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A DRAMATIC CRITIC
off his coat, and insists upon wrapping it
around the slender figure of the girl against
her pleased but earnest objections. On
the left are a middle-aged married pair.
The wife presently says, in a peevish tone,
"Alexander, if you walked to the hall,
you could send me an umbrella; " to which
the husband promptly replies, " I 'd rather
you 'd get wet."
The deeper reasons of the law of the
survival of dramas may not be laid down
here and now, but a good negative work-
ing-day rule of prediction can be furnished.
It seems to be a part of the present order
of things, at least in English-speaking coun-
tries, that our dramas shall be ephemeral.
Even the best of them are like insects,
made to flaunt their little wings for a few
hours in the sunshine of popular favor.
The caprice of fashion deals out death
with relentless speed to these plays. That
they furnish the public with much enter-
tainment is not to be questioned ; but they
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