The age-herald., 1901-03-10

and the first t-nighters. The result was that one whole scene passed before there was a ripple of applause. It Is pretty hard to say just how the enllvening pro cess proceeds, or when it Is first manl- Tested. but the Ice was broken, and from that time on the excitement-it was more than interest-was variably intensified or diminished with shifting scenes and sit uations
 The business or unjustness of the va rious criticisms passed upon 'To Have and To Hold" the play, Is not to be treated here, except by way of parenthe- sis The fact that criticisms were passed with such studied volubility is proof enough of the importance of the play as a dramatic event It is too true that the town Is satiated with adaptations, but It i sindisputable that the atmosphere or good. healthy, valorous sentiment of the historical, romantic vintage, is much bet ter than of the problem plays and the Olga Nethersole-Anna Held variety that have been rampant for the past few years Some of the novel plays are bet ter than others of course but the law of the survival of the Attest can be de- pended upon to weed out the superfuous ones. ITO Have and To Hold, the play, has the fame of the novel to fall back upon exclusive of it's own merit, and It can be predicted that the production will weather the season as it stands now. It is not absurd even if the atmosphere and setting smacks of the impossible What good readible romance. written as such, has not a more or less improoable If not altogether impossible atmosphere Nobody with an understanding of the real meaning and purpose of literature the kind that has a purpose over and beyond and above that of giving pleas ure-will ever claim that 'To Have and To Hold" is a literary masterpiece, though it is obviously masterpiece Of ingenuity, of style and of diction, and, withal, just what 1t Is meant to be, rattling good story. As for the play considered critically and technically, so much cannot be said. To see the play in It's present form after reading the novel, is to suffer an acute sense of diSappoint- ment One sees that there is an aesthet- ic vacuum which cannot be filled. To see the play and read the book afterwards would hardly make matters better. The ring of the alloyed metal Is never so clear as that of the elemental one, and the impression left on the mind by book like "To Have and To Hold' Is it's chief charm and value. It is like the taste left in the mouth by a dainty rarebit Too much artful and artifi' "a stage "business" is resorted to in the play to fill in the yawning chasms of plot. The action is spasmotic and the situations a trif1e incoherent The unreal and un- likely atmosphere" which one criticism deplores, is the least objectionable fea- ture The playwrght's great anxiety seems to have been to crowd as much of the book into the play as possible, and consequently he has sinned against unity and order These same faults, however, are true in a greater or less degree in "Janice Meredith" Tn the Palace of the King and the other novel plays-in greater degree in most of them, but in a
 14 especial mention. In my own humble opinion "To Have and To Hold is as able to stand on it's own merits as the rest of them, save one. It has the same