Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1901 — WAR AND THE DRAMA. [ARTICLE]

WAR AND THE DRAMA.

Plays That Bare Been Produced Clot* on ths B**l* of Battle. War and the drama might form th® subject of an excellent volumes Strange how the drama dogs the foot* steps of even armies in the field, and is an even more venerable “camp-fol* lower” than the modern war corre* spondent. I scarcely recall a cam* paign of any importance into which! the drama, in sock and buskin ormorg ordinary habiliments, has not sidled in, with or without a “By your leave, gentlemen, soldiers, and patriots.” It kept the boards in the federal and confederate capitals during the fierce and bitter conflicts of the American civil war. There was not a war in Europe within living memory out of which it has been altogether elbowed. I found it accompanying us through the wastes and toils’ome marches of the Soudan. Near the Atbara, as I well remember, one of Gen. Gatacre’s camps by the Nile possessed an attractive open-air theater. It was built by the “Tommies,” and boasted stagey proscenium, wings and scenery, there the soldiers enjoyed al-fresco performances. No doubt Khartum will, if not already so circumstanced, speedily boast a theater. On my arrival in Bloemfontein, I found a theater called the “Vaudeville,” open and in full swing. A smart South African entrepreneur and clever actol had established a company in what was known as the town hall. The place I found packed with military, from generals to Private Atkinses, with a pretty sprinkling of welldressed ladies and townspeople. Mod* ern comedy held the stage, and was so well depicted that there was no standing-room anywhere, and even places upon ladders sold for half * crown a rung. You could, hear th® military roars of laughter like salvoet of artillery. And is there any occasion to grumble because officers and men, who have for months trekked over the veldt and known neither th®

luxury of a bed nor dry bivouacs, have enjoyed themselves with a night off? It has given them fre?h zest to resume duty. For an hour or two they had a roof over their heads for a change, and the ceaseless rattle of the rain without passed unheeded. It is wonderful how the men have been able to hold on day after day and night after night in the field without tents. Fora week at a time the columnshave marched and slept in wet clothes. And it seems to have done them little harm. Of five companies of the Royal Sussex, under Maj. de Moulin, but two men have fallen sick in a period of three months. But the other day the rain and the mud were so bad near the baiting ground of Gen. Bruce-Hamilton’s column that neither officers nor men were ablet® lie down during the night. The slush and mud were mofe than ankle so the general spent the night like his soldiers, standing on his feet o» sitting upon a wagon-pole.—Londoa Telegraph.