The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1914-08-17
PROLOGUE. p

Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
Who have faith in God and nature,
Who believe that In all ages
Every human heart Is human,
That in even savage bosoms
There are longings, yearnings' strlVlngs
For the good they comprehend not
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Cropping blindly in the darkness,
Touch Gods right hand in that darkness
And are lifted up and strengthened
Listen 10 our simple story.
With this majestic quotation from
Hiawatha the action of the magnlii-
cent pageant drama, The Bridge of
the Gods" is introduced. The stage
is a bit OF natural forest with a swift
flowing stream in the foreground,
rocks, cliffs, and hills in the back
ground Farther to the rear with the
lake at its feet-in accurate reproduc'
tion in miniature OF the natural noun
tain-stands Mt. Hood, its peak sill
houetted against the sky. About this
mystic mountain clings the romance
which is woven into the drama.
Imposing and realistic scenic effects
and heroic action, rather than spoken.
text, characterize the drama. The
speaking characters being mostly In
dian OF the heroic and sentimental abb
original type, the language throughout
10 characterized by a vigorous terse-
ness-eloquent In It's diction and I'M
pressive in the story told.
"The Bridge OF the Gods" is a dra-
matization of the Indian legend made
immortal by F. II. Balch in his story
Of the same name-one OF the most
popular as well as most realistic ana
thrilling themes In American literature.
A Missionary Scene.
The opening scene shows Puritan
church in 1890, from which the first
missionary is sent TO the Indians, Cecil
GRAY, a young preacher who has seen
a vision Of a natural bridge spanning
a great river in tbe far mountain land
Of the savage Indians and has heard
a call from God to carry the stor"
of the cross to these benighted people.
Scene Shifts to the West.
The real drama begins with the
second scene which shows an Indian
camp on the Columbia river as IL IS
found by Cecil Gray at the end OF his
perilous wanderings in search of the
mysterious natural bridge. He is re-
ceived as a great medicine man from
the Great Spirit, the first white man
even to enter that country.
He learns the story of the bridge
which the Indians call THE Bridge
Of the Gods" The legend of the med
icne men is that so long as the bridge
stands there shall be a powerful fed
Grafton of the tribes of the Wanna
columbia river); that the tribe OF the
Willamettes shall be the chief tribe
and its chief the great chief or all
the tribes. If the anger of the gods
shall destroy the bridge it shall be
a sign of the passing of the rule of
the Willamettes.
The action of the drama In swift
and tragic Wallulah, the daughter
Of the Great Chief Multnomah, meets
Cecil and their mutual love is instan-
taneous and as tragic as the theme
requires. She is the daughter OF an
Asiatic princess who was shipwrecked
on the Oregon shore, discovered by
the Indians and finally taken as wife
BY the great chief. Wallulah has none
OF the Indian characteristics, but her
gentle heart is filled with the senti-
mentality OF the orient tempered with
@ great love for peace and beauty.
Coming Of che White Man.
Her Indian father has betrothed
her 70 the young chief Snoqualme, up
on whom he proposes to confer the
great chieftaincy as his successor,
because he is the bravest and most
cruel Of all the young chiefs OF the
federated tribes.
When her father tells Wallulah OF
his plans and tries to instil into her
heart love of the savage ways she begs
to be permitted to remain at home in
her mothers lodge, pursuing her gen
tie ways of peace, but the stern father
Is unrelenting.
To Wallulah the coming OF the mis-
sionary, Cecil, is the fulfilment OF a
prophecy of her mother, who died
years before the time depicted by the
drama. She tells Cecil that her real
Oriental name means she Who
Watches For the Morning" She de-
fes the efforts OF her father TO make
her q lover of the ways Of the savage
At a meeting of the great council
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