The Alaska citizen., 1912-04-22
Hun1ors

sion on which a woman had been upon ,ho Chinese stage. says writer in ,Hc Sunday Magazine.
 The women sat in the galleries and the men, keeping their hats on. sar downstairs The benches We're without backs. and it was a strange. weird sight from where We were sitting. To look upon this mass of Chiuamen. all wearing soft hats on the back of their heads. and all smoking The remarkable thing was that. although this was an aus- picious occasion (being. as have said, the first time that a woman had ever hesu seen on the Chinese stagel. and all immense crowd had been attracted. The woman herself took no part in the performance except to stand among the people whn were present al the interview between the daughter and her father The Chinese roles are all played by men. and l was given 10 understand that the size of the man and the size of the role are coinCident. If one has a very long role. male or female. there must be a very big man 10 fill ir The man who played the daughter on this occasion looked in his long Chinese yestments. as if he were six feet tall
 had IF yided myself with an interpreter as I wished to know what was supposed 10 be going on, and there is no semblance of human action or motion in acting on the Chinese stage. II is purely tradi- tional; certain movements stand for certain things. An inclination of the head. ,r the manner of delivery of speeches. indicates certain states of mind One has to be brought up on it. in order 10 have any idea of what is being done.
 My guide a small Chinese boy of about 12 years of age. spoke very funny broken English, generously mixed with slang He informed me that the gigantic person in the mid de f the stage was naughty girl" learned. with some surprise, that the love conditions were about rba same as on the stage of all countries. The girl had positively refused to marry the man that Papa wanted her 10 Che was very rich); and was obstinataly determined to marry a poor man. who was a poet. The father was of average height. as his rgle was only an average one The naughty girl" lowered above her father. l. appeared, ac- cording to my interpreter, that her doom was 10 be thrown into the Yangtsekiaug river The procession which accompanied her to her exc cution filed around the stage. As the naughty gil" passed us, she vas grimacing and making all sorts cf motions with head and hands. The boy informed me that she feel bad"
 Presently. a simply dressed person jumped upon the stage, cutting up capers to the accompaniment of a kind of musical instrument. It turn ed out, according to my Chinese boy. that this acrobat sort of per son was the lover. asked him why the fellow was behaving like this. when his sweetheart was on her way to execution. It appears that the traditions of the Chinese stage will not permit anybody to be taken seriously who has violated the parental law. l asked the boy what the lover was saying, and he said that he was telling of his love for this girl in the caste above him, and of all the agony that he was feeling al her being thrown into S according to Chinese ideas; and, therefore, the people in front were taking him as great joke.
 The women were huddled there in heavy seats in the gallery, and had their fans. l looked to see if they were taking it in the same way as the men, and I found that they were giggling quite like these of the sterner sex. The idea of sub mission to parental authority is a religion with them. l asked the boy if they felt bad about the young woman going out to be drowned and he said: No, she must be drowned; she naughty girl" But still there was tragedy in it. They didn't laugh at the woman; they took that part seriCusly-not because she was going to be exc cuted, but because she was defyine her father. The whole drama was based on parental authority.
 After We left the stage to inspect the wardrobe this little twelve-year old chit went with us. The old gen tleman who had charge of the cos tunes looked like a moss growr stone. Upon receiving an arrogan