The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-03-06


-~-s .t.r~.- 49,
When 1.-The Younger Mrs. Parting"
was brought out, a month ago, it was
so late in it's week that I couldn't de-
scribe it in the next Sundays letter to
The Herald 1T was Withdrawn last
Monday night because its bride does not
behave quite as Annie RusselPs public
desires her TO. Annie is, you know, the
embodiment of purity in stage fiction.
and we won't believe her capable Of
the slightest deviation from rectitude.
In this piece she is the VirtuOus daugh-
ter OF a vicious mother, marries into
a highly respectable family, not be-
cause she loves the man who asks her
TO. but for the purpose of getting away
from the insults of less circumspect adj
mirerS. The home she goes into is less
tolerable than the one she quits. 1t is
as blue with restraint as the other is
yellow with laXity. SO she transfers
herself from an uncongenial husband
10 a lover whom she loves. Variants
of that matrimonial story have been
told till not another seems possible. 1t
is here again. in a general way the
same but sufficiently different in par
ticulsrs 10 be a positive novelty and
with its new bride so characterized by
Hadden Chambers as to provide an eX-
ceptionally suitable role for Annie Rus
sell ] don't doubt that gentle Annie
might beguiie us to accept a sinner as
a saint. She could make deviltry 30 de-
mure that we would mistake IL for pure
morality. But the author sets no such
task for her. He places her i'm circum-
stances which make ii really right FOR
her 10 go wrong. That is 70 say, when
this wife walks out of her husbands
house to go to one which the other man
has offered to her there is no doubt
that she is taking a perfectly justifi-
able course.
Probably you, too, would take that
view of the case IL you were TO see
what happens i'm the Carstairs and Par
ling households. The name Of Jaque-
lines mother would not be Carstairs if
Sir Philip Mullaby had made her his
wife instead of his companion, but he
is a shameless old reprobate and she
has no blush for her infamy, even in
the presence of her blameless daugh-
ter. She loves Jaqueline fondly. how
ever, and that one wOmanly merit rec
ommends her TO mercy when the audi
ence comes to pass judgment on her
misbehavior. Jadueline's fatheT-in-
laws morals are 1iawless and he de-
tends her against the taboo which his
social sets subjects her TO, but he is
an austere Puritan and his genuine af-
lection for his sons wife is 50 dicta-
torial that IT augments her unhappiness
and the audiences verdict condemns
him for a fiint-hard old tyrant. Sim
ilarly the author induces US to dislike
the bridegroom, because his love of his
wife takes TO account Of her sensitive
nature. and TO like the forbidden wooer,
because his passion is tenderly cOnsid-
crate. As to Annie Jaqueline Russell
her own plaintive self. we are kept in
doubt what she viii do, or ought to do,
till the curtain is ready to close in on
her. The husband has just command ed
her TO cut herself off from her disrepu-
table but beloved mother and submit
70 the rigors Of his fathers rule. The
woOer has just implored her 10 run
away from miserable slavery ard, after
the law shall have given her the right.
find felicitOus freedom In congenial
wedlock Up to this time her conduct
has been Obedient 10 her marriage vow.
What will she do now? The men have
left her alone. She puzzles over the
problem in silence. slowly pins hat on
her head and goes off without utter
ing another word. In that odd way
the play ends.
A congressman's variety showi
think IL may interest you. The con-
gresham is Timothy D. Sullivan The
theatre Is the big one which he has
opened in the Harlem section of the
town. The show is given by the Jolly
Grass Widows. one OF the many COM
panies formerly called female MINI
strels. I think 1 have heard them men-
toned also as chair warmers. because,
during the first portion % the evening,
they sat in semi-circie TO sing be-