The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-21
Denman Thompson Old
 Homestead Earned $2, 900, 900

Since "The old Homestead" was first produced in the old Boston Theatre In April of 1886 1t has earned more than S2, 900, ,000; this is the statement Of | Denman Thompson himself who has written in the forthcoming April issue of the "woman's World" of Chicago the story of this remarkable drama which won for the homely and whole some play the record of greatest sue cess of any ever produced in the United States except "Uncle Toms Cabin"
 Tt has been performed so many i thousand times and enjoyed by so many millions of folks that have en- tirely lost track of the number. says Thompson. in his retrospective mono logue Perhaps the figures might af- ford me some satisfaction if I had them-but not a tenth of the pleasure and comfort I get from reflecting that no human being-man. woman or child has ever gone away from perform ance of 'The old Homestead" the worse for having witnessed 1t. On the other hand. literally thousands have told me, and other hundreds have writ ten me, that they have been moved by | 1t to a new sense of moral obligations "a sense which actually moved them to do something to mend the mistakes of their past and to keep the present clean and courageous
 T like to think about this-and I'm not ashamed to admit 1t. Perhaps 1t would not seem so important ani so pleasant to me if I were young man today, with all the future bright and glowing before me. my heels full of ginger my head full of plans and my heart fairly bursting with life and hope But a little change has come over this particular Joshua Whit comb" since the "Old Homestead' was first staged: I am now 76 years old and so I look at things a little more soberly than once did. If had to look back upon play not clean and wholesome and sweetening but which had been produced as many times seen by as many millions of people as The Old Homestead" then I know my head would rest far less peacefully on the pillow.
 But my satisfaction goes beyond this negative point. for thousands of assurances have come to me that The Old Homestead" has changed misguid- ed and unfortunate lives and restored careless and discouraged men to a right sense of their human relation ships-particularly their relationships to their fathers"
 For illustration Thompson told of young fellow. Maine born. who came to see him at hotel in the northwest overcome with remorse for leaving parents who needed him. he having seen the sorrow of Uncle Josh-the role Thompson takss--for his Reuben. When I saw how the absence and tn- difference of the son wrenched the heart of Joshua Whitcomb this young fellow told me. saw myself in the place of Reuben, the son, and my own father in the place of Uncle Josh And when 1t came to the dream in the play I was so mellowed that I cried like child And I just thought that some how 1t would be a comfort to talk 1t over with you-perheps a satisfaction to you to know that you had accom- plished more for one lonesome and anxious father and in certain old homestead down in Maine than any preacher has been able to-for I'm go- ing to get in close touch with that home and keep so near to the old folks after this that they'll know right where to find me. at any rate He did as he said he would, and the father and