Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-02

the sensation his compromising posi-
tion will mean to the newspapers, and
sneers at the woman, until the man
leaps up within the priests habit and
threatens death to his tormentor, God
forgiving me- Ihls Is melodranh-
and great drama.
In the last act we have the inevitable
adjustment of the situation. The rec
tors bishop-a shrewd yet generous
souled figure. as Mr.. Yerance pene-
tratingly portrays him-calls with
Stone to confront the Rev. Armstrong
with the scandal with which his action
has smirched the church. BY the wit
of the bishop and the sudden appear
ance of the young woman to accuse
Stone, the latter is forced to admit his
part in the plot, and stalks out at the
last with threats to Secede from the
church and fight it to the end. A mo-
ment later the bishop learns the truth
of the affair, including the rector's
youthful lapse. Fear Of conventional
opinion battles hard in the practical
mind of the prelate with the mercy
which his religion enjoins upon him.
At last, in response to an eloquent and
heartrending appeal from the wronged
woman herself, he yields, stipulating,
however, that the clergyman resign for
time until the winds Of scandal have
died down.
At this suggestion the rector's loyal
parishioners, gathered much after the
fashion of an operate chorus, step into
the controversy with the suggestion
that another and a bigger church be
built for their pastor, one Of them
suggesting, rather ineptly that creeds
and dogmas be eschewed and the
brotherhood of man" supplant them.
Just why this should be is not clear
from the play, as the matter of the
ir,fr
as it's application to his own life forces
him to make tardy reparation to the
woman he loves and has mistreated by
making her his wife. In fact, this eli
max is the only part of the play in
which Mr.. Tedford leaves us in doubt
as to his meaning. Surely admitting
the incisive truth of the title, "The
Greater Claim" as the imperative de-
mand for honorable marriage to a
woman wronged, there is no time in
the troubled life of the Rev. Cuyler
Armstrong when he more needs the
support of the institution which he be-
lieVes to be the divine means of reach
ing erring men than on the eve Of that
marriage. His bishoD has conceded
all that he could ask. Why not elm
mate the confusing and immaterial
fling at the creed in the lines of Grant
Osborne and add to the final scene the
pantomime which few at yesterdays
matinee saW-the bishops handclasp OF
approval and encouragement to the
young clergyman whose struggles he
has nobly backed when they sorely
needed a hacker?
This apparent detail of the clergy
mans future usefulness is an impor-
tant one, for his character, heroic as
it is in many respects. needs discipline
Why not send him away on the from
tier to battle for the cross which he
proudly wears, with the woman who
has borne hers, too, for his sake? At
all events, eliminate the suggestion of
defiance at the close. Let Colonel
Stone be the bolter, the schismatic the
outlaw, the excommunicate. This, not
merely in Difference to the feelings of
churchmen, but as the only logical
denouement of the plays internal
structure of motive and characteriza-
ton.
l have never seen play which moved
the sympathy more than Mr.. Telford's,
and have never seen a first produce
tion which, with all credit for half a
dozen mastery interpretations, so de-
manded careful emendation and polish
of detail. This, both as to construction
and enactment. My admiration has
left scant room, in the absence of rub
Der type, for extended criticism, but a
few suggestions are imperative Mr.
Desmond did the best work | have ever
seen him do. The Rev. Armstrong is
more human than the curate in "The
Hypocrites," and Mr.. Desmond made
him so. He hit off admirably the dis
Greet compromise between democracy
and conscious authority, which is a
quality of the finest type of the Amer
lean clergy. But he haggled his fury
in more than one of his big speeches
and once all but slipped UP in his lines
tor aNguI.
torlous climax in act II. Yet his act
ing as whole was so firm and so
gloriously unconscious of the audience
that the audience could not for one
moment be unconscious of him. Let
the good work go on.
Inc scene of revelry in Act II was
tawdry without being hilarious. If
these things are to be seen on the
stage-and L see no sound objection if
the general aim and end of the play
be sane and decent-they should be
made brief and tempestuous-just a
touch of the deviltry that turks under
the surface of life as a contrast to the
principal theme of the play. This does
not mean that Miss Foshia should do
a real Salome dance Gone is thankful
she did not attempt it,, but the note
of feverish gayety and troubled mirth
should be audible in this snapshot of
the depths. 1t can be strident and
despalring and tragic. Yesterday it
was cheap and prim and ribald.
The dance itself was quite properly
subordinated to the action of the play.
For avoiding cheap appeal to the
sensational here in the interest of the
artistic, Stage Manager Gardner is to
be complimented
There is one glaring improbabillty
in Mr.. Tedford's play-the scene in
which young Stone goes over to the
divan on which the girl is lying in
sort of swooning stupor He appeals
to her to tell the truth as to her re-
lations to the rector. 1t is inconceiv-
able that she would not have an
swered, had she been conscious, and
equally absurd to imagine that the
young man would not know that she
had tainted from looking at her face.
Yet he turns away, murmuring sadly,
mo answer"
Again, the rector's surprise at
Stones order to his son to break off
their friendship is not credible: he
must have known from the beginning
that every "boss," from "Ready
Money Ryder down, glories especially
in ruling his own family, and that
friendship with the son could not en-
dure after a rupture with the father
In this act, by the way, Mr.. Desmond
should make up paler. if what the rec
tors servant has been saying is true
Such a summary church trial as the
last act discloses is uncommon, to say
the leash in the Episcopal church,
which usually moves with extreme de-
liberation in such matters. Indeed, the
entire last act is too long, interesting
as it is, and simnly must be cut some
where.