The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-17

great undertaking, and to be thought
worthy of a pace even In the chorus of
the Passion Play is to them a mark Of the
highest merit.
In years and years of toll over their
religious symbols, laboring to bring out
more clearly the divine features
familarized by The old masters, these
simple folk become imbued with deep
reverence. From the time that one
Schuchler brought the plague into the
valley and divine intervention prevented
its utter depopulation-in gratitude for
which the peasants vowed to play the
Passion Play tragedy once every ten years
the play has occupied the thoughts of
Ober Ammergauers.
1t contained their very souls: and the
decennial rendition Of the beautiful cere-
mony was an honest and sincere out
pouring of spirit, glorious religious rite.
II became a part Of their very life, uniting
them in common bonds of Christian BROTH
erhood. 1t made peasant integrity strong
er, The hardy Bavarian stock fuller in life
and purpose.
For the applause Of the world they
cared little for the respect of their
brethren in the faith and the conscious
ness OF a duty well performed they cared
much II was as much an observance OF
penitence and praise as prayer and thank
Offering
While they were performing their hum
BILE rites these peasant folk became trans
formed. They became dedicated spirits.
The flesh was lost in the glory of the soul
They were no longer Mayer and Lechner
and the other humble townspeople, but
Christ and Judas and the apostles. For
the time being they are living, moving and
having their being in the reflected light of
the sublime prototypes. have seen a few
great actors thus embodied IN their parts
Forrest in Macbeth" for instance-and
the effect was electric.
In the play the Ober Ammergauers for
got that they are human and that there
is a very human audience composed of
one-tenth reverental BaVarlan folk and
nine-tenths tourists watching them. But
the mood Is changing. More and more the
box Office consideration enters the equa-
ton. Such and such photographers are
given exclusive right 10 make pictures,
and kodakers are arrested al sight.
Such and such translators are allowed
TO put the words Of the text into many
tongues, such and such publishers have
exclusive rights 20 publish the same, ard
the strenographer caught pencil IN hand
suffers arrest and his notes are conflscat-
ed Over the peep hole In the curtain ever
the material gain.
IL requires only the presence of few
illustrious critics of the drama, with
trenchaut next morning reviews Of play
ana payers 10 DiluB SOmSInlnB almost dl-
vine down 10 the level Of the marion6tte.
IL has not yet come TO this but The end
Is inevitable. The commercial spirit which
encompasses our most cherished insi u
tions and the love of money which Is the
ROO Of all evil" as much and more to-
day than ever IN the elder TIM, will
eventually bring the Passion Play Of ODER
Ammergau and its many imitators to the
Of successful spectacular enterprises.
When II becomes a matter of trading
upon things sacred and holy for private
ends, / see the end al hand.
This viii be a successful year in the
little valley of the Ammer The new
Christus will build himself a more COM
Portable chalet, st. John will increase his
herd, Judas and Herod will open another
inn for the dispensing OF Bavarian hock,
and plans win be laid for the ensna ing
Of the white-helmeted ard rod-Baedsck-
cred tourist, particularly The American
one, in 1910.
But the ancient spirit will have passed
away; and what was ouce a devout re-
ligious affair will have descended 70 the
merely histronic. Such is the disintergrat-