The gold leaf., 1910-10-20
"THE SINS OF THE FATHER. u
Thomas Dixon's New Play Presented
to a Record Breaking Audience In
Henderson-A Stirring Drama Ad-
mirabIy Acted-The Author Appears
on the Stage and Makes an Address.
INTENDED for last week.


to q record breaking audience at the
Grand Theatre Monday night. ltwas
bv odds the largest crowd ever seen
tRere-and ii one is to Judge by the
laughter and applause frequent and
hearty-it was also one OF the best
pleased. Every seat in the house was
sold and then some. People were
| here from all sections OF the county,
and from Warrenton, Oxford, Louis
burg. Franklinton, and elsewhere.
The audience was thoroughly respon-
sive and appreciati7e and the ac-
tors from the beginning found them
selves in sympathetic touch with
parquet and gallery.
About the play opinions differ.
That it has merit is not questioned,
and that it will do good In the direc
ton aimed at By the author may not
be doubted. Ia our judgment it Is
the best play that Mr.. Dixon has
written. 1t is a big question that
the author deals with and he tells an
exciting story, pathetic, tragic, grave
and gay by turns, with less to excite
race prejudice or sectional feeling
than in some of bis other productions.
Complication is piled upon complica-
ton till situations OF tragic inten-
sity are developed. The love of the
young people, the boys incredulity,
the girls revolt at her terrible posi-
ton, the Majors resolve to wipe
out the stain on family honor, af
ford a succession of thrilling scenes.
John J. Pieyson, (Mai. Norton-The
Father Robert Barton, (Tom Nor
ton-His SOM Miss Ethel Wright,
| Helen Winslow-His Ward) Miss
Lydia Knott, (Cleo-An Octoroon-
His Housekeeper) who carry the Sc
rious parts are all capable actors,
while Mrs. Charles G. Craig (Aunt
Minerva-A Study in Black is the
best delineator of the character Of
| the old black nanny, gentle and
philosophic, ever seen here. with
Arthur J. Pickens (Andy A Gentle
man in Brown a close second. Be
| tween them there was no end OF fun
and laughter thrown in at the right
time to relieve the fearful tension.
Mr.. Dixon, the author, was pres
ent and between the second and third
acts he came out on the stage and
| addressed the audience. He said it
gave him peculiar pleasure to get
back to his native State and meet so
many of the friends OF his young
4 manhood and see so many evidences
of progress and prosperity as he did
wherever he had been in North Caro-
lima. He was delighted to come to
Henderson and look into the faces Of
these good people and speak to them.
He was proud of the privilege OF
bringing his play here to let them
Judge of it's merits for themselves.
He was proud of the magnificent re-
ception given it-a tribute which he
appreciated beyond his power to ex-
press in words.
The author spoke Of the parallel
between the history OF ''The Clans
man" five years ago and "The Sins of
the Father" now. In both cases he
said the big and broad minded Nor
folk papers and the Norfolk people
had started the play with a whole
hearted endorsement. In both cases
the Richmond public had proved
equally favorable, but some of the
Richmond critics had taken the con-
trary course. The latter said the
plays were all wrong, that they
should never have been produced,
and indeed that they should have
been consulted before the author
started on his task
Mr. Dixon remarked that despite
the Richmond critics he knew "The
Sins of the Father was all right.
Sweet-faced women in North Carolina
and Virginia cities had come to him
and thanked him for his high moral
lesson. The public had approved it.
The laws OF the States forbidding
intermarriage of whites and blacks
were in line with the teachings of his
play. He knew he was right because
it was the business of the playwright
to hold the mirror up to nature, and
the playwright had the same justifi-
cation for treating these subjects as
the preacher or the teacher. LASTLY,
he knew it was right because it
squared with the teachings of his
own mother. And then he related
the circumstance of how, atxthe age
OF sixteen, when he left home to go
to college, she talked to him as only
a mother can talk to her boy warn
ing him OF the sins and pitfalls of the
world, and told him to be true to
himself and pure and clean in his per-
sonal life and morals. He believed
that every young man and woman
who saw this play would be morally
benefited by it.
Mr.. Dixon declared that "The Sins
of the Father" was not a Southern
but a national play. The scene was
laid In the South and the characters
were Southern characters because all
he knew well came from his native
Southland and originated in the red
clay OF North Carolina. But the
story was national as it applied to
the entire country and was meant as
a warning against the evil of
miscegenation North and South. Mr..
Dixon said he hoped and believed it
would have an effect in securing the
passage in the Northern States Of the
same laws forbidding the intermar-
rlage OF the races as those on the
statute books OF all Southern States.
OF the play itself-the motif and
dramatispersonR-we cannot do bet
ter than to reproduce the following
from the News and Observer:
Early in the first act the dramatist
won the attention and delight OF his
audience with the welldrawn characters
and amusing dialogue OF Andy and
Minerva, than whom no more typical
darkies have been put on the stage
Presently the play took q more serious
strain, and the figure of the father, tragic
and distraught, dominated the scene
, The threads of the plot were not revealed
at once, but the interest was held skill
fully suspended as one disclosure after
another gradually showed the unhappy
web OF fate in which he was bouni.
Ma or Norton was in the midst OF al
! exciting campaign for tie disfranchise