dramas represents a departure from Trust-honored convention, though in each the author has been forced, to some extent, to temper the wind to the shorn lamb, or to turn on the lime-light for the shorn intellect. It is noticeable that the playwright is not yet independent of his manager.

But the first great step has been made. Daring plays have been produced and have been successful. The public has declared that if the dramatists care to lead the procession with a higher standard, it is willing to fall in line. Undoubtedly, a great period of dramatic expression is coming. The public is asking for better plays, the dramatists are writing them, the cities are discussing seriously, plans for municipal theatres that shall produce them. In a short time the National Theatre in New York, for which three million dollars have been subscribed, will be a fact.

After the dizzy whirl of America's prosperity, it is rational to expect that a reaction will come, and that a saner pace for our national life will be struck. Literature will then have her innings. The drama, which requires in its audience no more than moderate attention in a more or less comfortable armchair for an afternoon or evening, is sure to lead in the literary ascendency. Who the leaders in the new movement will be, is hard to surmise. That the three Harvard men who have met with their first successes this fall will be high on the list is most probable.

24 08:

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