Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1909 — COLLEGEVILLE HAPPENINGS. [ARTICLE]

COLLEGEVILLE HAPPENINGS.

The Action and Plot In Richelieu, St. Joseph’s Commencement Play. A few abitious conspirators, a fool king, a sweet and lovely maiden, an energetic, Intrepid, statesmanlike prime minister are the abundant materials out of which BulwerLytton constructed his classic drama, Richelieu, so full pf action, life and interest. The play rests on an historical foundation, the last and the boldest of four conspiracies (1642) directed by deluded and disappointed noblemen against the Car-dinal-minister of state who had made France the first nation of the world. The scene is the capitol. The play opens with the laying of the plot of the conspiracy by Baradas and the Duke of Orleans. Richelieu, the minister is’ to be assassinated, king Louis XIII dethroned by the aid of Spanish arms under Bouillon. Richelieu in good season learns of the treacherous plot through his faithful detectives that he has stationed throughout the realm and even in foreign courts, and he prepares to repeal the insidious treason. De Mauprat goes to the Cardinal’s mansion on a secret mission for the conspirators. While there he falls under the Cardinal’s Influence, forsakes the con-

- spirators and receives in marriage Richelieu's ward, Julie, far-famed for her beauty and loveliness, with whom the king and the chief conspirator are also in love. De Manprat leaves the castle won to Ihe cause of Richelieu. . In the second act the plot thickens. Baradas learns of De Miuprat’s change of colors and the marriage of Julie. He now forges a letter from the king to the effect that his royal highness would divorce them and take to himself the youthful beauty. De Mauprat falls into the vile snare and takes it upon himself to end thftrCardinal’s °*' reer. In the mmmjpMe the Cardinal has obtafnejUgrritten evidence of the conspiraqpagainst minister and king. By some misfortune it is wrested from him but he regains it later to save the. day to himself. , In the third act the murderous attempt is made upon the Cardinal’s life. De Mauprat’s courage faijs him at the critical moment. He .cannot strike the deadly blow when his eyes meet those of the man who more than once had saved the would-be assassin’s head from the block. Instead the murderer he becomes the rescuer and protector of the agcxl Cardinal. ; The fourth act assumes the death of the prime minister and prepares for the new order of things. f In the last act the Cardinal appears as one risen from the dead, the papers of the conspirators are produced, the king sees by whom he has been duped, the Cardinal is re-instated, the traitors are sentenced to the scaffold or life imprisonment. France is saved and that nation again knbws that “there is One abpve who sways the harmonious mysiery of the world, even better than prime ministers.”