The Washington herald., 1907-10-09

| With The Three Of Us" a plav which
/ had tremendous success in New YorJ,
/ but which was new to Washington until
Monday night, Miss Rachel Crothers
made the marked change from being q
school teacher 20 one Of the highly suc-
cessful piaywTights Of last season. And
the play itself sufficiently explains ~.
reason. Seeing It, 1t is hard to believe
that this is the first essay Of an untried
writer for the stage, for the play Is finely
constructed, and has not only carefully
avoided lot Of technical conventional
ties, but has avoided them IN such way
as TO provide some marked dramatic sur
prises.
In the third act, for instance, which is
the strongest Of the play. there is
great scene where the heroine. Rhy Mac
| chesney, goes 70 the house Of the man
who, If not villain. is al least causing
the trouble, 10 beg him for a favor. Il
IS late al night. She really ought not to
be there, and being there with a man
| who is madly in love with her. she laws
herself open 20 insult The man tries to
make love 20 her-in the wrong way,
then he repents, and offers 10 marry her.
and just when the tension is at its
greatest height, there is a knock at the
door At once the man, in whose house
Rhy Macchesney Is, wants her 10 hide.
rushes her toward another room. The
audience think IL IS the same old dra-
matte situation that has been worked So
often, and that she is going in and
later viii be discovered.
But the girl hesitates. turns from the
room and says No she knows that she
Is innocent, and when the door opens il
let's in the man with whom she is IN love.
and whom she is going TO marry Both
men are eager 20 save her good name To
protect her honor. as they phrase IT, each
Of them is willing % marry her and give
her the protection Of his name. In
tempest Of virtue. she turns on both o.
them, and with flashing eyes and tears
IN her vOiCe-tears AT the injustice of a
world which viii not understand-repu-
diates both OF them, and, talking 10 both
Of them. cries:
Don't you dare 70 speak 70 nc 0f M honor and
my good namet Dant y1u dare % say ~r-.'U takr
care 6 IL. My honor, DO yoa think Il is in your
hands. 1t Is In my Uwu. and III take care q l.
and of even one vino belongs % me- ] don't need
you-cither of yoU-.i1ye. protection. t7Ist.' SIS
good usmei Why. | have 90 feht sou both. Don't
/ fsik to ne about whom I'm going 20 marry. That's
a Tcy htti5 hing Something else comes first;
comes first
And with q sob that finds almost an
audible echo in the audience, she bursts
out into the night.
The theme OF the play is quite original
It has to do with "a little family left alone
IN "a Western town-a family of which
Rhy Macchesncy Is the eldest: and there
are two boys, Glenn. getting toward man
hood. but still a boy. and "Son1ie." Just
little lad. They have claim O. a mine
called The Three Of Us" in which their
dead father believed. and they have $500
In the bank. the interest on which Rhv
administers and manages % keep the
family alive on. CIem is an unlicked cub.
appreciating not az all what his sister Is
doing for him; tired Of waiting; eager for
the world outside. Rhy has not the
money 90 give him so that he may ret
away. and so Glenn falls into temptation
and secures money. If not dishonesty, at
least by dubious means.
This We're not so bad. If Clem had
not IN fact sold his sisters honor 10 get
the means for his excursion into the
world. The dramatic interest-though
affairs Of Rhy-lies in reality in the
brave fight made by a sisters love for
an erring brother love that is pure and
wholesome and all Couqueriug and
which wins him back to the paths Of de-
cency and which makes a man Of him.
And the fine thing about the play IS
that all through II you are made 10 see
what a bully fine clean. straightfor-
ward girl Rhy is There is never any
doubt about her; il Is all as clear and
high-ClasS as possible. and the character
is so refreshing on the stage of to-day.
when it seems that few dramatisrs
deem 1t possible 10 portray emotion or
excite dramatic interest without sin and
suffering Of the wrong sort.
In this play the uplift is great: II ex-
cites emotions and moves 10 tears, but
the emotions are the finest of which the
human heart is capable, and the tears