The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-30

hear that Mr.. Frawley offers liberal
price for new plays. and new plays are
needed. Can anything, for example. be
more hopelessly out of date than the hui
NOR of Mrs. Bob-Dick or Mrs. Dick-Bob,
whichever she really was? The mold
lies thick upon it, and yet it was once &C.
cepted as humor of the most grotesque,
and there were those among us who
thought it questionable pleasantly at
that.
All, me! and well-a-dayl The world has
been growing wicked while Young Mrs.
Winthrop has been growing old.
And yet, hoary in sin as the world may
be, it can still take its pleasure innocently
with Joshua Whitcomb, and even so hum
bic an exponent of his virtues as the actor
who is now tramping over the road
beaten smooth by Denman Thompson. If,
as l read the other day in some sheet
worthy of attention, the business of the
critic is to report the sentiments of the
audience, joyous enthusiasm anent 'The
Old Homestead would food these col
umns and trickle over on the next page
But, unfortunately for the other writer, 1
do not agree with him at all. EVERY
body cherishes an individual opinion, it
would seem, as to the business of the critic,
from the manager who thinks the critic
was made to boom his theater to the soul
less being who wonders why the critic was
created at all. 1t is well in this meter OF
ours to master the philosophy of Esop.
l keep continually in mind that fable
wherein an old man started to ride an ass
to market, while his son walked dutifully
beside, and being reproached for cruelty
to the young, yielded the saddle to the
boy, who in turn was condemned for dis.
respect to age, and ompromised by taking
his father up beside him. Then they were
both reviled for cruelty to animals, and
ended by walking to market, carrying the
ass between them. suppose the ass was
pleased, but that is not the moral.
| must write about "The Old Home.
stead" then, as I would ride to market, in
the way that suits me best, without pan
dering to the views of any ass-except, in
deed, by accident. have always regarded
Denman Thompson's picture of New Eng
land life as far too faithful in detail to be
attractive, and the play is still as nearly
Iiio co WSan oiu PuC1 can make
it. The homely sweetness of man scrub
bling himself at pump does not appeal to
my sense of the picturesque. 1 cannot
rise to the ecstasy of the occasion.
George Moore declares, in all seriousness,
that the ugIiest object in life is woman
washing herself at basin. l think he is hall
right, but perhaps he has not studied man
at pump. Then the touching simplicity
of stocking feet! do not seem to feel the
thrill that should feel when Uncle Joshua
takes off his cowhide boots. 1 look at faces
irradiated by chaste joy. I hear little
broken, happy murmurs, inarticulate
burblings of delight. know an ineffable
bliss has settled over the audience at the
sight of those gray, knitted socks, and |
know that in some way am out of it.
Perhaps it is matter of education. ]
shall certainly ask few men know to
invest in gray wooden socks, and come up
to my house and walk around in them
two or three evenings of each week, and
shall cultivate a soulful happiness while
they are pattering over my waxed floors
l am willing to learn anything do not