Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-11-02
THE CAST
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE

Deep down in the abysses of the
underworld there RACES a struggle that
| the men and women who live just
above 1t never see or hear. 1t has
been called the struggle for existenC G,
but that but feebly expresses its might
or voices its pathos. Rather is 1t the
battle for life and for the right to live.
And those who wage 1t sometimes
claim that right, and, failing, die I'M
satisfied or live in apathy. The strug-
gle for existence is struggle for
bread, remorseless often and cruel. but
the battle for life is the instructive
human cry for justice, which is echoed
from top to bottom of the social fab
ric. For this, and not the other, at
heart, do men kill and steal and pay
the penalty for the dumb something
within that tells them they are men
and that a share in life should be
theirs. And for this, too, can men re-
nounce and suffer and dare the worst
that fate can give them, even as did
owen Conway in 1.-THE Regeneration. +"
owen Kildare has here unfolded his
own story and he has done 1t with a.
masterful and a beautiful simpl city.
II is the story of a ruffian whose past
was black with crimes, but whose
heart, beneath all, was as open and
receptive as a little child's. Into his
life came a slum worker, a young
woman of culture and refinement. He
saved her from robbery at the hands
of one of his gang" and in gratitude
she agreed to teach him in her set
Element school. The young missionary
Marie Deering-is by no means por-
trayed as an angel in disguise. She
has her faults of method and of vain
glorious aim. In the beginning II is
her personality which attracts Con-
way. In the end IL Is his own soul
which. masters itself.
He learns to read, and then, falter-
ingly, to pray. He quits his old assoc
ciates-with rather too much of the
jaunty air of one who feels himself
superior. For this, too, he must pay
the penalty. He becomes night watch
man at the settlement house. A MUIR
der is committed by a member OF the
old gang-his former rival and enemy.
The panic-stricken slayer fees to the
settlement house for shelter. Conway
and Miss behring's rejected sutton have
been in conversation. The latter has
told Conway the bitter and the lying
tale of caste: that he must leave the
woman who has helped him rise above
his past, lest he win her love unaware.
Conway learns his lesson and acts upon
it, Here is a member of his old crowd
gives it, hiding him in the school room.
A moment later the officer enters in
search. Conway lies, clumsily enough
now, and then, when his benefactor
discovers the truth, recalls her adj
mirer's cruel counsel and tells her he
is going back to his old life. We know
he lies as he says 1t, but she believes
him.
At the last we see the gang in its
final roundup. The police have trapped
them In their familiar haunt. There is
a battle with the detective who has
logged the reformed Conway with a
vulpine cunning recalling that of
Javert in LES Miserables" The gang
gain their enemys weapon and Conway
is about to kill him. Something stops
him. "I can't, boys" he cries. 'It
wouldn't be right"
And then we know why the play is
named "The Regeneration" 1t is truly
O new man who submits to the. clasp
of the handouts at the conclusion and
who goes away TO prison with fiipty
determination to come out and fight
again for the chance at life and its