Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-10-21
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w Great Divide" with Margaret
Anglln Gnd Henry Mnlor IA the
E4H1 cast, Is the dramatic success OF
e the season in New York ana bids
fair TO be the financial success as we'll
This with due oeierence to tho hou.ase
that has been paid His House I'm Ordef"
and The .Iyp0,sites" Prof. Moody, VINO
IS also Poet Moody. anil, n Q mtasu,e
Politician Moody--.or he hrs de,Ved INTO
sociology to he extent that he ~ a arse-
matte II not practical sociaiist--hIs
touched in a broader aud a deeper mean.
ing on the sex question than ary OF the
others who have approached Il for a dIs-
. cussion. He has gone 10 fundamentals.
and has dlvssted both hro nud beroins
of the surroundings OF artlhciality and con-
vention In which Jth ir authors ,vno have
handled the .hene have seen At 10 tnn,esh
their thought. Originally called Tho sa-
bine Woman, name most Appropriately
suggestive OF its subject matter (the title
was probably changed IN defsrsnca to the
managerial desire 70 tnta full advantage
OF the tide that has set w strongly r. tte
direction OF wsstira themes and 1o,ni rc,a-
ture), the drama attacks the question of
man and woman n Ice oriI,iaL nnksdress.
Ruth Jor&on Is alone In shack on the Ari-
coma desert rhree drhdk9n rois;nrtrs CHI
kSS@T93
an American oaiisd dhant, son,cw hat
stronger than his comp ,nlons, kills one
and barters with the Dihor and buys his
share In the trophy. H. later leads TO
the nearest magistrite his prisa and there
they are marrisd. The rvst of The action
Of the play 10 avjisd 10 working out ~
the equation. Mr. Corbin. In the Sun, an
alyses the proposition IN ,his why:
And the result OF this bargain Of force
IL the greatest and deepest happiness. was
For, different 70 the superficial view as
were the drunken miner and the daughter
OF New Bngland culture, they were one al
heart Mr.. Moody has denoted this with
fine skill. Ruth has lived long enough in
ife--to desire Il, her heart to b become S baTt
Of IT, And the eye Of drunken desire which
Snsn tbs casts gpon her becomes from the
need OF the other to evoke the latent pow
ers Of his soul.
both. The eye with which Mr.. Moody sees
their anguish Is the eye OF poetic vision,
as hne as it is unerrlng Even in the hour
in which he asserts his will Client becomes
aware Of his depravity, and in the months
ems. 1t ohastens him and brings to light
all the patience, the devotion, the nobility
his heart tells him that he Is right. Ruth
also from the first feels in the deeper
wells Of her impulse that she can do no
opportunity to shoot him, or herself. She
tries to do each In turn-and does neither.
Catalina mountains she She feels I happin es IS
knocking at her door, but, victim as she
Is Of the conventions and the proprieties
price Client paid for her was a chain of
puggets;, She learns to make Indian has,
until one by one she has bought back
every nugget in the chain from its Greaser
owner. There IL deep womanh9od in the
nOTCenaQR a UQl
feeling for the puritsnical character.
When the last nugget is bought she
Of her husband and leaves him to go back
TO her New England home But instead OF
being free 90, Of him his shadow only falls
scene of reconciliation Ii one of mastery
divination. 1t is the man who has per-
petuated the ostensible ain; but he has got
Only good out Of il. He has grown to the
full stature OF spiritual strength. The
woman has suffered violence and outrage.
And out OF 1t has got only blight and death.
Her pride and her scruples spell spiritual
extinction
originality Of the value Of such treatment
OF such theme The wages of sin, our
preachers and playwrights are accustomed
whose vision the wages Of sin Is life. Ruths
brother, when he learns OF the manner
IN which Client won her, has the Impulse,
the world old and world approved Impulse,
60 kill him. Her mother, model Of con-
yentionai goodness says: You should
knows that either event would have meant
spiritual death. In the end she accepts
the wages Of her sin and Clients. which
IL the fulnesS OF life and happiness.
OF any attempt. to proclaim what we
have come to call manifest destiny Mr.
Moody is no doubt unconscious. Except
for his anti-imperiaiist ode the Idea would
have no pertinence, But Of the nearer
signihcance of his play he is unmistaka bly,
the "propriety' OF the initial scene of vio-
lence. II the guardians of the conventional
WeTe as Keen as tney are eager tney w0ult
Precept after precept subtle, quiet, but
luminous, contravenes our most cherished
beliefs. Bernard Shaw at his most ir-
reverent never taught anything more icono
elastic And Mr.. Moody has this supreme
advantage. that whereas the brilliant Irish
two has spent his powder he infuses his
play with the earthly fires of primal pas
richness Of the deepest spiritual life Of
men and women. Pinsro has never beer
keener IN Psychology and never half a
of passion and the head of right thinking
but compared to this play all his outcr,ei
Ism seem pale. Those, it is true, are al
great playwrights each with his niche II
the hall of the English drama. while Mr.
not make a drink. And yet Ii Is all III,
wine faster needs to saver the rarest vint
age.
Jesse Lynch williams play which wal
supposed to take the lid on Journalism
didn't make much of a splash in New
York in Chicago. and vacated the Gar
aen theater for Mr. Clay Clement and hi
play, Sam Houston" The Indifferent re
ception accorded to the newcomer lie quit
as disheartening I'm its way the scornfu
boot with which the first was received. A
q matter of fact. the Alamo has been for
gotten. and II proof OF this were wanted
II Il to be found IN the fact that the onl,
New York paper OF Wednesday morning
that deigned TO notice the opening at tn
Garden Of Mr.. Clements engagement Of
Tuesday evening has headed 1t. ''Rememoe
the CLANS" II IL painfully apparent tina
the printer at least had never heard OF tn
Alamo, and that the proofreader had for tn
nonce forgotten the glorious end to whic
Davy Crockett and his gallant band wer
devoted In that struggle But In days t
come when authors and actors and publi
have determined finally that under osrtai
> conditions men and women will DO eertal
things and have ceased TO discuss and an
alyae the obvious. maybe the story 0
Texas and Its heroes. Sam Houston. Dav