Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-01-01


Hal season was the appearances at
the Brandeis OF Mr., Robert
Iqy Edeson in play Of HIS own
making, Mr., Edeson has had
NS much trouble in securing a sat-
tsfaetory play, and finally, when no other
course seemed open, he made one for him
self. And ne made a good one He does
not contend that II Is q masterpiece OF
dramatic construction, nor that II marks
an epoch in American play writing Speak
ing OF II while here. he said; III l were
70 lay this play away tonight II would be
with Affection would put 1t into a spe-
eial cover, for It has taught me much"
What the play abounds in, and what
makes II valuable, Is its intensely human
aspect Here and there this has been over
looked apparently, In the effort to pre-
serve some Of the literary value OF the
book from which II was borrowed. But
these lapses from drama to pure litera-
ture are not such az prove especially OBJ
jectionable and detraot so slightly from
itH acting value that they may well be set
down a. negligible.
As a sociological and psychological study,
the play has much to commend II. In this
regard It is far and away beyond Strong
heart" The Indian in Where the Trail
Divides" is not surrounded by any Of the
glamour that gives a halo OF radiance TO
so-an-ga-ta'ha, Ma-ws-ehu-sa ia on his
native heath, surrounded by those things
he has always been familiar with. and un-
supported by false sympathy that is
engendered by his presence in unnatural
environment He has made good" as an
Indian. and stands on his own footing
His love for Bess Lander is as natural to
him as bis breath, Waits, picked up after
the wave OF massacre and rapine had swept
over a frontier farmstead. thay grew up
side by side, knowing only the Joys of in
innate eQmpanionship and pothing OF the
big world and lts complexities And the
Indian shows this an through his course
One OF the most persistent traits OF the
Indian character Is that he moves In direct
lines His impulses are along the line OF
the shortest distance between two points
and the white mans tortpous philosophy
and diaphapous sophistry are unknown 70
him. II he has ever praetlced diplomacy
It has been IN rare irstRncesi he has sell
dom been accused OF dupuety, and his So
called ueaohery Is usually but the mani
festation OF his nebulous notion OF strategy.
lie Is set down as liar because he lies
Just as a child Ges, unknoWingiy, His sim
plleity Is the mere remarked because lac Is
q savage brought Into juxtaposluon with
the highest proJrct Of enlightened clvilza-
ton and suffering by comparison there
with. Whether Mr. Edeson had given this
phase Of the Ind,eps character serious
consideration does not enter into the argu-
msnt Il is enough 10 know that he makes
II very apparent in his presentation OF
the part OF How Landor. struggling with a
problem that would nave wrecked the mind
OF one less elementary in his emotions
-
10 It was but natural that How Lander
should look forward TO marriage with Bess
Lander. and that she should. for the time
AZ least have completely acuuiesced IN the
program her adopted uncle had mapped
out for her, Nor Is there anything IN the
play 20 give one the idea that under con-
tlnQing conditions the marriage would not
proved happy. But the presentation OF the
eternal triangle" changed the flow Of
events, and with the appeRTsaCs OF the
young man from the east a new train OF
thought sprang up In Bess Landor's mind
She learned a little. a very little, about
the big world outside OF the indian country,
and she loREsd for more. Here Is where
How LandOr's simplicity wrecked his hap
piness, He did not know anything about
the world outside the reservation. and 50
could not understand the longinss 81 the
Girl's heart for the larger and more attrac-
tive things Of life II he had known-but
he didn't, and so that line OF argument
may b abandoned. What he did do was