The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-20

| Mr.. Tree Aad IN nlnd. IL Is d strange
coincidence.
The scope of 'Odysseus and Pene-
lope" as outlined by Mr.. Arthur TO
Mr.. Tree was as follows:
THE dramatic incidents of that part
of the Odyssey of Homer (handled
freely and without undue respect 10
the text of the poem, yet without do
| ing it violence, either) from the de-
cision of the Olympian gods to hber-
ate Odysseus from the tiowery gives
| of Calypso down to his return to his
/ home in Ithaca and the scattering of
the wooers who have been rioting in
| his halls and suing his wife, Penelope,
| to choose a husband from amongst
| them"
The MSS. of the scenario covered
fourteen pages, and the action and
course of the play was thoroughly ex-
| planned. For six months this scenario
was in the hands of Mr.. Tree. The day
following it's return to Mr.. Arthur, Mr..
Stephen Phillips appeared with the out
line of play around the same charac-
ter. Mr.. Tree, it was explained to Mr..
Arthur, was not in love with the sub
Ject and would not consider play
based on these incidents. Mr.. Phillips
plan was at once accepted
Ulysses" was written and Mr.. Tree
is now appearing in the play in Lon
don.
Twice unfortunate, for he had sim
liar experience year or so before, Mr..
Arthur prepared a part of his drama,
but as he had no hope of it's accept
ance elsewhere in London, the work
was not completed. A short time ago
the young man come to New YORK,
where, in spite of his former discour-
aging experiences, he hopes to secure
a place for some of his work on the
frae nf Of
Gently published, was written before
the scenario was submitted to Mr.. Tree
and it shows something of the quality
of his ork. If the whole drama mad
been completed the fragment would
have been the second scene of the first
act 1t reprents the trials Of Ulysses
and the attempts of Calypso to secure
his love.
The following extracts are taken
from a copy of an edition which was
recently published privately:
CALYPSO.
Why,
0, why wilt thou for ever chafe and
And bruise thy brow against the rock
of Fate
The deathless gods have set inviola-
BILE,
And gall thy life with sorrow and re-
greet,
When, wouldst thou but fling wide the
door of thy heart
And welcome in the JOY that knocks
at it,
Thy soul would lose these humors and
thy days
Flow sweet and lucid as a summer rill.
ODYSSEUS.
To join the ocean of eternity!
To which all time is but a summer rill;
And unto time the petty life of man
Is but bubble in the summer rill;
And here my bubble fast evaporates,
Suckd up in arden heats and vaporous
signs.
So do / groan. o, goddess. we poor
Have but brief breath; and if we
breathe it i'll,
And work but half the purpose born in
us,
Better we had not been-our life to be:
For when our destin'd course of days
is run,
However our feet have borne us over
the path,
In sturdy. stumbling, feeting tardy
wise;
Whether our eyes have sought one
steadfast goal,
| Or glanced aside or hindward all the
way;
| Whether we've stood erect on rugged
sleeps,
Or slipt and smirch'd ourselves in mud
and mire;
Whether we've lost or won the envied
prize;
We may not ever tread life's track
| again
Others, perchance, but this one never
more.
And therefore am I sad and comfort
| less,
I. who have head and hands that crave
employ,
Pillow'd and lullabied in idleness,
A sheathed sword eating its own Keen
edge
That use had whetted still!-l might
have smooth'd
LIES path for two loved mortals, hap
ly more,
And roll'd a rock from on the world
rough road,
Or bridg'd a chasm DER, that those to
come,
When 1 have pass'd, might walk with
firmer feet:
I might have rear'd manly monu-
ment,
| And on it men in after times had
gazed,
Nerving their force to cumulative acts.
! O nymph! could mortals strive against
| the word
| OF the deathless powers, the grief that
rends me now
Had never been; this will and these
iron hands
| Had made the stuff that feeds grief
into deeds.
| When shall ever do a deed again?
| Doing's my meat, danger my salt of
life;
1 starve in this flush plenty, like a weed
That Nature meant to suck lean sus-
tenance
From out some mountain rock and
| chance has set
To surfeit in a fat-soil'd valley garth.
Calypso, failing to win Ulysses by or
binary means. finally offers him eter-
nal life. Odysseus meditates on the
everlasting power, ITO think and know
and see and feel and do"
CALYPSO.
To know the joy of life purged of the
pain
OF knowing it ephemeral; to feel
How free the soul can be, explore what
space
Thought has to wing in when the bourn
of time
Is rent away; to see the universe.
Not through the peephole OF a mortal
eye.
But with the cosnic vision of the sun;
And do whatever deeds are dear to
thee,
Regardless of the night OF days and
years.
When even the promise of eternal life