The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-01
HAVE BABIES THE RIGHT
 TO BE BORN RIGHT?
THIS IS THE THEME OF MAR GARET ILLINGTON'S NEW PLAY
 'KINDLING" AND HER ROLE OF MAGGIE SCHULTZ, INTERPRET
 ED WITH WONDERFUL GENIUS.

Somebody has described genius as infinite industry, but genius might be described as the power of making others see the truth.
 This power, in the domain of the drama, is given to Margaret Ellington, who, Wednesday evening at The Park, appeared as Maggie Schultz, in kin ding" A most unlikely role 1t would appear, and a most unlikely play. But the worst is yet to come. Kindl1ng' shows but one scene, a-sordid East Side tenement, it's plaster failing, its furniture mean, it's whole atmosphere reeking with the poverty of the very poor. The characters do not wear fine clothing, or if they do they are dis agreeable. with one exception.
 Maggie Schultz has not the grace of beauty. She has in fact no graces. She is simply a plain, slow, not too brilliant woman, such as one may see or any street where dwell the, poor of a great city.
 There is scarcely a gad moment in the play. It begins in heavy sorrow, it ends in heavy anguish, dispeiled by the moment of happiness that at the end removes it from the realm of trag- edy.
 One character Is a thief. Another is washerwoman. Another Is workman. without a dollar, out on strike Another is a plain clothes cop, the tip of whose nose is slightly red. Another is a grinding real es-' tate agent. So it goes.
 What say you. good people, who be- lieve the theatre onl y place Of amusement, and that things that amuse must be fluffy as swansdown and light as ballet dancers pose?
 Could this play "go"?
 Wrong again. friends. No play that has come to Brid geport this season has made a bigger hit.
 In the second act the curtain went up six times, responsive to the de- mand of a sympa thetic audience in frenzy of noble applause. Tears drip ped like rain from the eyes of the women, and the men sniffled suspic- lousy.
 longs to the uplift. Its special theme is the modern slaughter of the innocents It shows the relation be- tween environment, modern industrial conditions and the lives of infants. It is the report of the Connecticut State Board of Health on infant mortality, translated into the lofty language of the Christian soul.
 Maggie Schultz is about to bring in to the world a little one. The block is full of babies: fragile thinps, whose lungs lack oxygen, whose stomachs lack wholesome milk.
 The doctor from a neighboring set clement tells Maggie of the unftness of such a dwelling for children. They are born there to die. One Is then dying.
 Maggie hears of the homestead law, of the chance for land and good air. She would give her baby "a chance to be born right" She secures underpaid employment in a wealthy family, and steals a few dollars.
 Her husband learns the truth. De- lection follows. Her arrest is threat ened.
 "I want you to be a good girl, Mag gie,'' says somebody.
 ''I know what it means to be good, I wanted to be right" she replies.
 So, we'll fed ladies and gentlemen, we are face to face with the terrible risk that comes to those who go to see uplift pays.
 Which upon the books of the record ing angel is the greater sinner, he who assists in maintaining conditions that mean death or i'll health to myriads of babiss, or the mother who steals to give her baby chance?
 Those who are in doubt would bet ter seee Margaret Ellington in "Kin- dling.'' Those who accept this advice will have to think and think hard, which may hurt. but in compensation they will, for an hour or two, be lift ed out of themselves by the genius of Margaret Ellington and the talents of her excellent company.
 But "Kindling' is not for those who believe that the high kick is the last word in drama.