The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-25
1.-THE SERVANT IN THE HOUSE" IS A
 PLAY OF GENIUS

The Servant in the House." which was given at Smiths last night, to an audience that was large, and ought to have been larger, was a thoroughly stimulating and satisfying perfor- nance of the most talked of drama of many years. Written by Charles Ram Kennedy to teach a lesson more than to tell a story; to accentuate a spirf- tua1 truth, more than to amuse an audience, it would not have been re- markable if it's interest had been sac rificed to it's purpose. Teaching is difficult; learning is laborious. Great is the genius of the author who under these circumstances does not fail upon one side or the other of his effort.
 dn this case there is no failure. No play within the memory of the pres ent generation has SO succeeded as this one has in holding the tense at ming of it's opening lines until the close of it's last act.
 And yet there were no extraordinary advantages in settings, in the use of novel lighting effects, or of the many devices which belong to the stage manager rather than to the actors, or to the play.
 There was simply the story, wonder fully simple, strong and true and the actors competent to express the story and unfold it's spiritual meanings.
 The play shows but one setting. This is the living room in the home of Rev. William Smythe, an English Vicar There were almost no waits between the acts. The lesson flowed from the lips of the players almost without in terruptfon.
 The caste contains seven characters. James Ponsonby Makeshyfte, D-D., the most Reverend Lord Bishop of Lan- cashire: Martha, wife of the vicar; Mary their neice; Robert Smith. a brother of the vicar; Rogers a page boy, and Manson, the butler
 The question frankly raised by the play is the chasm between the pre- cept of Christ, which says "Love thy reighbor as myself" and its practical interpretation in the world of business and industry.
 An the question is especially raised in connection with the world wide so- cial problem, what is to be done with the man who performs all of the dis agreeable, and difficult and dangerous social duties of this life while he reapS none of the rewards.
 As The Servant in the House, typi- fies the living spirit or christ Work. ing in man to make the doctrine or Christian brotherhood a reality; so dog; the worker. he of the hard hands. the coarse clothing, the scanty food and the underpaid service.
 So again the Bishop of Lancashire sv1nbolizes the element of greed in the human soul, which, hardened by the observance of a merely conventional religion, believed but not lived, of all sins, more than any other puts the sinner outside the pale.
 The origin of the dramatic a1legory SO splendidly written by MT. Kennedy, and so nlaenificently acted by the Hen ry Miller Associate Players. is from very primitive, though somewhat neg 1ected source, to wit the Bible.
 What is symbolized when the veal thy the greedy. the selfish and the eeotistical Bishop of Lancashire Is
 Inv Inc Sny- mi in the House, but Christ scourg1ng usurers out of the temple.
 What does the drain leading to the crypt beneath the church signify, ex- cept that spiritual condition whicn was iikened to a whited sepulchre. beauti- full without, but within, filled With dead mems bones and unthinkable cor ruption.
 And what is the Martha of the play. except 2. symbol for the Martha Of the Scriptures, busted with the affairs of the world. which she finds not alto gether; and what Mary Of the play eH- cept the Mary of the Scriptures, who sat at the feet of the Christ to learn the truths of the spirit. And as for inc drain beneath the church. What is typified here except the Scr1ptural truth that the church must actually and in truth operate for the protner hood of man, and the modern idea that tbe preceptS and the practice of th1s brotherhood are widely separated.
 And as for the Vicar. who is he save the not uncommon clergyman wno' standing in his pulpit, modifies his dis course to meet the views of the rich parishioner sitting below, and writhes as he does it in agony or spirit pe- cause of the breach between his duty and his performance
 And throughout the play runs the idea that men. being the children of one father, cannot be in fact so wide ly different in their capacities, their merits and in their right share in the good things of the world. Naturally then the wide differences that are ob- served between men are the result not of variations inherent in the men but in the social environ ment with which they are surrounded, and by which they are Hfted upward