The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-06

with an evangelist for a pivotal char
acter. Can ii be that Henry Arthur
Jones in England and Edwin Milton
Royie in America had some sort OF
telepath!c thought exchange. wireless
yet connective, by which Hank said 10
Ed. "A mood of piety is coming on me,
and 1 am inspired to fly high with a
Christian play" and Ed replied to
Hank. II feel that same way, and let's
soar together" 1 mean no belittlement
of these authors when / call them Hank
and Ed; for didn't Shakespeare's ac-
quaintances call him VIII? And II
Shakespeare responded to calls on
opening nights, he never got Familiarity
closer to an audience than Jones did
when he clambered impulsively from
box to the stage to utter his thanks
for applause, or Royle when his voice
broke into emotional fragments of
gratitude.
Irreverent scoffers are inclined to be-
little and even ridicule these two new
plays; yet if they can but reach out
beyond habitual audiences of the the
aires. and bring in people from the con-
gregations OF the churches. the laugh
will be with the authors against me
critics. Remember THE Christian" and
ben Hur."
Henry Arthur Jones first named his
drama, THE Galilean's Victory. An
objection to that title was the chance
that earnest Christians might think
that Christ was the designated Cali
lean. and be kept away by dread OF
sacrilege. Another objection arose from
the tendency of readers OF the bill
boards to put the emphasis on the
wrong syllabel, even to a pronunciation
which. as 1.-The Gal Lillian's Victory"
might lead to disappointment when the
play was found to be profoundly relig-
ious and not musically farcical. The
Galilean is a present-day revivalist.
Nebbings, who is asked by rich Mrs.
Nurebam to come 10 an English town
and exhort her husbands factory peo-
pie to repent their evil ways. Neb-
bing's methods are undignified, though
effectual, and upon his arrival he finds
himself under Baptist. Presbyterian
and Church of England taboo. The
play begins with a discussion by him
and four local clergymen, and most of
the time during a long evening is taken
I'D by dissertations on ways and means
of salvation.
In two scenes 1.-The Evangelist" is
dramatic Mrs. Nurebam is an adulter-
ess, and Nebbings, finding 1t out, turns
liar to conceal her guilt from her hus-
band. but instantly and vehemently
exhorts her to confess and repent. The
audience cares little about the woman,
as to whose sin no particulars are
given. Therefore the conscientious lie
has little of dramatic value. The other
scene of any consequence rises more
rousingly from the lethargic monotony
of religious discourse. The stage is set
with a room of Mrs. Nurebam's house
in front, and a view at the back, when
- IL l,Nx.. a. N
aside. of a public halls platform, from
which Nebbings is addressing an invis-
ible assemblage The actor is Howard
Kyle, who speaks with the fervor or
real revivalist. A poor factory girl
outcast obeys his eXhortation to come
on the platform, confess her wicked
ness publicly and pray for redemption.
This she does with simple pathos-
While that is going on Mrs. Nurenbam
watches and listens alone from her
room, and when Nebbings' convert falls
on her knees, with the people singing
hymn, and the preacher crying halle
lujah, the wife calls her husband to
come in and hear her confession. That
third-act climax Is crafty, potent, ana
should appeal powerfully TO religious
people. What ensues? Oh, a little
child OF the husband and wife brings
about reconciliation.
The evangelist in the other new dra-
ma, THE Struggle Everlasting, has
touched the conscience Of harlot,
who strayed into a revival meeting,
and she sends for him TO come to her
luxurious dwelling. She seems to be-
Iieve that her sole desire is salvation
for her endangered soul; but one or her
intimate fellow sinners tells her that
she merely seeks a new sensation. To
a.,l,a IL 4 Toll
that a previous act exhibited her de-
pravity In a way that is bold. even in
these times of explicitly on the stage.
She is giving a supper to the latest of
her paramours a financier and is eX
pecting a pugilist, who has promised
to come to her after a prize-fight When
he arrives II Is as an Unexpectedly
whipped champion. The audience is
told plainly that profiigacy with her
has weakened him; and now that his
career in the ring is over she heartless-
~ drives him out. Next comes an actor
from his first essay as Hamlet, and in
stead of reporting the anticipated tri-
umph, he says, with tears and sobs,
that in the middle of the familiar So
liloquy his memory failed utterly and
he was derided. Again the audience is
informed that dissolute association
with her has brought on paresis, and
him, too, she casts OFT without toucn
of pity Pretty soon a street fiddler
is heard playing a tune which revives
a menIory and she has him brought in.
She recognizes him as a once aspiring
musician, whose genius decayed under
the rot of her vice. Now he is de-
mente1, he can't play the tune as he
used to, and she cruelty has him thrown
hack into the street. The newest of
her men, the financier. is too strong of
fibre and coarse of brain to suffer men
tai wreck, but him she brings TO fail
IRE in business and shame in his fam
lily.
Thus the playwright shows. without
a chance TO misunderstood, three intel
Iectual fellows bedevilled by her to
their death. The less delicate fourth
paramour is still in possession when
the evangelist comes under her spell
and she under his. The young preach
er's feeling towards her, like hers to-
wards him, is hazy to some observers,
but to me il is clear that he thinks of
nothing but her conversion to Chris
tianity. and that she sincerely wishes
TO reform until her Unborn, incurable
spirit of evil asserts itself, and she will
- lof+ arono odd him IN her victims