The Saint Paul globe., 1905-01-01


liable effort in the way of pro-
ducing a new play, and a thor
oughly American one, too, at
the Metropolitan last Thursday night.
A good deal of space was devoted by
The Globes contemporaries to.
lauding the play, with which they
found mo kind of fault nor flaw" what
ever.
AS Dick Deadeye once observed of
Sir Joseph Porter, K. c. B., when the
latter remarked that a British sailor
was "any mans equal they may
..mean WELL" but they don't know"
1t were kindness to Mr.. Edeson to
tell him the truth.
Strongheart. the Indian student at
Columbia college, who plays great
football, and likewise learns to love the
sister of his Caucasian roommate, is
unquestionably sorely tried on two oc-.
casions, once when his manly honor is
suspected, and again when his ca
pacity for self-sacrifice is put to the
test. Apart from these two climaxes
in the exposition of his character.
Strongheart's conversation is of SOM
ber, lugubrious character, unrelieved
Dy d US0lI VI ltS vi d lOuCll VI VIII,
except when the Indian advises the
head coach of the football team to in
suit the freshman in order to make
him play his best. This is Strong
hearts one bright line.
Otherwise, "Strongheart' is bore.
Very honest, very noble, almost the
apotheosis of Alexander Pope's "Lo, the
poor Indian" but nevertheless a bore,
amid his white surroundings. AS the
hero of a tribe of his fellow country
men, he would shine, but as a civilized
Indian, getting college education
among the sons of the pale faces and
making love to the sister of one of
them, he does not shine. In fact his
complexion assumes a still darker hue
when he turns off the electric light
and pours forth his affection into the
ears of a fair haired girl.
There is something repellant in the
spectacle of a full blooded American
Indian declaring his love for white
girl. You can scarcely applaud her for
consenting to marry him, though you
can readily sympathize with his love
for her. The after life of the Indians
bride and the other inevitable results
VI SUCH q uiliOll, SQSSSolz zIilSillSCtNCS dl
once and rob the situation of semblance
of romance. You hope the good girl
will have the good sense to decline the
proposal and let the educated Indian
go his way. He does do this after his
fellow countryman has convinced him
OF the impossibility of white wife as
the first lady Of an Indian tribe, and
therein the playwright manifests his
sound sense.
But this is all very depressing with
out any splendid acting to make us
forget the redskins complexion. There
is something repulsive in the union of
white woman and black man. The
Indian, to be sure, is not a negro, but
neither is he Caucasian. Shake
speare recognized the prejudice against
such marriage in his "Othello,' in
which tragedy the father of Desde-
mona proclaims that the Moor must
have bewitched his fair daughter to
win her love. The same sense of
thoughts disproportioned'' is evil
denced in the speech of the Prince of
Morocco, the swarthy suitor for the
hand of Portia, as he opens one of the
caskets which he hopes contains her
picture.
Mr.. Edeson, intelligent, unaffected,
vigorous actor that he is, can hardly
expect to win box. office success-and
that Is the only one that is enduring
impersonating a redslSin, even though
he be a refined product exhibited in a
white mans college. He may be adj
mired as an athlete and all around
good fellow, but as prospective
brother-in-law, or son-in-law, as
a close relative by marriage, with
the possibilities of his progeny claim
ing kinship, he is not an agreeable
member of the family. It may
be the prejudice of centuries as
Strongheart says, but that prejudice is
as much part of us as our other dis
likes, whether they be reasonable or
unreasonable.
Therefore it is that Mr.. Edeson sad
dies himself with thankless task.
The more realistic his Indian, the more
offensive the actor. Moreover, the
character does not offer any great op-
portunities for histrionic achievement.
He is little more than a shadow on the
smiling face of an otherwise cheerful
comedy drama.
Let us see Mr.. Edeson in the role Of
white American, if you please, a man
in whose struggles we may feel deep
abiding interest, and in whose tri-
un1ph. whether it be moral or worldly,
we may rejoice, as that of fellow
man.
Strongheart would be a hero among
his own people, but he is not amid the
surroundings of civilization-that is.
not a hero who claims our sympathy
On the contrary, we feel for the broth
er Who doesn't want the aborigine's
descendant in his family, as well as for
the other white man who is overwhelm-
ed by the discovery that the red man
has received encouragement from the
woman he loves.
We simply pity the poor girl and in
another sort feel sorry for Robert Ede-
son in the role of an Indian ahead of
his race and out of place.
Fl G. H
WILLIAM COLLIER AT THE MET