New-York tribune., 1918-07-28


diers would do was one of the big
seconds of modern drama. Again
the author achieved a remarkably
poignant effect at the end of her
play, when the armies, now thor
oughly disillusionized, are marching
Oft to a second war to the same
tunes which blared excitement and
enthusiasm earlier in the play.
The merit of Miss Dix's play lay
in the eloquent expression of deep
passion, hatred of war; There is
no passion in Barrie, but there is
extraordinary sympathy and felicity
of mood and expression. We wish it
were possible to write two lines
upon another about Barrie without
using the word "charm,' but, even
if you close all the doors, it will pop
in through a window like Peter Pan.
The more striking play of the two
is "The New Word" In this Barrie
deals humorously, but altogether
sympathetically, with British reti-
cence. He writes scene in which
father is saying goodby to his son
who is off to the wars. Both want
to part with an expression of af-
fection, and yet both dread it like
the very devil. Barrie is able to
show that the reticence of the Brit
ish, which many of us mistake for
mere swank, is no such thing but an
exaggerated fear of intruding an
emotion upon somebody else. We
rode once in train with four young
English second lieutenants. 1t was
a five-hour journey, and yet the
young soldiers exchanged not sim
gle word. Now, not one of these
subalterns was in the least conscious
of his own Importance. All had
seen service in a war whose casu-
atty lists say "Unless otherwise
specified-second lieutenant" But
each feared to address remark to
any one of his companions for fear
of intruding upon a we'll preserved
privacy.
In "The Old Lady Shows Her
Medals" Barrie told the story of a
charwoman who had no man at the
front and invented one only to have
him come back and confront her
with the false claim. Of course, it
all ended by his adopting the Old
lady as mother, and it is to, her
his medals and mementoes come
when he is killed. This story is
ordinary enough, but it was illu-
mined with rare humor and a skill
full grasp of moods. 1t went at
times just a little deeper than the
usual Barrie soundings. Perhaps
Mr.. Barrie knows that when
child laughs his next reaction is
likely to be tears. At any rate,
Barrie is able to destroy the ball
ance Of his audience by making his
people laugh, and then, when he has
them plastic, he finds no great diff
ficulty in making them cry.
1t is not difficult matter~to make
people in theatre cry. Even cheap
and shoddy expressions of certain
sentiments will suffice while folk
are in the mood, but the author who
captures an audience in that way
must pay a price. When they have
done crying and the curtain is down
and the illusion gone they will hate
him. He has tricked them. But
Barrie has literary as we'll as pure
ly dramatic charm. You may if you
will read the lines which made you
fearful in the theatre and it is prob
able that the decision will be 81 had
a perfect right to cry at that"
Barrie's success in treating the
war dramatically, as exemplifed in
these two little plays, is largely due
to his method Of isolating little sec
tions of it. He does not treat of the
great tendencies of the conflict, but
of it's reaction on small groups.
Obviously this is the only possible
rather than dramatic. In it's larger
aspects it is too vast to be brought
within the walls of theatre. After
all, contest between two men is
more dramatic than battle with a
million on either side, even if it
were possible to portray such a bat
tie.
Curiously enough, many of the
war dramatists have not been con-
tent to take their stories off the bat
tlefeld. A number of plays have in
vaded the trenches. There was, for
instance, "An American Ace" in
which the audience saw troops go
over the top, an air raid and bat
tie in the clouds. Two of the scenes
were mechanically ineffective, but,
as matter of fact, the most real
istic one was the least dramatic.
While it is true that the supporting
artillery was somewhat close to the