The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-06

InuISLOll anu COMPANY.
| CAST OF CHARACTERS.
Jerome Holcombe Otis B. Thayer
Eldridge Grosvenor William II. Tooker
| Albert Slade ............. Francis x. Hope
| Job Mason Fred G. Hearn
| Jack Hamilton .....:......... Edmund Ford
| Abigail Hofcombe Eleanor Sheldon
Sunnie Andrews 49,. Minnie Malde Allen
Mrs. Emmett ...s.............Li Lillian Wood
Mrs. Eyingston a.. Evelyn temple
e. katherine Beaumon
Lois Holcombe .........Adelaide Thurston
1t cannot she said, with perfect candor,
| that the young women who are response
| BILE for Sweet Glover" the play in
| which Miss Adelaide Thurston made her
debut as a star at the Metropolitan last
night, before st. Paul audience, have
| produced the. great American drama for
which the public has been waiting, with
infinite patience, for many years 1t
can be asserted, however, that they nave
produced a play which is in every way
commendable, and which is as delicious
4 and dainty as the scent of the clover
blooms that is waited from some purple
meadow by the dangerous breezes OF
! June. In plot 1t is hackneyed. It tells
the oft-repeated story of the love OF
4 wealthy, aristecratic resident OF one OF
/ the great cities for simple country
!
4 circles in which he has been accustomed
! to move his baseless jealousy, his awak-
1 ening to the wrong he has done her, and
| the ultimate reconciliation that presages
| a future, undimmed by the shadow OF a
/ single doubt. There is nothing new In
all this, save for the manner in which 1t
is told and the atmosphere by which 1T is
surrounded. In these two particulars
there are originality, delicacy of treat
ment, deft touches that indicate the dra-
matte instinct, an absence of anything
/ suggestive or pornographic. It is all
sweet and wholesome, and redolent of the
odor of the modest flower from which
| it takes its name.
This is not to say that the play has no
/ faults. It is oftenti1nes verbose, and
there is more than one incident that is
palpably absurd, which has evidently
/ been introduced solely for dramatic CT
| feet. One of these is the singing of Be
cause I Love You, Dear, in the first act.
1t has absolutely no raison d'etre ana
| the only excuse for Its introduction, ap-
| parently, is that its repetition. in a Sue
] ceeding act, may awaken memories of the
past AS matter of fact, this iteration
/ is as absurd astthe first introduction.
/ Glaringly improbable, too, it Is that
1 Former lover should seek out the home
of the girl-now a wife-with whom be
once was in love, enter it furtively at
| an hour when the inmates are supposed
/ to be asleep, on the chance of seeing her
| for whose hand he once aspired. 1t forms
! the excuse for one of the strongest
climaxes in the play, but that does not
| palliate the fact that dramatic license
! has been strained to the utmost, and that
| the scene is badly marred by its intro
duction. And there are other defects, net
SO pronounced in their incongruity, per
| haps, but still of enough prominence to
/ nth rT-rie. Of ~
| But when there is so much that is ex-
| cellent, these minor faults may be easily
] forgiven. On the whole, the play Is
| strong and consiStent-so much so, in fact,
| that the defects stand out in holder re-
| lief than they would were the work of
| the new authors less virile and satisfy
| ing Pathos and humor, tears and laugh
ter, sunshine and shadow follow one
another in quick succession, and about
1 and around it all there is thrown an at
mosphere of sincerity and trustfulness
SO pellucid that it can scarcely fail to
| awaken "a responsive sentiment, even in
| the breast Of the most bIase habitue of
the theater. szs'
| 1t has been said that Miss Adelaide
| Thurston made her debut as star In
| ..Sweet Clover last night. before a st.
| Paul audience. This is not to say that
| she is a stranger, professionally, to the
| theater-g going public of the city. She has
been here before in minor roles, and great
| things have been prophesied for her by
| those who have seen her in the past. 1t
| is not too much to say that she realized
! last night all the predictions that have
| been made. She Is the possessor Of win
some personality; a mobile face, man.
| ner that Is free from affectation, and, in
| the opening and closing acts of the play
| she made picture that was altogether
| winsome and gracious 1t may be that
| she lacks something in spontaneity, and
| that there is a little too pronounced
| flavor of the professional elocution1st In
| her reading, but there is no reason to
doubt that time and larger experience
| will remedy these small defects. When
/ they shall have been eliminated, she Will
| easily rank with the leading women OF
| the stage. OF this there is no room for
| skepticism. In manner she Is convincing,
! and in the role Of Lois Holcombe, the
country girl, and later the wife of mil
| lionaire, she was altogether satisfying
| and charming.
| The supporting company Is adequate.
| Mr.. Otis B. Thayer's impersonation of
Jerome Holcombe, the old farmer, whose
/ heart strings were entWlned around MS
little girl gave an admirable picture
| of one of the thousands who are still to
| be met with in New England and to
whose sturdy virtues the land in which
| Tooker gave a manly, virile character
| iZation Of Eldridge Grosvenor, full Of
strenthg and color. Miss Minnie Maude
Allen was bewitchingly charming as
| Sunnie Andrews; Fred C. Hearn was ad-
| mirable as Job Mason, and Eleanor
! Sheldon made the part of Abigail Hol-
con1be SO entirely satisfactory that no
| criticism can, or need be- offered.
| 1t but remains to say that the piece
| is beautifully staged, the costumes rich
! and elegant, and that the entertainment,
| as a whole, will rank with the seasons
| best offerings. The engagement Is for to-
| morrow and Saturday night, with Satur-
day matinee.
Not Paderewski, with the wonderful
| singing quality of his tones; nor Nord1ca,
| with her surprising gift OF song, ner
| magnetic presence; nor any other artist
| has ever stirred a St. Paul audience so
completely as Fannie Bloomfield Zeisley
! stirred these who listened to her playing
| last night at the Peoples church.
| A slender woman, with a Burne-Jones
| face-a face that CLEANS white against
background Of dusky harris Nine. ZeiS-
! Ter Her hands are curiously suggestive
| of the caricatures of musicians hands as
portrayed in the comic paper. But
strong, supple hands are they, with
wrists of steel, with understanding ana
wonderfully obedient fingers. The play
| er's manner is intense, her bow abrupt,
/ not graceful. Yet always has she her au-
/ dience completely under her spell. st.
/ Paul now knows Familiarity the work of
! two great women pianistS, Carrena and
Zeisler-but easily the greater of these is
! ZeisIer. Not as a woman pianist, how
ever, should Nine. zeisler be judged, for
while the delieacy Of her touch, the vivid
\ noIo,. Of hoy IN, q pima fiaY4 her marvellous