Such feats of craftsmanship are entertaining, but
too dangerous to be commended for imitation.
In some modern plays a full close is achieved by the simple expedient of
altogether omitting the last act, or last scene, and leaving the end of
the play to the imagination. This method is boldly and (I understand)
successfully employed by Mr. Edward Sheldon in his powerful play, _The
Nigger_. Philip Morrow, the popular Governor of one of the Southern
States, has learnt that his grandmother was a quadroon, and that
consequently he has in him a much-attenuated strain of African blood. In
the Southern States, attenuation matters nothing: if the remotest
filament of a man's ancestry runs back to Africa, he is "a nigger all
right." Philip has just suppressed a race-riot in the city, and, from
the balcony of the State Capitol, is to address the troops who have
aided him, and the assembled multitude. Having resolutely parted from
the woman he adores, but can no longer marry, he steps out upon the
balcony to announce that he is a negro, that he resigns the
Governorship, and that henceforth he casts in his lot with his black
brethren.
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