The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 18, 1901, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 1901. d._.—————————-————'x‘ ' DRAMATIC VALUE OF THE DIVINE STORY APPEARS TO BE RECOGNIZED. BY GUISARD. I ! - < CLEVER ACTRESS WHO WILL AP- PEAR IN NEW SCRIPTURAL PLAY AT THE CENTRAL. HE play scriptural is the thing just now and California is very | much to the fore in the matter. | Almost simultaneously three im- | PO 1t religious dramas will h(“ Chicago, New York and San | The time set for their produc- | beginning of September, and | are Stephen Phillips’ “Herod,” | to be given by Richard Mansfield in Chi- M. Greene's Passion Play to be produced by W. rork, and A Voice From the a new play by Edward | Eisner, that will be put on here by Be- | Jaseo & Thall at the Central Theater. It were an interesting speculation to | follow out the causes that have led to the | above curious coincidence, the simultane- ous recognition of the dramatic value of the @ivine story by three so different dramatists as Phillips, Greene and Els- ner. It comes curiously, for instance, after 2 queer blaphemy of George Moore’s in “A Drama in Muslin,” where he makes the Novelist Hardjng say: The world has lived through Christianity, as + has through a score of other things, and Bes hem, Nazareth and the Dove have al- ready been bequeathed to the vaudevillists of | the future, | produced ir Francisco Clay areth N Not to inuate for a moment that the above playwriting trio suggest vaudevil- | lism in the smallest degree, but the coin- | cidence is at least sufficiently singular that they shall have simultaneously an- nexed the said properties for theatrical purposes. Another viewpoint, one almost beautiful enough to be true, is that a spiritual re- vival is taking place among the drama- tists, foreshadowing perhaps a develop- ment of the dramatic art akin to those of the ereat periods of painting and sculp- ture, whose inspiration has always been of that kind, for Phidias, in his miracles of cculptured beauty, was no less truly divinely inspired than gentle Raphael or Rubens. Perhaps the time has come for a like uplifting of the art dramatic, for the long-looked-for “elevation of the stage.” But we shall see, and meantime three religious plays are upon us. 8w Edward Elsner, author of “A Voice From the Wilderness,” is not unknown to | He is author of one of the versions der Two Flags,” “Francesca da | Rimini” and a dramatization of “The Story of an African Farm” that Olga Nethersole produces this season in New | York. “A Voice From the Wilderness"” concerns itself with the story of John the Baptist and follows closely the Biblical record, with one important exception. Herodias is made to become enamored of John—a sort of gospel_according to Saint Sardou—and demands his head as revenge | for the apostle’s rejection of her love. | This not improbable incident of course adds largely to the dramatic interest of | the play, forming, indeed, its central inci- dent. Mr. Elsner has certainly construct- ed an ingenious drama out of his mate- | rial, if it looks as well on the stage as it does in type, and Belasco & Thall are making the effort of a lifetime in its | mounting. The play calls for fifty speak- | ing parts, and will be taken on a tour| after its presentation at the Central by a company headed by Robert Downing, who will be John the Baptist, and Miss Annette MarsHall, who appears as Hero- dias. The drama has been submitted to 2 number of high ecclesiastical authori- ties, encountering so far omly.favorable criticism. . . It is a fashion of the vear before last, therefore absolutely inadmissible now. to discuss the morale of a play. “Art for art’s sake” is to-day’s watchword, and a good one, nevertheless I am about to don the moral gaberdine of that most ancient of yesterdays and courageously adventure into the ethical mysteries of *“Silver Mounted Harness,” a new deal in morals and a woman’s play. From time imme- morial women’s men have been a prolific source of instruction and amusement to the masculine mind, as men's women heve furnished the curious fair with full plans and speeifications of what she would have been if man had come before God in her invention. This week there is a new chapter added to the book on “Men &s They Are Concelved to be by Women,” | that is hers by law. written by Miss Charlotte Thompson, in the play so called, “‘Silver Mounted Har- ness.” Here is the scenario of the play, {as given in the Alcazar programme and furnished presumably by Miss Thompson: Laura, finding a life among her mother’s set, the quasi fast set, unbearable, and losing confl- | dence in all humanity when a man, Gordon Cre- | velt. in whom she has trusted, makes the base meaning of his sympathy plain, marries Hugh Latimer, whom she does not love. She marries him for home protection, the right to wear clothes that are honestly paid for and eat food She does not think love matters. Love as she has known it is a poor thing—a something to be shunned and despised. After four years of married life that has been but a record of days and nights she meets and loves John Darlford. It is her awakening. Cre- velt has made himself the friend of Latimer to be mear Laura, and to work his ends push Latimer to the wall at a critical turn in his fortune. He offers to put him on his feet, save him from disgrace (defalcation), if Laura will come away with him. The plot at the most | eritical and hopeless point unwinds itself by | the sudden death of Latimer, who kills him- self when Crevelt fails him rather than face disgrace. Thus the revenge of Crevelt com- passes the marital freedom of Laura and gives her happiness in a love that is no longer half’} an honor. wie e Now, though there is some doubt left in the audience’s mind as to which of this precious trousered trio is Intended as the hero of the play, Latimer, barring a slight matter of the embezzlement of trust | funds, is evidently regarded by his wife and the playwright as a reasonably vir- tuous person and a much injured man. Yet this faithful and affectidhate husband, when pushed to the wall by the villain in the play, actually permits Cregelt to leave the room with his teeth intadt after a suggestion that the complaisance of Laura would save him, Latimer, from financial disgrace. Not only that, but he acts upon the suggestion, and in terms more plain than elegant tells his wife not “to quarrel with her dinner.” He further advises her—implores her—to permit Cra- velt's attentions, and. then inexplicably, but decently, goes off and kills himself. Crevelt is frankly the villain, and com- fortably consistent in his dishonorable in- tentions throughout three acts, until, as White Whittlesey superfluously mixed and muddled it on Wednesday night, Laura unwittingly owes to him ‘“‘the very food that sheiters her, the roof that keeps her alive!” Also, later, the welcome widow's veil is added to his beneficences. The fourth act show® him Tepentant, and with extravagant Iimprobability. reconciled to his inamorata’s marriage to another man. It is possible, however, that he had come to the conclusion that the game was not worth the candle, the fair Laura in her way being quite as curious a specinien of womanhood as-Latimer, Crevelt and Darl- ford are weird types of men. The woman who goes into the marriage business for. a livelihood to-day is out of her period and asks sympathy in valn. She belongs to the fainting epoch, to the era of the cut stay lace, to the day when the kitchen, dairy gnd field were the only professions open to her sex. But Laura marries Latimer for “home protection, the right to wear clothes that are henestly | paid for and eat food that is hers by law” and has not even the up-to-date virtue of womankind, the business-like sticking to a bargain. She falls in love with the in- | evitable other man, John Darlford, and confesses it in torrid terms. Then, in all sincerity, to atone for her sin, she com- templates “saving” her husband by yield- ing to Crevelt’s desires. That is, the wife of one man, in love with another, regards the bestowal of herself upon a third as a sacred atonement to her husband for the sin of loving the second—truly an amazing situation. It goeth near to be funny and if a play- ‘wright were to be held responsible for the utterances of his characters is a curious revelation of Miss Thompson’s point of view on comparative moralities. Darlford is another figure of fun, and altogether “A Silver Mounted Harfess” is a wild, disjointed, absolutely inartistic effort, utterly unworthy of the writer of “A Suit of Sable.” Its best features are the epigrams that, however, are not na- tive to the atmosphere, but dragged in for themselves alone and serve only to point the general worthlessness of their setting. The construction is childish, the situations rival Libbey at her best and the particular amazement is that the clever authoress of “A Suit of Sable” should have seen fit to permit this bad work of hers to go on the stage, and further that the clever Miss Roberts should have lent her name to its produc- tion. The play runs another week. There are 28,89 juvenile socleties in the British Isles, with a membership of 2,53,- 000. [ THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN' D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager SENDAN L35 e nasni i A ol R N R el 2 ANGDST 1851000 Publication Offics.............................: e @.... CALIFORNIA RESOURCES. Market and Third, S. F. MONG our people there is some lack of information about the resources of the State. But in the State Board of Trade and commercial statistics there are sources of informa- tion sufficient for the enlightenment of those who need it. 3 ‘We mention these sources of information because of their reliability, and because what are known as official records on such subjects as the physical resources of a country are frequently lacking in reliability. An instance of this is found in the official report of Mr. Elwood Mead, the chief of the Irrigation Bureau of the Agricultural Department at Washington. Therein he speaks of the productions of California as being oranges in the southern counties and wheat in the rest of the State. Now Mr. Mead has visited California, and indeed is a member of the faculty of our State University, and lectures a class at Berkeley. His work there is made a large feature in the new programme of the institution, as it ought to be, for forestry and irrigation are the subjects vital to the welfare of California and the most important studies that can interest students and indeed all classes of our people. Because of his relation to the State and the acquaintance with its resources which that relation implies, it is to be regretted that Professor Mead has not visited the productive parts of California or consulted reliable sources of information, to the end that his official report might be less misleading on the subject of our developed resources. If he had gone to the accurate report of the State Board of Trade he would have learned that, for the season of 1900, Northern California shipped out of the State 87,090 and Southern California 198 tons of green deciduous fruits; Northern California 8273 and Southern California 218,183 tons of oranges and other citrus fruits; the north exported 84,899 and the south 3696 tons of dried fruits, and the north 34,217 and the south 1611 tons raisins; the north 2141 and the south 4349 tons nuts; the north. 45,679 and the south 4928 tons canned fruits, and that the total export of the whole State of the above was 496,169 tons. The State’s total export of wine was 8084 and of brandy 360 carloads; of vegetables green and canned, 5140 carloads. . Professor Mead would by the same authority have learned that our dairy product for 1900 amounted to $15,493,272; our beet sugar to 30,319 tons; our hops to 38,000 bales; and our wheat to 973,102 tops; our wool to 27,500,000 pounds, and our lumber to 650,081,012 feet, and our minerals to $31,000,000. If we were really limited to wheat and oranges California would hardly invite enterprise and immigration, since a large population would not be expected to exist on-9117 carloads of oranges and 973,102 tons of wheat. The deciduous fruit is more valuable than the wheat crop and brings more money into the State. At the average price for the last nine months the wheat crop of 1900 brought $19,462,040. But that sum was exceeded by the value of the dried fruit crop alone, including raisins, The export value of the product of the forest, field, mines and waters of California for 1900 probably exceeded $125,000,000. Each individual article entering into the sum total of our exports is yet short of the possibilities of production except wheat, which has probably passed its zenith and will decline until it is not far in excess of the demand for home consumption. It will be seen therefore that if wheat were the mainstay of Northern California this part of the State would see not far ahead the beginning of marked decadence. 5 The adolescent nature of our other industries is shown by the gain in 1900 over the pre- ceding year. This gain in carloads was, in citrus fruits 9462; dried fruits, 312; canned fruits, 31; vegetables, 1736; wine and brandy, 353. In the decade 1890-1900 the increase in these ship- ments was 50,602 carloads. By the close of the current decade the traffic will amount to more than 200,000 carloads per season, and will show the greatest production by field, orchard and vineyard that has ever been known by a similar area in any part of the world. By that time the world will have come to depend on California for its fruit product, and the United States largely for its year round supply of staple and delicate vegetables. § We cheerfully acknowledge that Professor Mead may be a prime factor in this by pro- moting irrigation. But when he wants statistics of our production will he please put up his sign, “Information wanted,” and Californians will supply it. THE PROGRESS OF CONQUEST. ING EDWARD has prorogued his first Parliament with one of those short addresses from the throne which British statesmen have long ago learned how to construct in grave and diplomatic language that sounds well and means nothing. On this occasion, however, the King’s Ministers appear to have been more careless than usual. After hav- ing declared many times over that the Orange Free State and the Transvaal republic were never independent, but have ever been subject to British sovereignty, the royal address from the throne throws aside all such pretense and frankly informs Parliament: “The progress of my forcés in the conquest of the two republics by which my South African colonies has been steady and continued.” have been invaded Thus at last the claim of the Boers that their country was an independent nation, and that the war made upon them is one of conquest and aggression, is acknowledged by the sovereign of Great Britain in a formal and official statement. The further claim that the progress of conquest has been steady and continued may be disputed. Since the surrender of their cities, which they were unable to defend without shutiing themselves up to be bombarded by British guns, the Boers appear to have held their owr in every part of the two republics. Outside their camps and the garrisoned towns the authority of the British extends no further than the range of their guns. On the very day that Edward de- livered his speech to Parliament a report came from South Africa telling of the capture of forty British scouts within a short distance of one of the many military posts that are maintained in the country they are seeking to conquer. It remains to be seen what will be the effect of Kitchener’s proclamation calling ‘upon the Boer leaders to lay down their arms before September 135. The protlamation was -issued upon the theory that the number cf Boers under arms is now so small they cannot any longer resist the steady and continued conquest, and the theory may be correct. It will be remembered, how- ever, that the British have made many a miscalculation in the war, and this may be another. The steady and continued conquest may have to go ona long time yet before it reaches a conclusion. HAWAIIAN POLITICS. 14 HE Paradise of the Pacific” seems to have an acute attack of politics. Tempers there are getting more than tropically torrid. It is a surprise when a steamer from Honolulu does not bring some messenger of a faction speeding to Washington to inflame-offi- cial ears with the story of outrage upon his side by the other. When such delegates are lacking in the first cabin, the mails bring news of the marching and countermarching of ‘the contending forces, who are making life dusty by their quarrels. At this distance it seems strange that people who sprinted toward happiness in annexation are so unhappy. in possession of what they wanted. There seems to bea good deal of Dole in the government there. Governor Dole has the validity of his acts passed upon by Attorney General Dole, and if a Grand Jury could be made up of Doles we might expect justice to be doled out to the satisfaction of one crowd at least. These divisions will probably cease when the time comes to apply to Hawaii the law exclud- ing all kinds of Asiatic coolies. When coolie labor ceases there will not be as rich spoils to quarrel over, and life will be more bland and Quaker-like, and the Paradise of the Pacific will be more Eden-like. Of one thing alt factions in the islands may be sure. If the frequent messengers to Wadh- ington and the numerous lobbyists around Congress become too annoying to the Federal Gov- ernment and their conflicting demands too importunate, a remedy will be found by dismantling Hawaii as a Territory, with large and life-size territorial politics, and attaching the archipelago to California as a county. We do not favor that, but the time may come when it will be necessary. Then these expert politicians who are accustomed to revolution and agitation can interest them- selves in electing county officers, and occupy their genius for statesmanship by selecting a Clérk, Sheriff and Superior Judge. They will be less expensive as= county and just as ornamental. They can come over to our State Fair and make themselves sociable. Their County Supervisors can belong to the association of such, and their children will be qualified to belong to the Native Sons * of the Golden West, and can have parlors and celebrate Admission day right in the capital of the Kamehamehas. f , It may be true that Rear Admiral Evans called Chandler an insect, but it is something t(T) his credit that he did not cail the geritleman a kissing bug. ¢ | performance it Is. SIGNORS AGOSTINI AND SALASSA | WIN NEW LAURELS AT THE LITTLE TIVOLL BY BLANCHB \ i) i ‘\ | 0P PARTINGTON. ITH the advent of Signor Agos- tini and Linda Montanari this week at the Tivoli, the man- agement of the little opera- house completes a grand opera cast that for completeness and efficlency has perhaps not been equaled in the his- tory of the house. Agostini more, par- ticularly is a valuable acquisition. He has, proved himself vocally one of the most important fisures of the season, with his sweet, full, penetrating voice, beautifully used even to reminding one of Saleza. His acting sense also is suffi- clent, he having shown himself in his Ferdinand possessed both of dignity and power, and much good work covering a wide range may be looked for from this singer during the season. Montanari has so far been something of a disappoint- ment, but until she is heard in a role that is more grateful to her than that of Desdemona, in which she appeared -this week, it is wise to reserve judgment of her capacities. Her voice is pure and flexi- ble, also very sweet and should do good service in roles of the Mimi kind. Mon- tanari introduced Puccini’s charming grisette to the American public by the way, as Agostini.was the original Ru- dolfo, and it will take much more than an indifferent Desdemona to efface the memory of her good work in “La Bo- heme.” This week she will sing Marguer- ite in Boito's “Mefistofele,” the big hov- elty of the season that is to be given as alternate bill with “The Barber of Se- ville,” beginning on Tuesday evening. Dado will sing the Mefistofele, said to be his best role, and Agostini will be the Faust. The opera is beautiful and un- usval, both in the music and setting, and Boito’s talent as a librettist has never been used to better advantage than in this adaptation of Goethe's “Faust.” Salassa’s Iago has been another event of the last week, and a truly brilliant To speak of small things before great, I do not remember to have seen any actor that used his hands with the same grace and intelli- gence that Salassa shows. Instead of being in the way—as they so grievously and commonly are—they add to the pie- ture as the famous Van Dyck hands add to his portraits, as another eminchtly useful means of expressing character. He is singing so well, too, this season, and Tago is just the subtle, intellectual, statesmanlike role that exacts Salassa's excellent best. There is really hope for the “Falstaff,”” I hear, which is some- thing to be hoped for, look you! and Salassa already fully equipped for the Fat Knight's jovial part. Verdi com- posed the opera at the youthful age of 80 vears. It is his last, some say his best work, and belongs, with “Otello,” to what is called his third period. Boito furnished the libretto and the net result is a setting of the comedy that should satisfy the most exacting Shakespearean that ever drew -breath. Good Mrs. Kreling please give our “Falstaff,” and if that royalty ogre of Italy, Ricordi, does want the lion’s share of the profits, we will cram your house as it was never crammed be- fore to make up the difference! This is quite’ the latest from Paris and of interest to us. It is from the Paris column of Gustin Wright in The Concert- Goer: Mme. Sybil Sanderson, she with “la belle taille’” but no voice, has made her reappear- ance at the Opera Comique in St. Saens’ “Phryne.”” The accent might be laid on the reappearance, for the role of Phryne and her voice are not worth mentioning, although heard ‘at the Opera Comique. The main at- traction for the patrons of the Opera Comique (nearly all her audiences are composed of men) was a curiosity to see the falr Californian atter her eventful career during the last few years. She certainly has the same beautiful figure. Her part in the opera is to pose, which she did to perfection, the only fault to find with her costuthe being the queer taste displayed in wearing a modern Rue de la Paix hat with a medleval dress. I am waiting for the verdict of the New York jury of critics, for Dame Rumer says she is engaged by Mr. Grau for next season. My opinion Is that the American public goes to the opera to hear good voices, and not so particularly for good figures, as is the case over here. . e e In the same column I see that Alexan- der Guilmant, the French organist and composer, has recently been giving a se- ries of recitals on a new Cavaille-Coll organ that has recently been Installed in his home at Meudon, near Paris. The writer institutes a comparison between American crgans and the French instru- ments in the following paragraph that is of special interest to our State: The Guilmant organ is composed of twenty- eight stops and took two vears in building. It any particular stop did not suit M. Guilmant it had to be ch ed, and the result is the most complete and most satisfactory organ it has ever been my pleasure to hear or play. Without a doubt our American organ builders have a great deal to learn from their French confreres, not in point of mechanical device, for that is overdone in America, but in tone, which is the principal thing. The Roosevelt organ, which unfortunately is no longer built, ‘was the nearest approach to the French in- = - COMIC OPERA STAR WHO I8 AT PRESENT SINGING AT THE ORPHEUM. z i e struments of Cavaille-Coll, which are momu- ments of the organ buflder's art. Now, it happens that all the principal workmen from the Roosevelt factory above mentioned are at present in the employ of Murray M. Harris, the Califor- nian organ builder, who built the Stanford memorial organ that attracted so much favorable attention at the recent Epworth League Convention. Also Mr. Harris has a number of workmen from the Hill house of London, besides other famous “hands,” and with the Stanford organ as a result of only four years' effort we may not un- reasonably hope for a Cavaille-Coll in our own State and at a not too distant perlod. One of the Guilmant programmes con- tained, by the way, a recently discovered concerto by Bach that Mr. Wright ranks as one of the greatest of the great com- poser's works. Among the variously clever folks one sees and hears at the Orpheum more fre- quently than would seem likely a good musician wanders into the bill. Through the Orpheum we have been permitted to hear the comic opera stars, such as Jessle Bartlett Davis and Camille d'Arville, as well as many other good musicians of al kinds. This week a comic opera star, whose handsome portrait is given here- with, will for the first time invade the vaudeville stage and be heard at the Or- pheum in some new and old allads. She is Miss Katherine Germaine, whose work in comic opera has met with the strong approval of De Koven and his librettist, Harry B. Smith, Edgar Smith, Woolsen Morse, Cheever Goodwin and others too numerous to mention. She has a strong, sweet, high soprano voice, with a de- cided talent for acting, according to these gentlemen. A CHANCE TO SMILE, “I suppose you have said some things you were sorry for?"” “Oh, yes,” answered Senator Sorghfim, “I have occasionally said ‘ten dollars’ ‘when filve would have brought results just as well.”—Washington Star. An Irish reeruit had the misfortune to part company with his horse. According to custom, the sergeant strode up to him and demanded: “Did@ you receive orders to dismount?” did, sorr. "Where from?"” “From hindquarters, yer Honor.” said Paddy, with a grin.—Montreal Star. Bacon: “I see the Duke of Manchester § i8 a great admirer of American cham- pagne.” Egbert: “Well, I don’t wonder. The American ‘pop’ has helped him amaz- ingly.”—Yonkers Statesman. Mr. Hempstead—I am in a quandary. I don’t know whether I am engaged to Miss Roglyn or not! . Mr. Jamaica—That is a rather pecullar situation. h Mr. Hempstead—Well, you see T mailed my proposal to her, and in answer she sent her brother Willie to the house with the message that he would be a littla brother to me.—Pittsburg Press. —_—— Cholce candles, Townsend's, Palace Hotel* —_—— Cal. glace fruit 0 per l.’at Townsend's.* —_——— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by thas Pgess Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Lonh gomery street. Telephone Main 1042. * —————e A new record in dynamiting has been made at a Penobscot Ba:‘qunrry in Maine. A 52,000-ton block of granite was easily lifted. Are You “Of the 0ld World”? Everything pertaining to the New World may be easily and cheaply seen at the Pan- American Exposition, and the best way to get tg Buffalo is by the comfortable trains of thé Nickel Plate Road, carrying Nickel Plate Dining Cars; in which are served Amer- ican Club meals from 35c to $1 each. free, showing pletures of exposition buildings. Hotel ~accommodations reserved. JAY W. bullding. ADAMS, P. C. P. A, 31 Crocker San Francisco, Cal. f