Evening star., 1925-12-26
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the Rookfoper.

| modern morality and modern mys
terry play. The prologue. in which
! WISDOM attempts to point out to
Jesus the inevitably tragic end Of the
way lie has chosen, suggests the old
mora lities, and the coarse Of the trial.
ending In the cr,Lcihxion. is akin to
me old mystery plays dealing with
the life md death OF Jesus. The spirit
OF Maseheld's plSy and it's language
are very modern. For example, the
court procedure and phraseolOgy are
hardly those Of 80 AID. When Jesus
is brought before Plate the ONCE of
| prosecuting attorney is taken by
Petronius: Here all OF you. the
governor. Pontius Plate. Procurator
OF Judaea. deputy OF the imperial
power, In here present to give audi
ence. All who have charges TO bring
before the imperial power should here
present them. comma nd you TO keep
silence In the name OF the Emperor.
Pilate: Il declare this place 3 court
OF the imperial power. What charges
do YOU present. Petronius?'
Petronius: The priests send you
prisoner, Lord PLATE. The name Is
given AS Jesus, a builder. Here are
| the dispositions"
| Pilate: This court cannot accept
dispositions from a native court. Is
this the man.
Officer: Yes, my lord"
The conversation OF Herod when he
visits PLATE and his wife, Procula, is
also very modern.
He says Before We sit Wish TO
thank you. PLATE, for your courtesy
| this morning. Your husbs nd Lady
Procula, did very charming thing.
He sent me one Of my subjects. who
had come to be tried before him. 1t
is little thing, perhaps, but il was
| ScEnpuiOus. 1t charmed me. thank
| NdI for that. I'm afraid | should not
| have been SO scrupulous had one OF
me. And. as it happened. had heard
Of this man before. lie is one Of
those heslers. He would not heal be
fore me. He seemed little mad. |
sent him back to YOU. What beca me
OF him."
The character portrayal Is the most
! int terestins feature OF the play. The
character of Jesus is reverently and
somewhat cOnvenlionally treated. He
Is the idea list. the healer, the re
! former, the revoIutionist. ''I bring
no peace but a sword ne SAYS to
PLATE. ADnas. Csiaphas and Zadok
in their conversations show the preju-
dices. the narrowness and the fears
for their own power OF the Jewish
priesthood. PLATE is the same cynt-
cal. rather kindly Roman as in the
Bible narrative, willing TO he merciful
If mercy does not involve too great
danger to Roman authority and pol
icy. His wife. Procula, is, aside fro m
Jesus himself the one idealist in the
play She does her best to persuade
PLATE TO release Jesus.
He il not dangerous man, PLATE,
but good"
PLATE replies: "A man may have
faultless morals and vet be ike Greek
fire 10 his community
shall have him killed whether he SAYS
beautiful things or ugly things. even
II it end the world. That is what |
have sworn to Caesar. There may be
| a higher law than our law
the law that all know when they are
deeply stirred. In love and art and
joy there's a higher law
Herod is diletta nte and ar epicu-
resn. with no feeling for duty, no real
belief. Procula says TO him:
your people believe in God and
hope not TO die at DEATH
He responds: Yes. We actually
pay people to keep these old super
stftions still alive"
| In his conception of the characters
of Bar-Abbas and Judas. Mr.. Mase-
field departs from tradition. Bar
Abbas Is a fanatic patriot and revolu-
ZIONIST. who is condemned for murder
during a pro-Jewish riot. There is a
suggestion that Judas is mentally un-
bs Ia need. He says to Caiaphas and
Annas:
Masters. am not we'll in my
head. am very violent man"
At least. he is q man OF unstab bic
rhn tG eSip al nj o.
10 Jesus until he is revolted by the
ella inn to divinity. when he becomes as
violently hostile. His betrayal OF
Jesus is not prompted by cupidity.
That the greatness of America has
from the beginning been rooted in gold
and the love OF gold is the thesis OF
Sydney and Marjorie Greenbie in
their book, Gold of Ophir; or. The
Lure That Made America" First II
was the gold Of the Indies that led to
the discovery of America, then the
treasures OF China and the isla nds of
the East and Of the sea itself fur
nished the stimulus for the greater
part of the trade of New England for
several generations. 1t was greed on
the part of Great Britain for the
wealth of colonial and West India n
trade which caused the America n
Revolution and resulted in the begin
ming Of the United States AZ an inde-
pendent Nation. Later the lure OF the
fur trade and the desire for more and
drew many settlers from the Alta nti,.
States farther and farther westward.
! With the discovery of gold in Cali.
fornia the westwood movement beca me
q rush. Alaskan gold I'm recent times
tempted the adventurous TO the last
| Western outpost of the continent
Gold" has been represented sometimes
by the precious metal itself, sometimes
by the silk porcelain and lacquer OF
China. sometimes by fish and whale
oil. sometimes by fur. sometimes by
land. but always wealth has been the
object Of the explorations and settle
ments which have made America
great.
Judge Gary. president OF the United
States Steel Corporation. is eulogiZed
as the hero OF the steel industry by
Ida NJ. Tsrbell. former muck-raker
and accuser OF the Standard Oil Com
pany, in her book, The Life of Elbert
n. Gary" Only the business life of
Judge Gary is treated by Miss Tar
bell. OF course. it's climax is the
uniting by Judge Gary, with the help
Of j. p. Morgan. sr., of numerous
large and smal! compan nies dealing
with steel ind it's products into one
gigantic corporation-a billion-dollar
combination. Judge Gary is shown
as a man of the highest ethical bust
ness standards, from his youth to the
present time. AS a young man. mem
Der of a Chicago law Arm. he studied
nights while other lawyers played
poker As Judge he had a reputa-
ton for scrupulous fairness. AS a
! laodAr of bipr husipess he has ALWAYS
stood for frankness and Willingness to