The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-13
THE HAPPY ENDING''

Brander Matthews, in The North Amer
 ican Review.
 7 S IT true that we like tragedies
 II with happy endings? If it is true, 0 we are no worse off than the Eng 1isb in the time of Shakespeare the French in the time of Corneiile anu III that of Hugo. the Greeks in the tune of Euripides But is it true?
 If might be urged in our defence that we do not in the least object to the aaatb If inc hero and the heroine Cor both together) in the music-or am . : and if must be admitted that at least ih sar;oux opera a tragic ending IS not orlx aeceptable but is actually ex- nacted It might be pointed out that th. final death of the heroine nas never in any way interferred with the in, ,mense popularity of host or star ,,.vx .Adrienne Lecouvreur. the ..rha Dame aux Camelias" Frou- froun .~rheodora" and La Tosca.' It might be permissible to record that the death of Syrano de Bergerac-a fatai examination not inherent in the theme }of that heroic comedy and in fact ratner ;rconeruous-did not dampen the pleas ure of the American playgoer
 These things must be taken Tor wna' thev are worth; and perhaps they are not really pertinent to our immediate ;rouiry. since opera Is a very special form of the dramatic art making an anneal of it's own within aroitrary limits. and since a star-play IS relisnec hv the majority largely as venicie TOT tha exhibition of the histrionic yer
 +;,;tv If the star herself or himsclf,- q last dying speech and confession al fording the performer an excellent op- rortunity for the display of his or her virtuosity.
 We must go behind Mrs. Wharton's rather too sweeping accusation and center attention on single point American playgoers of today enjoy and nupelv enjoy seeing on the ftage .tories which are narrowing. which deal liberaIly with life and death, and which after all end happily, sending us home consoled and reassured. But this is true of the playgoers of other lands in other times: and the real question is whether we refuse to accept the tragic end | when this-is ordained by all that has gone before.-when it is fate not to | be escaped. In other words. have we the intellectual honesty which shal 1 compel us to accept George Eliot's stern declaration that consequences are un' pitying?'
 l Thus put, the question is not easy tc answer. For myself I am inclined te think that when we are at liberty te choose between the happy and the un. 1 happy ending, when one or the othei 1 is not imposed upon us by the actior or by the atmosphere of the story se' I before us we tend to prefer con | clusion which dismsses the here ane l the heroine to vague future felicity But am inclined also to believe tha1 1 we do not shrink from the bitteres 1 end if that impresses us as inevitable and inexorab1e. if this bitter end has
 been foreordained from the beginninf of time. if the author has been skill ful enough and sincere enough to mak'
 us feel that his tragedy could not pos sibly have any other than a tragic ter imitation.
 In The Second Mrs. Tanqueray" thu 1 fatal ending is obligatory; it grows ou of the nature of things; and the pia, has established itself In "Mid-Chan ner' there is no way out of the diff
 culty in which the heroine has en