The Saint Paul globe., 1904-05-16
DICKENS INJECTED
into TO[ST0Y PLAY
Remarkable Hy brld Drama Pre-
sented at Metropolitan Un.
der Title Of Resurrection"


Tolstoy has little reputation as a
humOrist; The Resurrection" has not
heretofore been accounted a comedy
either light or fairly heavy. But pa
irons of the Metropolitan opera house
were surprised last night, and even
gratifed, when they discovered that
Count Leo, in this profound study of
unhappy humanity, had been collabo-
rating, so to speak, with the late
Charles Dickens.
The original dramatization of 1.-The
Resurrection" such as that presented
here some months ago by Miss Blanche
Walsh, includes, in the second act, a
Jury scene" that is accounted by some
critics the most striking and ToIstoyan
part of all the play
Here twelve men, the jurors who will
decide the fate Of Maslova, the heroine.
accused of murder, are seen within
the jury room, discussing the case.
russian types are shown, the military
man. the farmer, the merchant, the
nlhlhst, the aristOcrat. Some of the
men think the girl innocent; all of them
express characteristic opinions 1t is a
wonderful study in human nature, yet
sonber, heart-stirring, like the best of
TolstOy's work.
But in the new dramatization ex-
plotted by Miss Florence Stone, the
second act shows the court room, not
the jury room, the actual trial not the
deliberations of the jurors. This change
is sufficiently surprising to persons
who have seen the original play. The
progress Of the trial, moreover. reveals
details of procedure that can only be
0UQr1OOIYod
Jurisprudence is no doubt as eccentric
as Russian campaigning. But the play
retains it's melancholy east until the
counsel for two of the accused rises to
defend them and to attack the wretched
MaslOva.
Words Sound Familiar.
His first phrase not only sounds odd
ly homelike, but, in some inexplicable
fashion, it changes the current of the
auditors thought. He begins to feel re-
lieved. even resigned, we'll nigh cheer
ful. For some reason the manifest in
justice being worked against the suf-
fering girl seems now less forbidding;
the certainty of her conviction and it's
direful consequence have ceased to re-
volt his mind; the spectacle of the bru-
tal-faeed mOujfks, the pitiless police,
no longer suggest Siberia and the
knout.
AS the counsel proceeds in his i'm
passioned appeal he holds out little
hope of justice, none of clemeney, talks
of nothing cheerful, descends not at all
to levity; yet our spirits rise and we
smile within. why" we say to our
wife, this doesn't appear to be as
gloomy as the other version
We IoIl back in our seat contentedly
as the LEARNED" Muscovite is about to
close, and when he begins his perora-
tIon our satisfied nerves telegraph a
| thought, arouse recollection. The ora
tor upon the stage has ended with
these words of happy memory:
And for such relief they appeal to
a high minded, intelligent, sympathetic,
patriotic jury of their countrymen"
1t is the speech of Sergeant Buzfuz
in the case of Bardell VS.. Pickwiek The
Russian lawyer, in a Russian court, is
accusing Russian outcast of murder
In the very words employed by the
English advocate to charge a respect
able English gentleman with failure to
keep promise. of marriage to said
gentleman's most respectable English
landlady, the Widow Bardell
Miss Stone should advertise" We
Whisper to our wife, :" The ToIstoy-
Dickens Version; or, the Resurrection
Ptekwick.' She ought to double star
with De Wolf Hopper"