The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1916-08-29
AT THE IMPERIAL
MARGUERITE CLARK IN THE
CRUCIBLE" WEDNESDAY
NIGHT.

In the powerful and heart gripping
drama of The Crucible," by Mark
Lee Luther, the portrayal of a souls
ordeal i'm the melting pot of suffer
ing, from which fiery furnace it
energies unscatheG and strengthened
by its agonies, Marguerite Clark
plays the part of little Jean Fan
shaw, at first hoyden and tomboy.
unjustly condemned to a reforma-
tory. who later triumphs over the
shame of her Imprisonment and the
sordid corruptness of her environ
ment. returning good for evil to
those who worked havoc with her
life.
Jean Fanshaw is brought up by
her father as nearly like a boy as
possible, with the result that, when
he dies, her mother and sister. quite
primly different from the high spirit
ed, sincere and prankish Jean. mis-
understand and dislike her thorough
ly and i'll treat her accordingly. Her
sister, Amelia. a sedate and self
righteous girl, magnifies all jeans
tempers and eccentricities until Mrs.
Fanshaw believes Jean to be a per
feet fiend and causes friends and
neighbors to think the same. One
day, at a picnic, a playful trick of
Jeans enrages her mother and sis
ter, and when they arrive home
Amelia nags and DULLES Jean till she
catches up a sickle in a spirit of mis-
chief, threatening to defend herself
with IL ~ nAnaGGnR y AN4al1n alarm
ed, throws her hand up with a quick
motion and cut herself ON the sickle.
She runs screaming to her mother,
declaring that Jean has attacked her.
This her mother believes, and joins
her outcries to Amelia's. The on
stable and neighbors run in, and
eventually Jean is sentenced to the
reformatory, where the riff-raff OF
the town and state are collected, and
among them Stella Wilkes. a noto-
rious girl of the village. who is one
of the first TO welcome Jean to the
house OF refuge. AT first, the re-
fined and sensitive Jean is over
whelmed by the disgrace of her inn
prisonment, and crushed by her sor-
did environment, but gradually her
strength of character asserts itself.
She determines to escape from the
reformatory and succeeding. meets in
the woods. Craig Atwood, a young
artist. who. learning her sad story.
advises her to go back and serve out
her term, so that she may avoid all
danger OF being recaptured. Jean
sees the wisdom of his advice, and
that il is the nobler part. She re-
turns to the refuge, and later in a
riot among the girls, led by Stella
Wilkes. saves the matron from as
sault and wins her pardon. Not be
ing wanted at home by her proud
mother and her sister Amelia, now
married, she goes to the city and OBJ
tains employment. only to be hound
ed from her position and shamed ev-
erywhere by the vengeful Stella
Wilkes, who has sworn TO get
even" Almost at the brink OF des-
pair, she again meets the artist of
her adventure In the woods, and aft
er a hasty wooing, she promises to
become his wife. How the cup of
happiness is snatehed from her lips,
how the shadow of the reformatory
again looms over her, how she heaps
Goals of fire upon her weak sisters
head, saving Amelia's home, and how
she regains her own love, and Is re-
warded for her long struggle against
evil and despair. are vividly unsolded
in this unusually strong photoplay.