The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-25
NEW HAVEN.
County Fair" With Neil Burgess
 Makes Great Hit.

An unusually large audience witness ed the performance last night and every person left the New Haven the ater convinced that, at last. man has been discovered who understands wo- men and can truthfully interpret their every whim and fancy. Neil Burgess, as Miss Abigail Prue, prim. prlldish and practical old maid, was certainly fine. From first to last he had the audience laughing at his witticisms, Poor Miss Prue has the habit of saying the wrong word at the wrong time and. as result, she on several occasions threw cold water on Otis Tucker $ whole efforts to propose to her. Otis has known Abigail Prue all his life time and has courted her as many as fourteen years. This courtship furnish es a good deal of fun and laughter for poor Otis is bashful and has a hard time getting up courage Miss Abigail Prue owns farm up in northern Yer, mont The farm has become mortgag ed and the mortgage is owned by Solon II lldllllltlHtdu, Ulle ol tlioSS ty plCdi church deacons, who are veritable misers and take great pleasure in driv- ing a debtor to the wall.
 Solon, thinking that he has Abigail Prue in a tight fix, proposes to her and tells her that if she accepts him for a husband he will cancel the mort gage and all will be happy. Maid and all, as she is, Abigail remains true to her lover, Otis Tucker. This angers Solon Hammerhead ana he, being the village constable, takes particular pleasure in threatening to arrest as thieves two young people whom Abigail has adopted. One of these, a little girl, Tags by name. sent away up to the country from New York city, wins the heart of the audience just as she won old Miss Abigalls heart, and, when later on at the instigation of Solon Hammerland the little girl is accused of theft, everybody feels that she is in- nocent, and is relieved when Otis Tue ker proves her innocence.
 The other young person is a youth of sixteen years who has just finished a term in prison and Is anxious to start out in life anew He meets with noth- ing but rebuffs on every side and fin ally lands up in Abigail Prue's farm. There he sees Tags whom he knew in the city. She persuades Miss Prue to give him work and a chance to bury his past misfortune Tim, the Tanner, as he is called, works hard and wins the kind Miss Prue's love. He turns out later on to be the brother of Sally Greenway, a girl on the farm. who has long been longing for. her lost brother. It is Tins idea which brings happiness to all in the play He con ceives the idea of racing Cold Molas- ses, Abigail Prue's old horse in the county race. After some scheming he gets the horse in trim unknown to Miss Prue, and wins the race at the fair. The first prize Is s3,000 and easily covers the mortgage. The climax comes when Abigail is told this after the race, which she was at tending with Otis Tucker, and is fur ther intensified by her acceptance of Otis as her mate for life From be- ginning to end the performance is eX- cellent. Special credit, of course, is due to Neil Burgess, whose imperson- ation was beyond criticism Ably sec onded by Bartley McCullum as Otis Hammerland, the balance of the cast