The Vicar’s Experiment.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 195, 24 August 1901, Page 1

The Vicar’s Experiment.

MRS BROWN POTTER RECITES IN CHURCH. A novel church experiment came off at Gorleston on June 31, when Mrs Brown Potter, the famous actress, gave recitations from the chancel of the parish church. An hour before the beginning of the service crowds clustered at all tho doors, and when tho church was opened it filled in five minutes. The scene resembled the first night at a theatre. Polieo were postod at the doors to stem the stream that sought admission, and hundreds of people stood in all parts of the church, many hundreds more being turned away. There could have been an overflow service in the churchyard.

Mrs Brown Potter, who had arrived with the vicar’s wife, was gowned in white, with a picture hat, round which white ostrich'plumes trailed, and a white feather boa round her throat. She was conducted by the churchwarden, bearing his official staff, to a seat facing the altar. At the close of evensong a short musical song recital took place. From a commanding position in the chancel the actress, with much dramatic vigour, enhanced b,y organ and choral accompaniment, recited with tolling forco and deep pathos Pope’s “ Vital Spark of Heavenly Flame.” Her next recitation was “ The Queen’s Last Ride,” which had been substituted for the hymn “ Abide with Me.” Throughout the audience exhibited the most reverent spirit, and the innovation cannot be criticised on tho ground that it descends to the level of Sunday entertainment.

Mrs Brown Potter commented very frankly on the fusion of Church and stage to a reporter. The well-known actress seemed quite unaware that thero was anything unusual in her reciting in Gorleston Church. “ You say the bishop may object,” she said, “ but why ? Thero is nothing new under the sun, and tho dramatic element in the church has never really ceased. After all, the priests were the first actors. Tho_ early Christian drama actually had its first source in the liturgy of the Church. It is a favourite subject of mine, this conneetion between Church and stage, and I claim to know something about it. “ In tho fifth century the priests actually increased the popularity of the services in church on certain occasions by living pictures illustrating tho Gospels, and accompanied by songs and declamation, and thus a certain amount of action gradually introduced itself into the services. And so gradually the mystery plays came into being, as well as tho 1 Moralities.’ The devil was quite the most popular and amusing character on the ecclesiastical stage of medievalism. You can see that clearly enough in Longfellow’s 1 Golden Legend.’ As late as the reign of Queen Bess tho clergy taught theology mainly in the ‘ Moralities; ’ the ‘ Coventry Plays,’ as they were called, wore remarkable for

their theology. And very outspoken some of the Morality plays were, too, as you would see if you read John Heywood’s ‘ Interludes,’ where lie lashed the vices of the clergy very severely. “ Lope do Vega, one of the most as-tonishing geniuses the world has ever known and who permanently established the national forms of the Spanish drama, insisted on the Church's claim to influence the national drama, and,it was he who wrote those beautiful 1 Comedias ;de Santos,’ as well as the famous 1 Autos do Sacramentales’ which were performed by professional actors on the great religious festivals, in honor of which the regular theatres closed their doors. “Surely tho most puritanical person can scarcely And fault with an actress for reciting in church to a congregation largely composed of simple-minded Usherfolk a hymn, and that hymn the celebrated anthem so often sung at Dissonting funerals, ‘ Vital Spark of Heavenly Flame, Quit, oh ! quit this mortal frame.’ It is only speaking it instead of singing it. What is the difference ? “ The fuss is made merely, I suppose, because lam an actress. What rubbish 1 I am a woman, and we women have a right to help in the Church’s work.”

Tho following poetic effusion is given of tho game of Ping-Pong, advertised by Mr T. Adams:—

When I am weary of the cares of clerking, And tire of pushing squeaky quills along, I hasten to exchange my troubles carking For sweet Ping-pong. Afternoon tea no longer doth alluro me. No more for Broadway’s tables do I long, But how I wish to join the mimic tourney And play Ping : pong! The dulcet tapping of the eclluloidal Balls, and the racket’s tense resounding song, The accurate bouncing of an orb spheroidal—

This is Ping-Pong. So come, and leave your chess, draughts, and backgammon; Leave loo’s delight, and join the merry throng; Forget your woes, worship no longer

mammon— Worship Ping-Pong! The London correspondent of tho Lyttelton Times writes: —Lord Roberts has been at the War Office for six months, and a Commission nas made a scathing report on the necessity for its complete reform, but its officials continue to bungle and blunder in the same old way that makes one long to get hold of the responsible person and give him first the “sack” and then the “ sock.” Lewis is a fruitful recruiting ground for the Highland regiments, and therefore those responsible for the home-coming of the 3rd battalion of the Seafortli Highlanders made a wicked muddle of their return. The local authorities, so the Provost of Stornoway tells us, asked that the Lewis men should return to their native island in uniform, but the War Office insisted on the battalion being disembodied at Dingwall, because “ no other arrangement could bo made, on account of the 1 great difficulty ’ in collecting and packing the uniforms at Stornoway. When the 1300 men for Lewis loft the train at the Kyle of Lockalsh at 10 p.m. they found the steamer could only hold 370. Those who embarked had to brave a seven hours’ passage, a bitterly cold and stormy night without overcoats and iu the thin “ shoddy ” clothes provided. The 200 left behind were perhaps worse off. They had to remain up all the inclement night and until two next afternoon without food or proper shelter from the showers of hail and sleet. Many had

to walk about to keep warm, while others, too week to do this, sought shelter in empty boxes and barrels about the railway station. In consequence of the exposure many of the men are now at home seriously, some dangerously, ill, and one young lad, ill, coming ashore at Southampton, was practically killed by the exposure, and died four hours after he reached his mother’s home. But in the meantime the settlement o Native lands is retarded and settlers who are wanting land cannot get it. But all the while the Government says, adopting the Maoii policy, “ Taihoa, wait a bit, and then you will see what you will see.” The consequence of this is that a lot of the land is going back to briar and gorse, and settleis do not get any benefit from the Native lands. —Mr Herries. That great illusion, “ Pepper’s Ghost,” Belongs to days of yore, he smartest conjuror cannot boast He’s puzzled people more. Many ailments nowadays Are just as tricky sure, For coughs and colds we'll sing the praise Of Woods's Great Peppermint Cure,