak with such ear
nestncss and dircctness.
am not partisan by any means, and
do not moan to decry foreign plays of mer-
1t. Man or woman could read tho works
Of the immortal Shakespeare or witness
their presentation n score or more of times
and still learn something So, too, in
minor degree, with tho works of Richard
Brinsloy Sheridan, Richard Labor She'll,
Bulwer Lytton and mon of that stamp.
Tho plays object to arc those which give
tho widest play to the Imagination and
which have hardly a shred of facts to build
upon; which appeal to the worst passions
of mankind instead of tho noblest sonti-
ments; which abound in arachronisms
and portray exaggerated situations which
lead up to impossible denouements. Such
plays arc history destroyers and intellect
perverters.
OF lato years am pleased to note there
Is strong tendency upon the part of our
people to encourage homo production and
to applaud clean, wholesome, instructive
American drama-drama typical Of Amer
lean life, pastoral and urban, political
and social. Such plays, for instance, rs ''The
Mighty Dollar "Tho Gilded Age"
"The Old Homestead" "Tho Senator"
'"Ambition, Shenandoah, and "Shoro
Acres Of which 1 have tho good fortune
to be author and am now playing at tho
Fifth Avenue thoatcr, New York, have
met with as pronounced favor rs any of
the passionate, turgid, stilted, erotiQ,
dramas of foreign playwrights.
And with good reason. They appeal
directly to the hearts of tho people. They
arc in close touch with nature and they
either recall scenes of childhood days or
portray those with which they arc familiar
In youth or in manhood. They arc pure
and inyigorating as we'll rs being strong
in dramatic action. will not attempt to
analyze these plays, rs my readers arc
probably rs familiar with their qualities
as your humble servant, but will mako
bold enough to ask what sermon could
better point moral than tho little pas
toral comedy am now presenting? Tho
scene is laid off tho picturesque coast OF
Maine, near Bar Harbor A noble fellow
STILES his affection for tho woman no
adorcs and goes off to tho war to serve his
country in order that tho younger brother
no loves, who was also smittcn with her
charms, may win her. Whom that brother
does win her, no surronders his share of
tho farm to tho two people he loves best
on earth. In timo tho younger brother,
now master of Shore Acres, listens to tho
voice of tho tcmpter, tho real estate spccu-
lator, and becomes money mad. Despite
the protests OF the self sacrificing brother,
he enters into tho schemes of n land i'm
}provcmcnt company and cuts UP the
7 homestead into village lots after first