Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-02-07
~ ADJUSTMENTS. ( /%~AN~1$44&R1@& &
The Sl0r, of "Fhe Thiei."

U is impossible with a mere telling of Henri Rernstein.$ play The Thief which comes to fine Elks Theator Tuesday. to give any idea of the tre- mendous power of this drama, which has aroused more discussion thm any work of it's kind during the past several years. II is q masterpiece CT dramatic construction ill that throueh series ef unexpected dgyolopmere if compela tHe intense interest.
 Theu a=aae from the purely teeA- njcM ch91aats4. al= the story there fs problem in ethics and morality worked cut be the df9matist With wizard-like skill
 The players presenting the Wot& are also of excellent quality. While, in some respects a better effect might be secured by actors of different per sonality and method, it is but justice to say that the players succeed ad- mirably ill revealing the idea which the playWright has developed with such strength and delicacy in his text.
 The Thief has been the most inn portant dramatic work presented ia Paris and New York during the last tw 0 years surpassin all expectations. It's powers must be seen to be ap- preciated properly, but here Is a halt ing attempt to define the clements of the problem;
 A woman of youth and beauty Dut comparatively humble station. allows herself to fall iu love with brilliant man of the world whom she considers much above her. She worships him as something unattainable and Is dag ed when he loves her in return ana makes her his wife. Her love 1s odoration. but she is daZed with the fear that she will lose his love. She reasons that she must equal III beauty and delicacy of attire the women Wltn whom he has been familiar, II she 's to hold him. His income anu Her allowance do not permit compe'U'on in this respect. and in her panic or fear lest her happiness be wtecked' she recklessly contracts great oeots with dressmakers and mllllners, S'N- ing little thought to the day or reeh aniuy But the day romorseiessiA aDproaches, and exposure threatens as the husband and wife are vlsitlhs rich friends. The friend and hostess earc,ossly throws into drawer money sufficient to satisfy clamor- ous creditors. The tortured "ho yields to temptation Then comes 'he arst complication. X youth, son 'l her husbands friend, Is infatuated v,th her. Idle vanity makes hei amile on him, but she reoukes HIS declaration of love and refuses 'o r.,,, his letters A detective mas heen summoned as guest 10 'ne house to fathom the mystery o' 'he .,o,en money. The youth is seen III tbo hOudoir from which the money 6aS been takSu- IlS h''' '
 to ,ay his love letters beneath the ni,,ow of the woman he loves. The detective is called on for his report and nreseu,s a seemingly conclusive ease of circunstatlal eNluenNe against the boy, He Is sum'hoheu 'o he confronted with the evldence '' his crime. The guilty woman' ]" panic, and srasping at straws' goes to seek him and appeals to hlm Ill the name of his love for her to save her He consents
 After this basis is laid III tue HTS. act the author develops remarkapie scene between the guilty woman ana her husband. Brooding over the Sor- row that has come to his friend, cer- tain anomalies in the boys story comes to him. Playfully ransack- ing his wife's chiffonier. he finds a purse with money. more money than she has any right to have. In a pam su1 eceue he forces confession Of guilt