The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-07-12
UNCLE TOMS CABIN AGAIN.

Once again q theatrical company has
visited Topeka and murdered the play
of Uncle Toms Cabin" perhaps not
such a brutal murder as some of those
which have been perpetrated in the past,
but bad enough to warrant a life SEN
tence for all the performers.
Theatrical managers say that this
play, presented in a legitimate manner,
would not pay. They say. also, that to
present the play properly requires as
strong a cast as does the Shakespearean
drama, and that the public will not sup
port one any better than they do the
other. This may be true. If SO, it is
an argument in support of Mansfeld's
much abused theory that the stage is in
decadence because of debasing popular
demand.
"Uncle Toms Cabin" is not legitimate
ly a comedy nor a mask for a minstrel
show. 1t is drama of pathos. 1t is
Illuminated by the lambert fires of
tragedy, which burst forth with vol
canic fury in the flight of the slave
woman Eliza, the murder of Uncle Tom
and the CHASTITY undoing of Simon Le-
gree. There is. strictly speaking, only
one comedy part in the play, that of
Topsy, the impfsh prosecutor OF Miss
Ophelia. The rest of the comedy of the
story is mere Incidental with minor
characters such as little Harry, and
Sambo with his companions.
Marks, the lawyer, is not a drunkard
nor a fool. He is sly sneak, devoid
of manly courage and fitted only for do
ing the meanest work in an underhanded
manner. He sips his mint juleps. listens
at keyholes and draws up legal docu-
ments with loopholes in them for his
own use. Legree. the slave driver, is
not a loud-mouthed buffer, but is a
grim, murderous brute, who fears
neither God nor man, but who, like
many ignorant monsters, is intensely
superstitious. His slave Classy found
his weak point and played upon it with
fiendish art until she drove her master
to a horrible death. Miss Ophelia we
do not find fussy. Eighty scolding
shrew, but stern, obtrusively dignified
and Spartan-like female, whose systems
do not work the same in New Orleans
as they did in Vermont. Again it
should be remembered that Harriet
Reecher Stowe did not paint little Eva
as lisping baby, who was barely able
to toddle across the stage of action, but
as child just budding into maiden
hood, sufficiently mature to go on a
dashing horseback ride with her cousin.
Finally, the character of Uncle Tom has
been maliciously distorted. Tom is not
a decrepit old man, with punches of
snowy hair on the sides of his head.
His life ended when at the prime of his
manhood. He had just been purchased
by Legree for the sum of $1,000, the
current price of first class slaves. At
the opening of the book he was COM
paratively a young man, and at his
death was probably not far from 40
years of age, and hale, muscular man,
not the feeble, trembling shadow of
the modern drama
William A. Brady presented in New
York the bona fide Original" of Uncle
Toms cabin. 1t was truly termed a
revival of the old play. 1t was a
wonderful success-one of the hits of
the season. Perhaps there is hope that
some day William A. Brady or some
other manager equally as good will put
such revival" on the road. 1t would
be well worth paying fancy prices to