The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-16

over the house the service between
handkerchiefs and eyes was one of mu-
tuality. Shenandoah" is effectively
mounted, not richly, for the stage prop
critics have been much worn and seem
themselves to have suffered the shock
of battle. But the scenic effects in the
first and third acts were fine, the per-
spective of the Shenandoah Valley on
the back set being especially good art
work. So, too, the Charleston ballroom
parlor and the interior in the last
act were neat and attractive. The COM
pany is strong throughout. Perhaps
on the side of the women it is not so
good as in the troupe that played it
here nearly a decade ago. Neverthe-
less the young women of the present
company are attractive, carry their
parts with spirit, and appear to be
thoroughly imbued with the thought Of
the play. The men of the company
are without exception strong. One need
not wish to see the parts better carried
than by the leaders. In fact there is
no weak timber on the roster. The
very large number of assistants and
supernumeraries constitute the best
drilled body of aids we have ever seen
upon the stage here. 1t is attention to
detail as much as anything else that in
sures success in such a drama, and it is
in the detail the smallest things done
by the least consequential persons of
the company that make up the COM
pleteness of the Shenandoah" spec
tacle. One could fancy that in the stub
born retreat, the slow falling back Of
the hard pressed and gallant fighting
troops; the arrival of Sheridan and his
cavalry; the rally to the guns, the adj
vance again; the falling of the dead:
the bearing in of the wounded; the work
of the surgeons in the field; the action
of the gunners; the firing of the men
as they were beaten back; the rally
about the tattered colors, and all that.
that the men had really had experience
in battle, and knew from service Just
what the incidents and activities We're
to the smallest detail The fine lima
of comedy running through the play is
capitally maintained, and the pathos
and love of the story is worked oue
with complete effectiveness. The horses
appear to understand their duties in
the several scenes of the play quite as
well as the human beings. They are
evidently thoroughly trained to the
service they are in. 1t is perfectly safe
to forecast that the Opera-house will
be crowded tomorrow night very much
as it was last night, and we incline to
the belief that it would have been filled
tonight also had the company wished
to present Shenandoah" here three
times.
Monday evening at the Clunie Opera
house Professor Sylvan Lee, hypnotist,
will begin a weeks engagement, lectur-
ing nightly and giving Illustrations in
the art of mental suggestion. Professor
Lee comes warmly indoIsed by Eastern
Journals as one out of the common. He
explains that he is not in the business
of deluding the public, but is earning
his living by instructing them in just
what hypnotism really is; that there IS
no mystery about it; that there is moth
ing occult related to it; that it is simply
service by natural laws within the
control and use of all, and that the ex-
travagant claims laid for it are mainly
unfounded. Nevertheless, he insists that
it is sufficiently wonderful, useful and
humane to be worthy the study of all,
and of employment in hundreds Of cases
for human good. More or less all, he
says, are hypnotists, and all have ex-.
perienced it's effects. We very often.
he declares, practice it upon ourselves
through fear. imagination, fancy and
the action of the emotions. He makes his
lectures extremely humorous by many