“He who does not recognize bread and salt is worse than a wild wolf.”
Gems from the East.
THE SOKRATIC CLUB.
By SOLON.
(Continued.)
So much interest had been aroused by the conversation on Art and the Drama as an Educative Factor which I have already recorded, that there was a larger attendance than usual at the next meeting of the Club. Everyone was glad to see Madam Purple who it was known to all had established a school to revive the ancient wisdom and to teach the laws of physical, moral and mental health and of spiritual development and for the purpose of accentuating the importance of Music and Drama as vital educative factors had already reproduced one of the old Greek Tragedies in such a way as to arouse the attention of the public and astonish the critics, touching a new chord and awakening new possibilities for the influence of the stage on the lives and characters of the people.
Dr. Roberts had evidently not yet been convinced of the importance of this work though he had seen and even praised the production of Æschylus’ Eumenides, for he still reiterated his old objections. The discussion so far had been on general lines, but now it turned more particularly on the Drama.
Dr. Roberts.—“I cannot see how the performance of Eumenides or any play you may take from the ancients can have any such effect that you claim it will have. The people who attend will see no more in it than in any other play. Of course it will have its own characteristics and no doubt its classical beauty, but will not these peculiar features appeal only to the very few? How will you make it a factor in the education of the masses?”
The Professor.—“I do not think you understand the real character of the ancient drama, Doctor. Probably, also with the exception of the recent production, you base your ideas of the attractiveness of Greek Plays upon the presentations which are occasionally given at one of the Universities. Classical these may be in a sense, I admit, but certainly they are severe.”
Dr. Roberts.—“How can they help but be severe. I remember when at college that one of these plays was acted by some of the students, but for my part I saw nothing particular in it.”
Mme. Purple.-“Was not that possibly because those who produced the play and enacted the parts, themselves saw nothing in it beyond the mere incident as told in so many words?
“The most beautiful things remain invisible to those who have not eyes to see. Look at the hundreds and thousands in every large city and, strange to say, more particularly in country districts, who know nothing of the beauty and sublimity of the heavens and nature around them. Many a farmer looks at the sky simply to note the changes of the weather. The magnificence of cloud effect, the glory of the sunrise and the quivering of the eternal stars, he never sees. And even those who profess to be lovers of nature, how little more than external beauty do they see? Do they indeed see any deeper than the surface of things and but rarely pierce the veil to behold with awe and wonderment the reality?”