South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-08-21
UNCLE tom, ETERNAL

a sophisticated critical reporter dropped in to
old Uncle Tom on Saturday. He came back
and said a affair. without
with such Grass expedents and makeshlfts that It
really a shame to write about It.
He was probably right. and qualified himself
thereby a dramatic critic" He joined the big
majority Of those who write about plays and view
:aem from an artistic standpoint
What he overlooked was the fact that this trav-
cling Aggregation Of players who learned the
lines Of play. rugged harder at more hearts than
has any dramatic star who has been in this city
for months.
From the tormost seat in the gallery to the front
some men, and all women and children cried
with poor black slave in his troubles. cried
again at the plaintive Little Eva, Kissed the gaunt
Simon LeEree and laughed the impossible Marks.
The wrong at which this play directed has
been remed.ed for more than a half a century.
wiped out in the most terrible of all wars a
-.hich brothers fought kill each other. a
which threatened democracy when it was put in
the scales against abolition of human slavery.
To the grandfathers Of the generation which
watched this play Saturday the conditions were
matter of common knowledge. Today they
unreal last nights dream, foreign to
DAY life be hardly understandable.
The cause is gone buried in oblivion. but this
play lives today and draws to theaters and tents
more people than any other offering Of the stage
The young right when he said that the
acting was terrible. Any member of the company
could probably collect damages if called actor.
The tawdry settings the bold defiance of present
stage traditions misled our sophisticated reporter
as they have mised many another who fails to
look beneath the surface-and he is good req ort-
err at that.
What he failed to see was the eternity of human
sympathy the ever perpetual fount of human
Kindness in the human heart which rises the
call Of human suffering and makes the whole
world kin.
He went to drama and instead was offered
a shameless undraping of souls.
He listened to the words of actors and missed
the message Of the audience.
rs long as men and women weep for the suffer
iags Of old Uncle Tom symbol Of the wrongs Of
another age. there is hope for the world for
the land.
For better than anything else it shows the last
ing and firm foundation of civilization that rests
upon a bond Of brotherhood and rebellion against
wrong. upon faith and trust in the victory and
triumph of right, upon hope of relief from all
oppression
Human slavery has gone The lash of the slave
driver cracks no more. No pleading Twas lift
their hands in prayer FOR race in bondage.
other problems face the world. Some Of them
arc tragedies The men and the who
weep over the woes forgotten for a century can be
depended upon to rush TO the rescue Of those who
today need defenders. protectors or. what more
real friends
It was a terrible show. show. But if you
saw it, be glad that you were able to suppress the
laugh at the very badness of the acting and did
what nine-tenths of those two large audiences did
weep once more with Uncle Tom, eternal symbol
Of oppression.