The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-07-16

| Is safe to say that the Climax OI OApuli .
! greatness has not been reached. even N
| tht complete defeat and Humiliation o.
| the .'strongest military power on earth"
Scene in the Theatre.
But / am allowing the battle Of Togos
fleet and tho Baltic squadron to keep
mo nway from the Mci1i Theatre, which
is easily accounted for by the fact thLt
an, almost within sound Of the gins
md entirely enveoped In tho electric
atmospheric" but III the Mciji Theatre
there was much Of interest YOU may be
sure, since wo were hold there through
seven long hours. The play WINS Mani
ko," q modern 1ovo story, In which some
Of the characters are easily recognized
rs personnges Of vast Importance IN
TOXIC. It seems tlint q few years ago
c,e Marquis (Oyama. tho great field
marshal, hnd Il daughter whom ho gave
in marriage, In tho usual Japanese fnan-
rcr, to Il young i1oblenlnn who was an
only son and heir to n large estate. The
mother of the young man WIS very old,
and belonged to q period long before
Mciji, and 1t was an unhappy fate for.
the young daughter of the house OF
Oynmn to have her for n mother-in- law.
According to the customs Of the country
She had TO become something but little
moro exalted than an upper servant IN
her husbands household, and she had to
give way in all things to her mother
in-lnw and hourly propltiate the us
agreeable old woman. In the course OF
n few months she contracted tuberculo-
sis, d disease so common in Japan, and
during her husbands absence from home
her mothor-in-1aw divorced her. The
excuse given was. Of course, that there
was danger OF the young wife communi-
eating tho disease to her husband, who
was the last OF a noble name; so she
was sent back home to die In her own
fathers house, and hor husband vas not
told until after 1t was too late, lin ac-
cordance with the Japanese code OF
honor, for him to do anything This Is
n true story, and its drnmatlzatlon Is 4
called "Nam-ko.
In the play the husband is made q
young naval officer, and 1t Is while he Is
away fighting In the Jnpan-Chinn War
Tint his wife Is divorced, hut most OF
the other characters are hardly disguised
at all, and 1t is interesting to hear the
people frankly calling them by their
real names. In the first act Nami-ko and
.Takeo are Just married and are on their
wedding journey to 1kao. the beautiful
hot springs up In the Nikko mountains.
Here Is glaring modernty number one
for wedding Journeys are the very newest
thing In Jnpan's newly acquired customs,
and are looked upon by most people with
scornful suspicion and disaESsoval. Naml-
ko is followed to Ilu,o by Ghjiwa. for
mer lover and her husbands cousin. He
is easily recognizable as young officer
of high family who redeemed a. very Sc
rous disgrace by conspicuous bravery at
the first siege Of Port Arthur. In the
play he has forged Takco's name to a
note, which is about to fall due, and
he Is consequently In very great trouble.
Nam-ko knows nothing about this, Of
course. and she rcsents the attitude of
easy familiarity he assumes toward her
In such n way MS to make of him Il bitter |
enemy. After that he becomes the con-
ventonal villain, plotting, with clinched
hands and cleaning eyes the downfall
or the gentle and unsuspecting heroine.
He is very entertaining. In the second |
act we we're taken boldly Into the modern
home OF the Marshal Oyama,sw who In the
play becomes General Kataoka: Here we
meet the present mnrchioness. the most
modern woman In all Japan, graduate
OF Vassar College, and altogether Ameri-
canizcd. who was step-mothcr to the
elder children Of the house. With her
we're two little children, one of whom I |
now know as a beautiful young woman1
beautiful and tall and yelvety soft and
dark, indeed, that I call her Lady Iris"
At least suppose little Ki-chan. of the
May was she, for the Marchioness
Oyama has no other daughter
How Japs Delude Themselves.
K The neld-marshalt Is played by very |
tall man with dignity enough for two
or three neld-marshals. and the audience
was Immensely pleased with him, This
wildly illustrates & very peculiar Japan
csc chara cterlstic. As a people, they lie
to themselves constantly and believe
implicitly in their own falsehoods, and
in nothing is this so noticeable as IN