The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-02-12
~ ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.


MIR. william Dudley Foulke has re-
Gently put out, through the Cosmopoli.
tan Press. OF New York, poetic ver-
sion of his story of Maya" published
some years ago, the former
being intended for dramatic presenta-
ton as well as for the library.
The poem il in dramatic form and
tens an absorbing story whose action
revolves about PEDRO de Sandoval."
the survivor Of q crew of Spaniards
who have been wrecked on the shore
Of Yucatan. at a period Immediately
preceding and following the Spanish
invasion OF that peninsula. and
Maya" the daughter of King Ahpu-
L." who, with her attendant maidens,
finds Sandoval in a cave where he has
taken refuge and where her entour-
age has repaired to battle in q pool in
cluded in the caves mise en- scene.
The maidens, thinking Sandoval god.
from his fair hair and blue eyes, re-:
tire in some trepidation, leaving Maya
to q personal encounter with the in
truder.
Maya, who falls in love with the
supposed god on the spot and who Is
q young woman of remarkable pres
ence Of mind and exceedingly ingenious
in explanation, suggests that Sando-
val pretend himself a god. that she
will support him in this role-since
her people have a tradition to the ef-
feet that their ancient prestige will be
restored by some celestial being-and
outlined" a program OF procedure
which proved enormously successful
and which eliminated in her union
with Sandoval.
That ladies" in Yucatan could lie
quite as glibly as their modern sis
tiers is seen in the airy fabrication of
the princess when her attendants re-
turned and found her alone
did he not harm thee? Whittier has
he gomez" asks one.
Says Maya-who has concealed her
god behind some convenient vines
"Fairest of gods he was, and harmed
me not.
When flowers for sacrifice vowed. he
smiled
And glided DER the water to my side,
Then rose from the deep pool in the
thin air
Through the caves mouth and float
ed up to heaven"
Which certainly should make her
star performer In a certain club or
ganized by . famous friend Of the au-
thor's.
The story races on to a tragic eli.
max with an anti.climax which pos
sess a mystic quality and holds the at
tention to the end.
It's blank verse form is felicitous
and its theatric appeal pointed, and.
II of a less serious character, might
be thought to have been written on the
plan of q comic opera-with book and
lyrics. But this is by the way.
The finale is somewhat fatalistic-
THUS we stretch forth our hands. Is
it for fame?
Fame vanishes. Or power? For pow
er Is broken.
Or treasures which the moth and rust
corrupt?
Or Is it love? For pitiless death hides
love
Within the tomb. We know not We
are borne
Hitler and thither and with out
stretched hands
Cry to the winds, and who shall ans
wer u.s."
A charming conceit, denominated
Blue Pond" and written in dramatic
form, was put out at Christmas time
by Miss Hettie Elliott, of this city, for
! private circulation among her friends.
Although not SO stated, the reader
inclines to the belief that the setting
of BLUE Pond" might be in the
region of Bulls woods and the de-
lightful region back of Earlham, but
, be that as it may, the conversations
held by q Faun. Dryad. and various
of our rapidly disappearing wild flow
ers call attention to the demolition Of
trees and flowers in that vicinity.
Miss Elliott, in the conversation be-
tween the flowers, shows her know.
ledge of their habits" and also of the
less known varieties natural to this en-.
viron. emphasizing the fact that, un.
less some sort Of conservation plan is
formulated by Earlham Cemetery as
ISOLATION and the college, many of
these flowers, to be found only in this
region, including purple fringed orchis,
arrowhead, monks head, dodder and
. blue fringed gentian. will be eliminat-
ed from the floral repertoire of this
part of Wayne county.
Why the cemetery association, in
taking over a goodly portion of this
locality, should have felled great oaks
| which had grown for two hundred
years and cut down wild crab-apple
trees not matched in this section, Ia
one of the barbarities for which there
| is no explanation or excuse, since the
| land was taken in for decorative pur-
poses for the present.