The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1905-11-23

TEams: seSRs1 si4 Months Xsa5 g ,a eenss advance
kept up without the necessity of playing
to the gallery. 1t may be said that the
plan, which is not Republican inven-
ton, but an inheritance from the ancien
regime, has proved entirely successful.
The plays of Moliere, Corneille and
Racine are presented year after year un-
der the best of conditions and to them are
added the pick of the modern pieces.
There are many essential differences
between both the plays and the publics
of France and the United States. In
the first place the theatre in France Isl
time-honored institution, one of the
very few institutions which have sur
vived the wreck of governments without
showing any signs of decay. In this
country it is an innovation which has
had to fight the prejudice of the leading
men of the country, men descended from
the Puritans who quite rightly consid-
cred the play-actors of their time as
rogues and vagabonds. Indeed, al
tho very few people would dare nova
days to utterly condemn the stage root
and branch, there is still feeling that
a visit to theatre is necessarily spree,
an intellectual spree, perhaps, but still
spree.
Again, the theatre is handicapped in
this country by the fact that we have
no classics of our own. 1t is ouly very
recently that the American dramatist
has come to the front at all and even at
the present day no one can claim that
we have produced dramatist whose
works will last longer than generation
at most. A further advantage that the
French have over us is their absolute
determination that spade be called
a spade and shall not, under any circum-
stances whatever, degenerate into an
agricultural implement. That this is
an advantage is perfectly clear when
the difficulty of presenting many of
Shakespeare plays is called to mind,
altho he was several centuries ahead of
his age in this respect. This of course
is inevitable, but nevertheless to be
deeply regretted. 1t seems extraordi-
nary that subjects which are discussed
in everyday conversation, not only in
France, but also in Germany, the rest of
Europe can only be limited at in coun-
tries speaking the English language.
But in spite of all these drawbacks and
others the stage has made enormous
strides in this country, if only as
provider of wholesome amusement to
the people. The function of the stage
however, is not confined to providing
amusement; according to the exponents
of the art of acting, its chief function
is to educate the people to sense of
the Importance of acting. The art
certainly has many advantages over
those of painting, of music and ofliter-
ature, since picture, a symphony or
, book must necessarily lack that human
interest that attaches to a play. While
, an apparent exception in the case of an
F opera, yet there was never an opera
written which would stand on it's own
merits if the music was taken away
{ from it, Again, altho it is possible to
be carried away" by book or a picture
. and more especially by well-written,
. well-performed piece of music, no other
art makes such an appeal to the emo
, tions as that of acting, and this is true,
r not only in the case of the great classics,
: but in the crude melodramas. Very few
8 plays, in fact, are so bad that no single
8 member of an audience is pleased and
! to some extent, stimulated. l have
, seen the humblest specimens of humani-
a ty whose thoughts, one would think,
Q never could rise very far above the way
J. in which their mouths were filled, watch
ing with tears in their eyes the vicissi-
tudes of honest ohm Hero and beautiful
Mary Heroine in the most whole-hearted
and enthusiastic manner, uttering that
sort of hiss which the wicked captain re-
!. CARDS as the highest tribute to his genius
We are accustomed to regard educa.
tion as purely an intellectual matter, al
y a preparation for citizenship. The
r, Chautauquan idea means something
n more than this. 1t means getting "the
s. many, not the few" to take an interest
y in life-cuIture and encouraging them
to enjoy life as it should be enjoyed.
Is It is in this sense that the stage is an
lei educator and it is not by any means q