Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-28

-REALLY notable engagement
LA came to an end In Chicago last
~ night, when Miss Eleanor Rob
80 son played IN The Dawn OF a
34n Tomorrow" at the Grand in
S0 that city. IL was not the long
est engagement on record in the Windy
city. not by many weeks, but It was re-
msrkable even for the length Of time. for
Il had twice been extended beyond its fixed
limits owing to the great demand made for
seats. and might nave lasted throughout
the year had It been possible to longer
stave off the demand for the play in New
York. But 1t was from an artistic point
that the play and the player is most to be
considered. When Francis Hodgson Bur-
melt wrote the little story that run through
tItee number Of a leading magazine some
months ago she was inspired by a thought
that has given encouragement TO many
weary ones since. Perhaps It had before,
but Mrs. Burnett gave 1t life and form,
and the philosophy OF cheerfulness and
helpfulness she then preached has been
seized on by thousands who were ready to
despair at their earthly lot. II is a simple
enough tale, and Its moral is very plain
and easy to apply, and fits the case Of 80
many people that the wonder would be II
It we're not popular. Not in the ordinary
sense Of that abused word, for in this
case popularity" means helpfulness;
thousands Of nerve-racked and oyer
strained denizens Of a busy world. where
life has become so much a thing Of arti-
ficiailty and daily existence means a more
or less monotonous grind around a tread
mill track Of routine work. 1t means to
these folks that life still has a side they
haven't touched, that hope exists and that
in fits promise is the consolation and re-
ward that unmakes the calamity of long
llfe.' The Dawn Of a Tomorrow is a
tale Of cheerfulness, and from It a play Of
cheerfulness has been made.
Mrs. Burnett wrote of a man high in the
world Of business and of eminent social
position, who had become discouraged; his
health was broken. his powers falling from
him. and to escape the apparent doom OF
advancing paresis he determined, to take
his own life. This act he had planned
along the idea that his death would be
merely set down as a disappearance, and
his real fate would never be known. Leav-
ing his home in the West End he went
across to the great East End, where hu-
mainly swarms and suffers and starves,
fighting hopelessly and futilely the endless
battle for existence. Clothed as a tramp,
he engaged lodgings in an alley lodgings
for single gents" and then, wandering
about the streets, lost his way I'm a fog.
He encountered a number of people, lost
like himself, and finally found himself in
contact with a strange young woman, who
lived in a strange pot-hole of sunken hui
mainly. GLAD" she was called, because
Of the shortening of a fantastic title she
had bestowed upon herself, owing to the
fact that she had been born in the gutter,
of gutter parents, and sent forth into the
world OF poverty without a name or even
a tag Of a number.
.
This girl, precoclous and worldly wise,
was possessed of a strange philosophy,
based on some fragmentary religious
teachings she had received while her
broken legs were mending in a hospital
and had for ats cornerstone, faith in prayer,
She prayed simply to a power of whom
she knew, nothing; AK, and We shall re-
ceive" was her article OF faith, and she
asked. The girls actions aroused the cur
iosity of the man, and then his interest
and before the morning came he, was SO
taken up with a new thought that he for
got all about committing suicide and was
absorbed with a desire to do something
fort the helpless folks he had found in
-ABpit DlhaoDH Couflt WHICH, as BET
one OF the housewifely persons he found
there, sententiously describes as being nc
blooming farm yard" The thought is that
II one will get into touch with the world
and earnestly strive to help with a cheer
full heart, nervous breakdown at least may
be evaded, and that much of the asperltS
Of life will disappear when one once gets
thoroughly imbued with the belief that
the worst amt never happened to us
yet" as Gladys Beverly Montmorency
puts it.
While this message is not at all new
aud has been dinned into our ears by many
voices, It is put in this play in a new
way. and one that is as convincing, per
haps, as any in which II has ever beer
offered. But the greatest element OF IT.
force is the way It is being interpreted
by Miss Robson. A charming comedienne
already established by her success Il
MERELY Mary Ann" and "Sa,omy Jane,
she is more than ever proving the legiti
macy OF her claim to stellar honors. Sh0
was a delight as Merely Mary Ann, an,
aid much to give Salomy Jane interest
but nothing she achieved In either rol
compares to the work she is doing now
1t was not in the possibilities of eithe
part that she should get the big, broa,
human outlines that mark the characte
she is now portrsying. The zangwiIl piec
was but a bit furnished up with tn
happy ending for American consumptio
in the furnishing OF which the autho
very mildly satirized his American friend
because they would not submit to
logical conclusion to his little drama
and the other was but a bit Of poorl