The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1900-10-20
THE PASSION PLAY.
H H. Haines Esq, Of Rising Sun, Writes Entertaningly
of His Travels Abroad.

Lacn ana every country we nave visited
since we started upon tour Of almost the
entire extent of Europe has furnished its
share of intensely interesting scenes. Each
and every city its list of attractions and
wonderful things each and every people
their strange and unique customs but the
one event and the one climax of all seemed
to be the event in the vale of the ammer
that every ten years, and this year from
May to October, draws tens upon tens of
make up its audience OF 1000 to 5000,
with as many more outside the play house
that must wait their turn for its repetition
on the following day for their acoommoda-
ton.
Moscow, with its thousand churches and
twice as many gaily ornamented steeples
and domes; Constantnople with its enor-
nous mosques and scores of minarets from
which the priests call out the hour OF wor
ship in lieu Of the usual ringing Of bell {;
Rome, with its ancient churches and
cathedrals by the hundreds all of which
are rich in treasure and ancient history,
impress no one with the solemnitv and
reverence as do these humble peasants in
this little mountain village enacting the
lie Of their Savor, to whom their ancestors
made vow in the Seventeenth Century
that II they should be saved Fl nm a D ague
that was fast taking off their entire people
they would repeat this play every decade.
We will not dwell upon it as so much
has been written in all American periodi-
Gals about it, save to say that to those who
like ourselves, travel a great distance to
witness it, no disappointment awaits them
We found it a long and weary way to
climb the sides of Mount Vesuvius in
order to look down into the burning crater
of volcano, and confess we were some
what disappointed, yet did not regret it
because the view Of the magnificent bay of
Naples with the City Of Naples on one
side and Pompei on the other, greatly
repaid. And so it often falls to the re-
ward OF the travellers that often long
marches and personal fatigue one fails fully
to realize an wrought expectation.
But it was not our experience at Ober-
Ammergau, Our anticipation ran high,
our hopes were elated hut we were not
disappointed.
We enjoyed the quaint old village, the
queer SHOPS the unique houses co"ered
with religious pair tings from Bible scenes,
even il beer was sold within aud without
thecrowded streets where thousands pushed
and rushed around to make sure they
would secure a place in the great theater
to see the great event they came to witness.
gu would only turn from a word Won
had with a Scotchman from Glasgow to
accost citizen of san Francisco, while by
their side Ffenchman could be found,
and only few steps away Philadelphia
was chatting with someone from Chicago.
And so it was a convention in which all
tue world had delegates and who for eight
hours made short by the absorbing event.
would sit and listen to the simple story of
the lowly Nazarene. All the environments
OF the event were interchangeable going
to the scene and going away from it into
the lakes and forests of the mountains in
the manner we selected to do it, the people
and their homes, their habits and their
dress, their lives and their surroundings
were all intensely interesting, yet the per-
Torrance exceeded all else in the extreme.
Having once witnessed the great Passion
Play and the world has but one), having
seen enacted the life of Christ as he lived
and moved among the sunny hills OF Iudea,
among people who misunderstood him,
who Prosecuted and cruclied him, having
seen and heard that great choir, having
seen them marching TO and fro in their
gorgeous costumes on the immense stage,
led by the stately figure of Josef Mayr
who might he called Josef the Magnif-
cent having followed the Savior through
his betrayal his arrest, his trial, his
march TO Calvary under the heavy cross,
his crucitXion his entOmbment and resur-
rection all so real One must look upon
the same as most marvellous and eleyating
dramatic representation of religious his
tory and one which is 50 life-lille that it
almost makes the witness believe he sees
the meek and lowly Jesus living over again
the sad but glorious events of his life on
earth and impenetrable must be ones
heart il he or she is not made better by
seeing the Passion Play of Ober-Ammergau