The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-04

Inc signaling from Three Top IN the
second act. and which. by the way, is a
literal reproduction Of the Confederate
signals given just before Sheridan's ride.
Is done by ladder, man and light.
The scenery forming the back part Of the
Shenandoah valley Is made transparent
just where Three Top looms up. 10 this
point In the rear rises a ladder built on
the scene with Stats. Up this an ordinary
man goes and flashes light according
to a code. From the parquette the effect
IS a powerful one. Every iot Of light is
figure, decimal. giving information to
the enemy. A hysterical young woman
In black sitting in one Of the boxes shiv-
ers for fear the Federals will not be able
to translate. She claps her hands when
the message Of light Is daciphered What
to her is 1t that the space between Three
Top, the signal man and the Union officer
holding his powerful field glasses on the
flashes Is less than feet? She does not
know thai the slope of the mountain on
which the officer stands is canvas, boards,
papier mache verdure, paint and stage
earth. She doesn't want TO know it. She
wouldn't at that moment believe it if you
and Sheridan Is still more than twenty
miles away That's what the paint and
tinsel Of the stage do for the heart and
the mind when properly handled.
Roberts, when in old England, was a
trooper of the crack Queens bays, Second
Dragons guard. He is nothing if not
military in his instincts. Besides this,
he is man passionately fond of a horse
The stage of the Grand reveals his love
in both directions. 1t is camp just be-
fore a battle, implements of war to be
found in every direction and where they
do not occupy space, horse Eighteen
animals are used in shenandoah, and 1t
took but eight rehearsals at night to
make them manageable.
STIRS THE AUDIENCE.
Gen. HaverhilI speaks in grim tones to
the squad that has volunteered with
Lieut.. Bedloe to go on hopeless cause
of the danger Of their undertaking. He
tells them, while the house clutches at
it's heart, that in all probability death
awaits them. He says that any man
who wishes to stay behind may, and then
asks them as to going:
Are you willing?"
Stentoriously comes the answer that
they are. A supe watches the faces of
the people in front and satirically as
SertS:
THAT moves them guys
No illusion can stand a shock like that.
You think again Of the red dirt, the min
ute guns with crank, the shells from a
bass drum, and rest your feet on earth.
Again ono of the players speak of:
1.-THE dark woods behind the falls
You follow the gesture with your eye
and see some props" ladder, bits of
dirty canvas. Try as you may after that
you cannot conjure up dark woods"
nor hear the splash Of the laughing wa
ter as 1t leaps from the lips Of the cliff
to the heart of the basin beneath.
THE FOAM COVERED STEED.
Now Sheridan's ride is to come, and
they are having a great deal of trouble
in getting Jack ready for 1t. 1t would
never do for him to lash down Win
chester road with his hide as clean and
glossy as 1t is. True, cavalry horses never
look clean. They must be foam-spat-
tered and show terrible signs of wear.
Jacks blood IS cool and he hasn't done
enough work ali evening to earn a peck
of oats, but he is ready for the emer-
gency, and his hide is such that soap suds
will cling to it.
He is SO interested over The prepara-
tons which he knows are preliminary
to his triumphant entrance that his eyes
begin to CLEAN, he breatnes little quick
er and he blows the air out of his lungs.
Sheridan mounts him and draws his
sword. The distance from the center of
the stage and where ne stands Is not
over twenty feet. All of it save where
the road runs is occupied with scenery.
Jack must covere this twenty feet with
Winchester road racing for the Union
front. He is ready. He knows what the
SoapsudS mean.
Jack rises in the air, his front feet paw
ing. He leaps. He strikes the roadway and
bounds into the air again. He Is before
the audience reeking with foarn eyes on
fire, name flying. Sheridan on his back,
retreating soldiers facing about and
cheering-the battle lost is the battle
won-dying men wave their hands fee
bly,, gunners catch new spirit and face
about the batteries, the bell rings and the
curtain falls. In front the people have
gone made with enthusiasm. You behind
stand with the perspiration oozing from
you.
STIRS YOU UP.
You know the army Is made up of ITS
supes, you know the foam is soapsuds
you know the dirst is from powder boxes
and that the cartridges are blank,
you saw shell fired by a bass drummer
but scenic effect Of that kind Is more
powerful than the reason. You for
get. You get tight in the throat, your
lips are dry, you wish you had a gun
yourself; you choke, and when Sheridan
just that instant beside you, rides TWEEN
ty feet instead of twenty miles, and
saves the day, your eyes are wet and
you want to yell.
Reason exists for saying that in so
small a space as fifty feet by eighty
feet never before has such stage ma
chinery been crowded for the production
of any play. Considerable of this space
is occupied by the permanent setting for
the valley of the Shenandoah and Three
Top mountain. To make more room
gun carriages and caissons, when not In
use, are hauled into the air by pulleys
and kept there. Most of the horses
wait their turn for appearance in the
alley. The soldiery have camp under
meath the stage
To the uninitiated confusion seems to
reign everywhere, but after I had been
back for half an hour 1 found a place
for everything and an order that was
wonderful. The stage manager Is GER
tainly a genius for handling people in a
small area and getting the effect he
wishes. I think, If necessary, he could
have used 100 more people and not been
bothered His good nature is remark,
able.
Estella Dale Caroline Franklin. Alice
Neal, Julia Batchelder and the other Ia
dies of the company trudged about in all
this mess of battlefield with the jol-
lest Of spirits.
The assistant stage manager proved
himself capable of doing six things at
once In the general fair spirit that per-
vaded this world behind the scenes and
where at times a tear might have come
smile was found in It's place.
1 said goodnight to Jack. They are
rubbing the soapsuds off of him, and he
knew his stall was waiting for him. 1
got my arm around his neck just be-
fore Manager Pell, of the company. and
ha 70,