Newark post., 1920-01-07
CAPTAIN McTAVISH
AND MACBETH
Representing the Scotch High
landers He Asks Educa-
tors to Bar Play


thing to find Scots worrying about
the good or i'll repute of their an
cestors. There was a time when
the proudest of all kirkland chiefs
in spite of the English attempt
to suppress the very name of his
kin-could boast :-''Where the
MacGregor sits is the head of the
tablet" Was he ashamed Of the
feuds, the mysterious disappear
ances, the cattle-driving and all
the other moving incidents that
marked the wild history of Clan
Alpin? Not at all. The very slo-
gan of the brood, ard choille,"
innocent in meaning as it is sug-
gests forays and raids battle murd-
er and sudden death, and then the
family with its back to the wall
ready to resist to the last. Was
not Rob Roy himself what they
would call a "rustler" in our West?
It is true he became a reformed
character toward the end, but he
was more inspiring in his unre-
generate condition.
All this is apropos of the startl-
ing fact that Captain Ian Nc
Tayish, representing the Gordon
Highlanders of this city, veterans
of the great war, has called on the
Board of Education to bar the play
Macbeth" from the public schools
on the ground that that usurper
of the throne Of Duncan was a
real person, and that, therefore,
Shakespeare had no right to repre-
sent him as a murderer and low
character"
A Glow charatcer"! The hus-
band of the woman who, as an
actable character, satisfied even
Mrs. Siddons herself a low char
acter! This is too much. Macbeth
may have been infirm of purpose,
but the sometime Thane of Glamis
and CaWdor is one Of the most hu-
man personages in the EIiZabethan
drama. In this play more than any
other Shakespeare reaches the
fataIistic heights in which Sopho-
cles and Euripides abode with the
heroes and heroines Of Greek
tragedy.
Still let US not forget that the
Scot, transplanted from his native
health to another land, tends, like
persons Of other races, to lose the
salt and SAVIOR Of his original
character; to become touchy, seri-
our, suspicious and rather ridicu.
lous. If anybody suggests that his
men are not the bravesC and his
women the fairest and best in the
world he is ready for a fight al
the drop of hat.
Burns in Holy Willie's Prayer
painted the most wonderful por
trait imaginable of the occasiona
combination of piety and roguery
in his countrymen, yet his poem!
are the Second Bible" of Caledon
ia, stern and wild. In the same
way DR.. Swift could satirize thu
land of his birth, yet was the lido
of the Irish even when he wa!
giving them less welcome advice
than to burn everything English
except the COAL"
What is the explanation of tht
inconsistency? 1t may be that, il
the case of the Scots, race en-
dowed with a form of humor tina
burns like a hard, bright flame
those who go abroad have beer
changed by the spirit of Standard
Zation and want to be like neigh
bors. Or, again, it is possible tina
they have reached the condition 0.
the man who is willing to take I
joke if it is made by a kinsmal
but not by an outsider.
Our advice to Catpain McTavisl
and his Gordons is that they reat
Macbeth" again, carefully ant
prayerfully, and thing it over
What would Scotland be but 70
her past? And her past lives fo
what it was-romantic, fierce, tur
bulent, but always interesting
a time when men did and spare
not.-NeW York Herald.