The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1920-03-17
Anton Lang And.The 1920
Passion-Play

who had seen the Ober-Ammergau
Passion-play were shocked to learn
that Anton Lang, twice the Chrlstus
Of the play, had, despite his poor
health and his unique position OF
almost conaStic isolation" been call
ed to the colors, and become part OF
the German Empires "cannan-fod-
der" This news was contained In
Bavarian dispatches to the Berliner
Tageblatt and was reported by
European correspondents of the
American press. Since Anton Lang
is consumptive and, as Mrs. Ger
trude Atherton noted at the time, lis
no more fitted to serve in the trench
es or in warfare at all than deli
cate woman" rumors of his death
found ready credence. Letters from
the Lang household have now come
through. however, denying that the
Christus in the Passton7play mad
ever been called into service, and re-
porting him alive and still in fair
health. One of our subscribers gives
us the opportunity of reprinting this
personal letter from Mrs. Anton
Lang:
Your letter was the first one
reaching us from the United States
of America tho it took long time
to reach us here. l must beg you
to excuse my long delay in answer
ing it. Alas, dear friend, our life
now in future viii only be work, con-
tinual work, for daily life and food.
We have gone through terrible, sor-
rowful, and trying years, we learned
to know much What hunger is like,
we almost lived with the animals, a
winter only with turnips we shall
never forget. We can get different
things again which we had not seen
for years, but it is also terribly
costly. Still l must tell you first
that your letter has brought great
Joy into our house, for true friend
ship had grown rare thing.
The year 1920 is the year of our
beloved Passion-play, but it will be
impossible to have it; as we scarce
ly have enough food for ourselves,
how could we feed so many out
siders? Besides our railways, en-
gines and cattle are taken from us.
We have no coal, no cloth. You
have no idea how terribly poor We
have become One feels so tired, so
earning drives one to work. We
get and Sc beautiful things again
which had not been known for past
years, but it is too expensive to be
bought.
1--WE have six children now. The
baby is only eight months old. The
three elder ones are away at schools.
Dear little things, it is worth to live
for them!
Thank God, we are pretty we'll
this year, but last autumn we had all
been very i'll for months. My hus-
band has never been away for war
wotk. He was too delivate. The
American papers brought many rum
ors about him. Thank God, they
are not true. We lost seventy-four
men in the village, and have many
cripples here also. Now We are in
great sorrow because several Of our
men are still prisoners with the
French. Life seems so hopelessly
hard for them, and they seem to sut-
fer dreadfully under the separation
this last year, as almost all the
others have come home"
Altho 1920 is the year for the
Passion-play, on the schedule which
has been upfor centuries, it will not
be presented this summer, according
to this letter and according to news
from the BavarIan village, which, as
The Continent notes, has come over
the signature CT Anton Lang. AS
we read in The Continent:
Lang says the villagers have
scarcely enough for their own fam
lilies to eat. and they could not pos
sibly care for visitors, even if the
railroad service Of Bavaria were suf-
f1cient to carry tourists to the place.
The year 1920 will therefore go by
without any observance of ober-
Ammergau's ancient VOW, which has
been kejt in the last year of every
decade for seven hundred years ex-
cept for interruption during the
Thirty Years War, in the sixteenth
century. 1t is indicated in Lang's
letter, however, that tie Ober-Am-
mergau people hope they may pro
duce the play in 1921, and so avoid
dropping oct entirely the number
belonging for The present decade to
-