The New York herald., 1922-12-11
Barrte ON the shelf.

S> Barrte ON the shelf.
Christmas present than a set of the
Barrie plays which. with the recent
addition OF Dear Brutus." has now
reached the dignity of eight volumes.
OF the longer works you can now read
these:
Quality Street. -
The Admirable Crichton.
Alice-Sit-by y-the.Fire.
What Every Woman Knows.
Kiss for Cinderella.
Dear BriNus.
Then there are the two collections
or shorter pieces, Half Hours"
which contains the matchless Twelve
Pound Look and Echoes OF the
War wherein you can find once
more that ineffably pathetic play OF
1917 memory--"The Old Lady Shows
Her Medals"
Dear Brutus," which we have seen
only in London with ali enchanting
slip of girl named Faith Cell play
ing the part which launched Helen
Hayes in New York. would be worth
the reading if it were only for the
faint, we'll remembered fragrance of
that scene in the Forest of the Sec
ond Chance--that fragile scene where
in Dearth, as he paints by moon
light, chatters vaguely away with the
little daughter he might have had.
Here's just glimpse at it:
Margaret-Daddy. what is n
ght-have- been?
Dearth--A might-have-been? They
are ghosts, Margaret. dare say
might have been" a swell Of a
painter instead OF just this uncom-
monty, happy nobody. or again.
might have been a worthless idle
waster OF a fellow.
Margaret tLdu0hino) youi
Dearth---Who knows? Some little
kink in me might have sent me of on
the wrong road. And that poor soul
l might so easily have been might
have had no Margaret My word.
I'm sorry for him.
Margarct---So am T. (She con-
ceives yunny picture.) The poor.
old Daddy. wandering about the
world without me!
Dearth--And there are other
might ave-beens'--lovely ones. but
Intangible. Shades, Margaret. made
oil SAD folks thoughts.
Margaret digging abowt) I'm so
glad l am not a shade. How awful
II would be. Daddy, to wake up and
find one wasn't alive!
Dearth-tt would, dear.
Margaret--Daddy. wouldn't il be
awful, l think men need daughters.
Dearth--They do.
Marga ret---Especially artists.
Dearth-Yes. especially artists.
ATargaret-Especially artists.
Dearth--Especially artists,
Margaret-horcrin1 herself toith
Iearos and Kicking them on Fame
In not everything.
Dearth-- Fame is rot daughters
are the thing.
Margaret-Daughters are the
thing.
Dearth---Daughters are the thing.
j. Margaret--1 wonder If sons would
he even nicer?
Dearth--Not patch on daughters.
The awful thing about a son is that
never never--st least from the day
he goes to school--can you tell him
that you rather like hinb BY the
time he is ten you can't even take
him on you're knee. Sons are not
worth having. Margaret. Signed. w.
Dearth.
Then. OF course, the published text
of Dear Brutus' is all a-bustle with
the little parenthetical touches which
Barrie imparts 10 any text of his be-
fore he sends it to the printers. The
scripts he prepares for the players
are canny. theaterwise and severe in
their instructions for the playing of
them. The unpublished manuscript OF
Peter Pan" for instance, is a very
maze OF minute directions, and to re-
capture your memories of MAT i'm
mortal comedy YOU must wade
through such parentheses as this:
The craft is now down l.. in river.
Since xes to Il. c. Hook to G. Black-
man, Coolxson and Cecco work raft
Off l.. Z. then come back. Cecco