The National tribune., 1910-02-17

farmyard can understand, perhaps
what prompted the famous French
playwright, Rostand, to write hi;
"Chanticler." 1T is as good as a play,
we say, as we stand among these feath
cred folk, laughing at the antics of the
cock strutting about, proud and bold as
Lucifer, moving his head constantly to
note the effect of his presence, his
beady little eyes taking in the whole
situation. With his entrance on the
scene trouble usually begins, and the
whole gamut of human emotions is run
thru as the result of his high-handed
methods. Rostand showed a bold spirit,
indeed, when he ventured to Write a
play without a human being in it, de-
pending upon the novelty of the idea
and the beauty of his verse for success.
The play has just been brought out In
Paris and is a brilliant triumph for him.
No human character appears in the
cast Fowls birds and animals are the
dramtis personae, and as these parts
are taken by men and women gotten
up to represent these, an attempt has
been made to preserve the Verities by
making everything on the stage propor-
tionately large. A wooden shoe which
is shown lying on the ground in the
first act, as if dropped there by the
farmers wife, is of the size it would
look to a chicken, and an old chair has
legs eight yards high. The play is in
four acts and wonderfully staged. The
first represents a typical barnyard, with
a mountainous pile of manure on one
side, etc.; the second shows the upper
branches of a giant pine, blasted by
the rage of the elements, among which
are perched these human-siZed birds;
the third is a garden scene, where the
heroine of the play, the lovely guinea
hen with whom Chantecler, cock, is
in love) holds a reception, and the
fourth the depth of the forest, with the
moon shining on giant toadstools, on
rabbits peeping from their holes, frogs
jumping from a pool and nightingales
chanting to the stars. The plot of the
play briefly stated, is this: Chantecler,
like many human, has magnified his
Importance. He imagines that he con-
trolls the sun which rises at the end of
night because he has crowed. The
birds and fowls are jealous of him and
desire his death, which they plot to
bring about Even beautiful Guinea
Hen, his sweetheart, feels herself sec
ond in his affections to the God of Day.
and determines to revenge herself by
proving TO him that the suns rising has
nothing to do with his growing. In the
moonlit forest she beguiles the hours
away by loves arts and destinations (as
her sex have ever done), until, 10! the
day appears, and the suns rays CLINT
thru the trees, and poor Chantecier,
realizing that he has had no hand Cor
no throat whatever in all this, is rude
ly awakened from his dream. as many
O human has been and Will be till the
end of time. Crushed and humbled, he
turns to leave her who has tricked him,
and meets the dog Ghe moralizer of
the play, who is his friend, and who
thinks the situation may yet be saved il
Chantecler begins his loud growing at
once and returns to the barnyard doing
so. The cock acts on his friendly ad-
vice, the Guinea Hen is caught in
trap as she is about to fly from the
woods, and the curtain falls on the
triumphant growing of Chantecler,
heard in the distance on his way to the
farmyard. The whole thing Is pro-
nounced quite thrilling" and the verse
more brilliant even than tCyrano." Mr..
Charles F'rohman says he intends to
present the play in this country next
year, but It is feared that the delicate
French flavor will be lost in the trans
lation, and aside from the novelty of
the subject the play have very little
interest for an English-speaking audi
snce.
In connection with the Memorial Day
address to be delivered before the MEM
bers of Harvard University and Grand
Army veterans, the Harvard Bulletin,
published by the Alumni Association,
in an editorial, cherishes the hope that
the day is not far distant when marble
tablets in Memorial Hall will show the
names of the Harvard men who went
into the Confederate army and lost their
lives there alongside those of Union
Harvard men. Col. y. P. Hallowell, of |
the class of '61, splendid Union SOL
der, who has been selected to intro
duce the orator of the occasion, a Con-
federate Harvard man, enters a vigor-
Gus protest to this, and says: so long,
then, as there is a distinction between
principles of liberty and slavery, may
to the Confederate dead be
erected on Southern, not Northern, soil;
and may this Memorial Hall stand for
those Harvard men who fought for lib
erty, and not those who fought for
slavery"
Speaking of Spring hats, the disturb
ing news is abroad that the women who
make the straw and braid foundations
for the enhancing creations of flowers,
ribbon, lace, etc, which fill our souls
with delight and envy as we pass the
milliners' windows, are to strike unless
they have higher wages; which, in cold
blood, means unless they succeed that
we will have no hats at all to wear this
Spring except our Ieft-overs from last
year. And a MIR. Walter Wittig. a
Maryland legislator, is also terribly
wrought up over this hat question, but
not quite in this way. He just can't
and won't stand our big hats any long
er, and Is trying to get bill thru the
Maryland Legislature which provides
that any woman who appears on the
streets or in any public place wearing
a hat larger than 10 inches in diameter,
or any woman who keeps her hat on In
a place of entertainment, shall be sent
to prison for three months or fined
800. Not content with this, Mr.. Wit
tig is considering adding a section to
his bill providing that no woman shall
use hatpin longer than eight inches,
and that after il has been adjusted its
point shall be protected by button or
ball. Mr.. Wittig may pay his bills
promptly and be a good church worker:
he may sit up late nights studying how
he can best improve things in this
topsy-turvy world, but he had better
let women's clothes alone, because he
has tackled more than he can handle
when he tackles that subject.
Mrs. Russell Sage has been travelling
across the country TO the Pacific Coast