The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-12

the Russian Language.
 New Haven theatergoers are to nave the opportunity of seeing the St. Fe- tersburg Dramatic company. composed If Mir orlenen, Mime. Nasimoff and a v,onaerful group of Russian players in +ha Hvperion next Thursday, Decem- ser 14 in their New York success .drhe Chosen People" by Eugene Cne- rekov. 5.r the .rsnices of the Friends of Russlah 7Traa,5orn who have arranged thls per Forroe ence in aid of the fund now nelng collected to avoid new massaeFes' ~ ss hoped by them that every huiii%ne ,,erson will aid in this effort ana thus ,eIn to relieve mankind of an unneceS- sarv and most painful shame
 Tn view of the fact that the play VIII ,,a ,nresented in the Russian language Professor William Lyon Phelps VIII read an English translation or Ins Chosen People" in E Osborn hall' Tuesday evening, December F, at D. m, and on the night Of the periorln- anea an admirably written and well H. frustrated synopsis will be on haho' The reading is open to the punhc'
 "The Chosen People" has been select ed bv the Friends of Russian FreeooIh' firstly, because it is an excellent eX- ann1e of the modern Russian drama ,zaoon11v because of the fact that it deals with one of the burning questions of the day in Russia, the Jewish ques- tion. and. thirdly, because it affords a delightful contrast between the Nus- sian tyrannical government or the densest darkness, and it's freedom loV- ing and light spreading people.
 Mf. Eugene Clurikov, the author IS a comparatively young writer, put ne has already made a name for himseh in Russian literature. He belongs to the Gorki school, and is loyaF mefn- her of that class of his eountry's men of letters who do not write with view +o nlease audiences nor gain applause. His writings are stern duty Wlth him: life, real throbbing life is his sun- feet, truth guides his pen, and his background is supplied by his desire to help to lead, and, above all, to be just. Although an orthodox Christian by birth, he shows in this drama 8 thor 4ough comprehension of the social life of the Jews, as we'll as intimate knowl- edge@of their struggle and their hopes.
 The drama is, for the author, but ? means of puttingahis ideas into }liv- ing form. In this play his characters speak as they would have spoken in real life. His scenes are psychological ly true. ...-
 The plot in brief follows:
 Tmzer Frankel, a Jewish matchmaker rasidfne in the pa1e wflost past Is full of hitter experiences caused by anti semitic riots. dreams of Palestine as the only refuge for the much persecu- ted Jew; he sees in Zionism the only solution for the Jewish problem; he finds his consolation in his religion; but his three children, educated in the Russian schools, overfiowing with the desire to help all humanity do not share his views.
 His daughter Leah and his son Bor- uch are no longer Jews in the orthodox sAnse of the word; they refuse to see onIy the Jew suffering; they want tc relieve the misery of all mankind.
 The two different ideas are repre- sented by Liizer, his apprentice She lene and Machman, a Zionist, on one hand, and Leah, Boruch, 1serson, a Jewish workingman, and Berezln, a Russian student, on the other side.
 I.eizer's oldest daughter had~married a. Christian, and Leah, whom Mach man loves, discovers with horror at the hlow to her father, that she loves the Christian Berezin, who loves her In re- turn.
 The whole first act and part of thf second is devoted to the presentation of the different ideas inbibed and az itated by the Jews of Russia, and tht remainder of the second act to tht psychological struggle of Leah betWeei her sentiment of the Christian hatred of the Jew and her love for Berezin her fllial love for her father, wht pleads with her not to marry ths Christian until after he, her old father is dead. She also grieves quite a little over the fact of how the helpless JeWi receive, the news that a massacre is ir preparation.
 Thus the first two acts bring out viv idly the fervor of Machman, played bJ Orieneff. the cruel position of Leah the similarity in the conditions of Bere' gin and his Jewish friends, the simple faith of Leizer, and the hope that not withstanding the horror of the pres ent, human kindness will eventuall! win. It is in the third act that event reach their climax.
 Beginning with the scene where Lei ger and Boruch argue as to the rela tive merits of their beliefs, when thu words of Boruch: ",The time will sool come when all will be brothers, be cause all are men," are followed b, Machman's announcement from 8 pri vate letter that "the horrors have be gun.' and the frenzied shout of Leah "They are coming!" meaning the mas sacring band, and ending with tn death of Berezin, who gives his life i the vain attempt to defend Leah, an Leah's suicide to escape dishonor Thus ends the battle of life and hop of the Russian Jew.
 When all this is over. the spectato feels that he had the high privilege t see the psychologically dissected hear and mind of the larger number of tn Jewish rcae, and gives him a uniqu opportunity to learn this much of tn