The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-09

Its counterpart exists in every city, great
| and small Thieves, prostitutes, men and
women, the very dregs OF life, pass their
battered days and nights in these foul
caves. GOrky confesses to living in such
places while no wandered through some
| of the Russian towns. Anarchists are not,
as is popularity supposed, born or bred in
these pest alleys, whose inhabitants are
too degraded. too worn out to harbor plans
for the overthrow Of governments, The
vermin that burrow in the mud and dark
ness are not dangerously brave or en-
| lowed with destructive energies.
The keepers Of the night asylum are
man and wife, trihe better OF than their
| dodgers in physique, for they are not drunk
ards The husband is past so, an avari-
cious, smiling. shutting hypocrite, jeal-
GUS OF his young wife and brutal to
the people he harbors. His wife is only
| 20 and hates her husband She loves
young, good-looking thief who lives IN
the cellar, an aristocrat among his Fellows,
| for he sleeps alone in a sort OF cupboard
and only works at his profession when
he needs money He gets the hottest Yea
and the incest morsels from the shreWlsh
| woman Her voice, raucons and full OF
fury is softened when she addresses her
| Wdsjkd His companions know all about
this affair, but are not jealous of him they
are too indifferent to everything but their
own wants to care for God or man.
devils or angels They are Over-Tramps,
beings for whom the morallties, major
and minor, no longer have any meaning.
The thief ia tired Of the woman, tired OF
his life amid stupid people and has cast
his eyes on Ndtascha, the sister OF his
mistress The elder woman realizes IT
and trouble il brewing when the curtain
goes up,
1t is morning A dull light filters from
above on a mass Of almost shapeless figures.
One bv one they stir. iawns, half sttied
oaths, coughing, expectations, noses
noisly blown, winnings, cries OF pain.
harsh laughter and suppressed sobbing-
the hideoIs symphony Of life at its lowest
social ebb Again you feel like averting
your head for such is the force of suggest ion
that noisome odor seems to emanate
from the stage and creep langlidy through
the auditorium.
The other drama,is persona: A policeman,
uncle to the sisters "a locksmith with a
dying wife dying of consumption brought
on by the prolonged beatings at the hands
of her semi-insane husband; street
walker-one who reads sentimental novels
| and speaks at intervals OF a romance she
had when younger; huckstress, cynical
drunken, ud-mouthed; "A cspmaker who
| never works: an actor who has forgotten
his professional name, poisoned with aloo
hol; man named Satin, a good natured
| scoundrel a decayed baron, neuiasthenic,
with face that recalls one of Dorf's
sketches Of a damned soulean, always
biting his nails, suffering, his eyes blazing
with the Internal fires OF vodka Madness
an old man Of venerable aspect. pilgrim
who happens in; his name is I.uka and he
is some 80 years Of age. Then there is II
young scapegracc shoemaker who plays
the concertina and always describes him
self as a free man, man without cares,
man who would not accept wealth if
offered him A Tartar and several pOrters
and members Of the barefoot brigade make
up this unattractive company.
How to make a play from such unprom-
Using material must have puzzled Gorky
Evidently he did not try very hard, prefer
.Eing1he. easier ay0f ing his people tell
their own stories and reducing technical
construction to a mere dropping Of the
curtain from time TO time. In fact there ia
far more dramatic intrigue in Tolstoy's
Powers Of Darkness or in the version Of
"The Resurrection" Withal "NachtasyI'
seems like a slice from real life, and, in com
parison, the Tolstoy plays amateurish
ESSAYS Gorky does not fear the naked
truth as do many literary artists who have
bread to earn and regulations to maintain,
The collision OF character which is es-
sental to the production OF drama is
brought about somehow or other, the chief
means employed being Lukd the pilgrim.
This old man, who is as loquacio us as
Polonius and almost as platitudnous,
changes the ideas Of every one he meets.
He finds the thief hard and impenitent;
he points out to him that in Siberia, over
wonder, il wide, free land, where every
man may hew a way for himself. The
good-looking scamp tells him that thief
he was born, thief he must remain; that
his father saw the inside of prisons; that
if he goes o Siberia il will be as convict,
and not Of his own volition. Yet the words
Of the stranger have sunk shaft in his
consciousness, and despite his mockery
of the old mans belief he pauses and re-
fleets, why not Why not become de-
cent man, marry, beget children and chuck
the old life OF crime and police espionage3
He loves Natascha. He hates her sister
and in the best scene OF the play he lays
his case clumsily but manfuly before the
girl. The cross roads OF his life are ar
rived at--her decision will settle which
| turn he 10 to take.
Natuscha is that mixture Of good, bad
and Indifferent in all OF us, and is therefore
puzzle to audiences who like patterns
made out OF the whole cloth, without any
dubious mixture OF light and shade, She
realizes that Wasjkd has been her sisters
lover; she has been beaten so that her face
and shoulders are often black and blue by
her Jealous sister; she knows that her
present life is hell-yet she hesitates
Luka urges her. WGsjka pleads. I'm
luckily, the sister returns home earlier
than expected and from window, over
looking the cellar up one short flight Of
stairs. she overhears the entire CONVEX
sation Here is the long arm OF coincidence
childishly introduced to unravel the SIM
plest of dramatic knots. Yet II seems
| ;nav;t.bIa Tho aiafar Ia a N aDvin,,a rruip ~