The San Francisco call., 1904-11-20
BY BLANC CHE.

1T should, ] think, Professor Cay
ley was saying, at least serve to
arouse interest in the sources of mod
ern drama" The professor was speak
ing about The Star Of Bethlehem" his
compilation Of plays of the nativity,
then TO be given on the morrow by Mr.
Greet and his players at Berkeley The
novelty Of 4 professorial adventure
into plsywriting had tempted me to in
quiry into university attitudes toward
the drama. and was a class Of one IN
the Gayley library listening 10 the ex-
position. There were books every
where, play books, text books Of the
drama, dramatic history and what not.
There was a large. inviting writing
table, a weu-smoked pipe, a pair of
comfortable looking slippers. There
was a window. vine framed, beyond
which stretched green lawn, jeweled
Berkeley. shimmering bay and the far
Golden Gate. There was beyond and
about an intense peace. and-well. 1
began TO think I wouldn't mind trying
a dramatic fall myself amid such sur
roundiugs.
The professor, tall. loosely suited in
easy gray. was walking about, hands
behind him. as he talked. Every now
and then he turned a keen and humor-
Gus brown eve my way, or stopped his
tramp 10 hand over some quaint old
English drama to illustrate a point.
He talks easily and picturesqUely, and
is not at al afraid Of little Of the
uodernest Of idiom which be slang.
Professor Gayley is. further. delight
fully unpedagogic, neither spells his
Latin nor translates his French for
one. and takes for granted a vastly
complimentary knowledge in the other
person.
The professor had been talking Of
the genre Of the miracle play. Of its
value as contemporary entertainment,
and as aforesaid expressed the opinion
that ii would at least interest the
playEoer in the bases Of modern drama.
] wondered If il would. as it should, If
not in itself inherently interesting To
myself idly wondered if the hundreds
that have chortled over Why Doogan
Swore or this week cared a jot
about Max and CYL. earliest ancestors
Of Madame and Monsieur Mark Muir
ply. 7 wondered If those that viii
laugh for the last time tonight with
The County Chairman really cared
whether George Ade did or did not de-
scend from the author Of the "Secunda
PastOrUm." In short, wondered what
the popular appeal Of The Star Of
Bethlehem" would be, and had asked
for its comniler's opinion.
I really think the shepherd scene
good comedy in ITSELF the professor
began The humor, philosophy
Philosophy"
why. one Of the fellows is a regu-
lar middle-of-the-road Populist," he
laughed, and instanced the following
very up-to-date grumbIe Of Daw, one
OF the shepherds:
such servants as I, that sweats and swinls.
Eats our bread full dry and that's i'll, me-
thinks;
We're Oft wet and weary when master-uen
Winks.
YET come fun tardly our dinners and drinks
But sp-ightIy cur dame and our sire.
when we have run IN the mire
They can snip OF cur hire
And pay US fun lightly.
But hear my troth. masters,
For the bargain ye make;
Ny work hereafter be like what I take.
Z shall do but little, sir. and ye maun ever
lack.
That kind OF thing should inter
est" the professor began.
EthicaIy, and from the literary
side"
But I think you viii find the scene
as a whole not uninteresting dramati-
caliy," he advanced then. And did so
ind ii the day after. Its quaint silli-
ness found delightful, the sheep steal
ing by one Of the shepherds. whose wife
cradles the sheep as a new born babe,
and the heavy, naive humor Of the
colloQuy between the thief his wife
and the shpherds. It is. of course. pro-
foundly suggestive from the historico-
dramatic side, as Polonius would say,
and not less from the literary view
point.
7 have modernized the thing only so