The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1901-02-14
ENGLISH DRAMA.
Studied by Woman's Club
Literature Department
in Hasbrouck In
stitute Yes
terday.

Befurred and becloaked to their ears
with hair caressed by high winds, one by
one the club women of the Literature De-
partment arrived in Room l, Hasbrouck
Institute, yesterday afternoon, where the
department meeting was in session, with
the chairman, Miss Ada D. Fuller, in the
chair. The women didn't seem to mind
the cold bit, and the meeting opened
with lively discussion on FL
bert Hubbard as a lecturer and
his drawing powers. Miss Full
ler retorted that Mr.. Hubba4 d was not
available until the latter part of March.
and after some discussion pro and con,
put it to vote whether or not the De-
partment should engage him for some
evening about that time. A rising vote
was called for and nearly every member
was in it with both feet. Mr.. Hubbard
will, therefore, speak on ''The Roycroft-
ers'' some evening the latter part of
March, probably in the Jersey City Club
Theatre, all proceeds over and above ex-
penses to go toward the Woman's Club
Building Fund. Tickets will be placed at
one dollar.
MIR. Hubbard disposed of the depart
ment turned it's attention to the pro-
gramme, which consisted of two papers
and a book review, the first paper being
on 1.-THE Beginning of the Drama" by
Miss Whinyates, who began by saying
THE attitude of religion and the drama
towards each other has been strangely
varied Sometimes it has been one of IN
innate alliance and sometimes of active
hostility, but never of indifference. In
4l,r
was of the closest. Euripides introduced
a secular tone into his plays and thence
forth the breach between the stage and
religion has ever grown wider. The de-
graded taste of impartial Rome and
Byzantium could not appreciate an enter
tainment in which wit and literary grace
were the cardinal virtues Comedy IN
the highest sense was unable to keep the
boards and was ousted by farce and pan
tomime. Thus Christianity found the
stage in the lowest depths of degradation.
To regenerate it seemed impossible, and
so the Church took the form of proscrib-
ing it, but she could not abolish the the
atrical instinct in human nature, so she
turned it to her own account. The liturgy
of the mass, including the actions and
gestures Of the consecrating priests the
chants. confessions, the reading of por-
tions of Scripture, the prayers and re-
sponses of the congregation. contained
from the first time dramatic elements.
'sOn festival days there were frequently
added tableaux of scenes from the Cos
pei, often accompanied by song. Into the
tableaux action and dialogue were soon
introduced and Easter became the scene
of especially elaborate ritual. Such cere-
monies readily developed into lturgical
plays, written in Latin, and acted by the
clergy of the churches. Soon episodes
in the lives of the saints attracted the
clerical dramatists and thus began a
severance between the liturgy and the
scenic representations of which it had
been the source. The plays dealing with
Scriptural events were eventually called
mysteries, while those which handled
legends OF the saints were distinguished
by the name of miracles"
Miss Whinyates then traced these mys-
teries and miracles through all their
stages, from the first performance on re-
cord in 1l00 to the stage of Shakespeare S
time, or the stage of the Sixteenth
Century, described in turn by Miss Hig-
ginbotham.
Mrs E. 7. Davis very cleverly reviewed
The Chidlen of The Mist" by Phipotis,
the title of which, she said, becomes
strikingly significant as ite meaning
grows in our appreciation. Few authors.
she thousht. mad SO succeeded in making
one res.ize the potentia. influence OF en-
vTonment as an element in character
'.The action said she, "is in contrast
with the characters, it is so far from
what one might expect from such hon
est simplicity. 1t reminds one of the fa-
bic Of the candid man who decided that
this world was insincere and from that
day forward he would speak the truth
unadorned. The sorry consequences Of