The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-01-06

proposition of spending u million dollars
/ in year, In order to Inherit seven more
is made to q young man who Is theh
celebrating his first good fortune WIN
house-wnrniing party, he SCOTS W IL
But sort of plnusibility Ia given to the
condition in the second will, ana Il SEN
timenta reason to his compliance with
~ by the explanation that the first money
comes from grandfather, who mad de-
MED its aid to the young mans needy
mother before her ptiful death; while
the seven millions comes from recent
/ ly enriched uncle. who resented the dead
old mans hardness to bis daughter, and
requires .hat none of his money shall
benefit that poor woman's son.
1.-THE Road to Yesterday" Pure
Phantasy.
How "The Road to Yesterday" got on
the stage | don't know and cannot inn
agine," for dream plays are under man
agers' taboo. women are diSfavored as
dramatists and the subject of this work
is its herones nightmare, while its writ
ers. programmed as b. NJ Dix and r. G.
Sutherland, have Beulah and Evelyn for
first names. These angels have rushed
in where male mortals fear to tread, and
made n drama on metempsychosis. An
American girl. tired out by a day of
Sightseeing among Lordon's antiquities.
and in the evening one of an assemblaEe
in an artists studio. where medieval cos
tunes and armor are on view. talks ABOUT
that old psychological vagary. the trans
migration and reincarr alton of souls. she
Is in psychic state of nerves, and of
pain in the stomach, too, for she has
eaten unduly of Cheshire cheese. She fan
cies vaguely that some trivial new hap
peningS are duplicates of old ones-that
She has seen and heard the same things
In other circumstances--you know the
weirdlv haunting sensation. She takes
a narcotic, lies down for an hours nap
and dreams herself back along "the road
to yesterday" until her soul is in the body
which 1t occupied three centuries ago
Weber's New Show Makes Hit
New York "society'sr caprice of going
to one of the female minstrelsy shows at
a cheap and smoky concert hall was a
topic in my letter of three Sundays ago
The surprised company OF muggers and
chair warmers instead of moving on at
the end OF one week. as 1t did last sea-
son, stays indefinitely where it is. This
proves that our variously smart sets are
ready for a change In theatrical enjoy
ment, but not that new departure will
be made In a downward direction, for their
incline is upward, rather But who and
what will catch them on the rise? Joe
Weber hopes to with The Magic Knight"
and Dream City" He is making a costly
try for 1t. Victor Herbert Is, | calculate
the most money-making music maker in
America, as his orchestra is as prosperous
as Sousas, his compositions sell as well
in the stories. and this season he has
half dozen scores in theatrical use to
the March Kings one So Herbert must
have come high to Weber 1t is in THE
Magic knight that the value of Herbert
is realized as musical humorist, and We
Der may have bought a ticket that will
win the fashionable fad prize.
Burlesque of grand opera has beer
common in negro minstrelsy, vaudeville
and extravaganza these fifty years and
more, but seldom has it been witty, or
contained other than crude fun. The
libretto of The Magic Knight is a
travesty of 'Lohengrin." but the Herbert
score Is not made up OF unassimilated
selections from Wagners music, but of
what may be termed original plagiarism
a stealing Of notes and forging of them
INTO counterfeit cuTency--a succession of
keen, drol musical jokes The oddly
in this mockery of Wagner is that, in
the attempt to catch society" by it's
musically cultured ears, and lead it back
to the music hall, which it had aban-
doned, the matter Is rendered in gen
| timely grand operate fashion. A prma
donna of the first-class, Lillian Blauvelt.
of Covent Garden record In London and
Metropolitan Opera House. in New York,
is the Elsa in collection of good voices.
TT is up to me-" Miss Blauvelt sings at
her entrance. Ito make good as q; human
canary; she greets Lohengrin with n
trill OF "Oh, Look Who's Here; she
cadenzas TO the King. Twenty three for
You-oo- 90 ours" and never for an In
slant does she behave unlike Wagner
ian prlma donna In serious service. Thus
the beauties and the absurdities of Wag-
ner grand opera are illustrated stimuli
taneously. FRANKLIN FYLES.