The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-08

the sonorous lines apparently had no local habitation nor name," but the Boy of our party. his eyes trained by hard study, soon located the reader comfortably ensconced in tree top.
 The play opens with the signal smoke of the Great Spirit calling all nations together for council. And from all directions there come the red men, all in war paint and brandishing tomahawks.
 Wildly glaring at each other;
 In their faces stern defiance;
 In their hearts the feuds of ages" /
 Then comes the voice of the Great | Spirit promising to send prophet and deliverer. He makes a pipe and tells all to smoke the pipe of peace. And then they all wash the war paint of their faces in the neighboring stream In the. second scene old Nokomis is seen rocking the papoose, Hiawatha, and later she and Zagoo (the story teller) are shown teaching the boy how to shoot and dance. A full grown Indian, an ideal specimen of his race, then takes the part of Hiawatha, goes into the forest and on returning demands to know the truth of his ancestry. He then goes forth to fight the great | Midjekeewis, his father, the West Wind. Instead of staying his sire he | returns laden with good advice and tells his people that the way to join the two warlike tribes. the Iroquois Minnehaha. the beautiful Dacotah l Against the shrill protest of his old | grandmother, Nokomis, Hiawatha goes to the wigwam of the ancient arrow maker His swift steady silent walk l through the wilderness Is very effec- | tive, wonderfully deceptive to. cover in ' reality so short distance. Arrived at | the Dacotahs, Minnehaha brings out bowls of basswood, and after refresh- | ing themselves. the old man and Hia- watha smoke the pipe of peace Then | he goes again into the forest and re- turns with a slain red deer across his l shoulders. You are welcome. Htawa- tha, will go with you. my husband" l says Minnehaha, and both leave the | sorrowing arrowmaker, True to ln- | dian custom Hiawatha stalks ahead. | leaving his tender sweetheart to fol- l low as best she may
 Arrived at old Wakomistepee the marriage scene is impressive. Many of the old dances are carried out. Pau ! pakeewis, the mischief maker, who Is one of the guests, and is a great Samb- ter, and to. trouble Hiawatha he intro- duces a strange Indian gambling game. Finally he wins all the possessions of ! the young brave. and by winning the | final game, makes him his slave. This Is very realistic scene.
 The Indians are greatly excited, Pau pukeewis heee 10 the dwelling place of Gitchie Manito and is rescued from the pursuing Indians by Hiawatha. Impressive in the extreme is the fa- mine scene which comes next Hia- watha returns from the hunt with but little food. He prepares some for the sick Minnehaha, but two ghosts enter and eat all. Hiawatha goes for more, but when he returns Minnehaha is dead. Wakomis tears her hair. but H. awatha. all in silent sorrow. sits at the feet of his dead wife.
 Then come the Medicine Man and the other Indans, all wailing; the body is placed on a litter and carried a con- siderable distance and placed in tree in the old Indian style. When the fire is built beneath the suspended body, to light the soul to the Happy Hunting Grounds, 1t is all SO realistic that one has to pinch oneself to recall that 1t is all a play.
 In the next scene LAgoo tells of the coming of the white man and the great canoes. To all the Indians 1t Is a strange tale, but Hiawatha says he saw the same thing In q vision:
 
 All the secrets of the future, Of all the distant days that should
 beheid the westward marches
 Of the unknown crowded nations"
 sowing his head in sadness Hlawa- tha continues:
 T behold our nations scattered,
 All forgotten of my council
 Mankind warning with each other;
 Saw the remnants of our people,
 Sweeping westward, wild and woeful,
 Like the cloud-rack of tempest.
 Like the withered leaves of autumn"
 Then up the river comes The Black Robe, the Catholic priest Hiawatha tells his people that this newcomer is to be his successor, and taking him to the wigwam of old Nokomis tells her to care for the priest
 Then comes Hiawatha's departure for the sinking sun. an ending so dramatic, so. fraught with intense meaning, that every audience Is stronly impressed. He steps into his canoe. and as the people chant q weird death-like song, he floats out into the lake. He Is then supposed to have disappeared into the Sinking Sun, but in reality has landed on the half~sub- merged hull of an old steamboat. which ID pVHNGuApAtAS AtaNs
 But the glaHlor ts rudely dispelled by the interpreters wonderful voice which now calls out: Ladies and gentle men, you now have twenty minutes before the arrival of the trolley In which to examine and purchase our Indian souvenirs and relics,
 The spectator who has been wander ing in the enchanted past comes back to tho prosaic present with Q shock, thud, that dispels all desire for shod- dy souvenirs and brand-new relics.
 But the drawbacks are soon for got and one cheerfully recommends q visit to Hiawatha to persons whose knowledge of the poem has grown dim or to children who will soon take up this Indian epic at school.
 And now, in conclusion, having look ed at Chautauqua's mental, moral and physical aspects, through Southern eyes. suppose we change the view point. in order to see ourselves as others see us." Here is a foreigners picture of our great summer eonclave-- you know we Southerners say "our" nation to all foreigners. and after few more years of magic development, we shall again share, if not dictate, "our' nations councils. Chautauquans with pleasure the visit of the kindly Abbe, Felix Klein, who spoke upon "The Relation of the Church and State in France" The eminent Frenchv man Femained~ but two days al Chau- tauqua but seems to have been much impressed with the place.
 
 The general meeting of Congrega- tionalists in October will be the first