The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-02-12
THE DRAMA SPIRITUALIZED.
By Eleanor C. Donnelly.)

J. ALI O1cA 4 LII i "
CBy Eleanor C. Donnelly.)
lRead before the Women's Convention al
Atlanta Georgia, Nov. rs, 1895. in the Wo.
mems building Of the Cotton States and In.
ternational Exposition) v,i - - ea@1
They tell in ancient nytho logic story
OF young Eurydice, once beauteous bride
OF Orpheus, the prince of lyric glory,
(The bard by pagans to the gods allied.
Fated Eurydice! From out the chaos
OF Grecian lore, we see her rise and flee
Across the meads, pursued by Aristoeus,
Infamed with Bacchanalian revelry!
Lo! as with wind-blown robes, in fight she
passes
Clearing afar her spouse's silv'ry flute),
A JeWeled serpent darling from THE grasses,
Stings unto death her slender roseate
foot! IGiG9rU a.
And down she sinks unto the gloomy region
Where Pluto holds his court, and Proser-
pine ,.f,.
Hinged by the Harpies and the Fates, foul
legionD
Reigneth Queen Internally divine.
What time Eurydice in mortal sorrow
Doth languish in that place of torturing
shame,
Her spouse-her Orpheus-the fatal morrow,
Comes seeking her within the realm of
flame. t
He sees the Parcoe with wild eyes a-kindle,
He sees the serpent-crown'd Eumenides:
The first displays the Distaff, Shears, and
Spindle,
The latter guards the Trident and the
keys.
Pressing his ways to Phito's throne of fire,
past the dog Cerberus and the streams
that burn)
The mighty minstrel strikes his golden Tyre
And singing, pleads for his lost brides
return. .+.s-'T ~
ing,
Acknowledges the singers magic sway;
The wheel of Ixion no more revolving
The. stone of Sisyphus is stilled today!
And wretched Tantalus. his thirst forget
ting, 7.,,.s. .q.,...s4v..>.
Listens entranced to that rare melody
The Furies hear, while tears their eyes are
wetting):
90 give me back my lost Eurydice.'
"She shall be thine Pluto at last replieth:
THY song hath conquered cen our cruel
spell.
Take her-but look not back! The mortal
dieth
Who turns one backward glance on us and
Hell!'
o joy! the lost one to her lover .rllshes.
They clasp-they weep-they sob aloud
their bliss
Already doth the sun illume her bushes,
The winds of heaven her shining tresses
kiss. ~.
When Hasten, love!"-her happy spouse
exclaiming
Turns with backward glance to speed
her flight
Alas, alas. the pit Of Pluto flaming
Hath swallowed her forever from his
sight!
My gentle friends methinks. Xou are we'll
able
To solve this riddle of antiquity.
To read the moral Of this Greciah fable
Of hapless, lovely. lost Eurydice.
Behold. the Drama in it's chaste transcend
ence,
The glory Of it's pristine liveliness.
PURSUED IN all us CLASSICAL responsiveness,
BY lustful suitors to I1elrs dread abyss
From out the green of treacherous morasses.
See where the serpent of the sensual art
Springs on the trembling Genius, she
And wounds her to the death with poison'd
dart.
Alas. she s!-down-down-she sinks de-
spairing -.,..,....,
Into the dark domains of Sin and He'll
The stigma Of the Damned forever sharing,
Eternal slave of Deaths black citadel
Corruption hath assailed her interruption,
The Sensual her spirit hath def.ed
For Art lascivious hath wrought destruc-
tion
Upon the Dramas pure and lovely child.
Oh. who shall free the captive from her fet-
Who lead her, radiant, from Hells gloomy
door?
Who shall release her from that den Of
debtors
And lift her to a higher life once more?
When shall there come some selfless, brave
reformer,
Far better, wiser than Apollo's son,
(WhOSe music dies IN mean ana tuneleSS
murmur
Before the measures of this mighty one0
To cleanse the age in its polluted fountains,
To tame the savage beasts of Passions
wild,
Cproot Impurity's gigantic mountains,
And food the stage with beauty indebted?
All this must be the work Of some grand
creature
In true regenra Arts Millennium.
When grace shall rule triumphant over ma
tGre,
And heavily chariots smite the demons
dumb.
Arise, o Christian Orpheus, bring hither
Thy golden Tyre filled with heavens song.
Make music with the viol and the either
That shall beguile the cruel and the
strong.
Sing. till the very courts of Satan tremble,
Till Fate and Fury. melting. YIELD to thee:
cry where the princes of the Dead assemble
20 give us back our Dramas purity
And when she comes, the Genius fair and
gifted.