The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1913-09-25
THE TRA|L.OF THE
LONESOME PINE ;

There is a weird and poetic fascina-
tion about the very name of John
Fox, Jr's, novel, "The Trail of the
Lonesome Pine which is the attrac-
tion at the Nixon opera house Thurs
day, October 2.
lie belongs to the class with such
felicitous titles as "Ships That Pass
in the Night and others. But this
fascination goes farther than the
name, it pervades the singularly ro-
mantle and atmospheric scenes, char
acters and episodes of the story itself.
Eugene Walter. in constructing his
play upon the novel, has lost sight of
none of these details which constitute
its great realism. He has preserved
intact the picture of the life led by
those strange people of the mountains
OF east Tennessee, people whose
character is an incongruous mixture
of clannish family pride, ancestral
honor, crude ethics, ignorance and
superstition. The latter is not of the
fetish type; it is poetic, picturesquely
imaginative, the kind that peoples
the coves with fairies, and that hears
voices, sometimes the voices of the
departed in the signing of the pine
trees. To these simple minded people
the "wind flowers" are the blossoms
which spring from the spots where the
fairies have shed their tears.
From the life of these Cumberland
mountain people, characters true to
life have been taken, locale of typi.
cal interest chosen and drama
through the book woven that is natur-
al in its plot, highly romantic in its
love story and weirdly beautiful in
its setting. The vernaeular common
to the region described speaks elo-
quently through the crude pathos
and stirring realism with which each
and every character is invested. The
vernaeular is very removed from that
of the drawing room and the seats
of culture; but it is strangely elo-
quent and tells the tragedy of the
hearts and souls of those rough people
with strength of appeal that is all
its own.
Charlotte Walker will appear as
June, the motherless, neglected, saw
age child of the mountains. whose in
born cravings to be better than she is.
to know more of the ways of the "for
eigners" who live beyond her loved
mountains, receives an impetus in an
awakened love for one of these very
foreigners himself, who comes from
the east with company of men to
establish law and order among her
people.
The story is an appealing one and
everyone, who has read the book. will
surely wish to see, Miss Walker in the
role of June, for sweet is the character
of the book. In fact it is this love
story that makes the mountains strong,
that makes the stream bright and
sparkling and brings joy to hearts of
the stolid mountaineers. The story is
based on the love of simple, almost
ignorant, mountain lass for an engi-
neer, who comes from the big city to
survey her fathers land. The first
act closes with June, the little bare
foot mountain girl on her way to
school. In the second act she learns
that Jack is not thinking seriously of
a marriage she believed to be newt
able, and returns to the mountains.
The third act thrills with the love
story of June and Jack and the sup
preston of the feud, ending in the re-
union and marriage in the last act.
Klaw e. Erlanger have given the
play magnificent production, the
mountain scenery being especially
beautiful Miss Walker is supported
by the original company, including
w. $. Hart, George Woodward, VIII
lard Robertson, George Bancroft, Lii
liam Dix, Cyrus d. Wood and others.