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THE STAGE FIFTY YEARS AGO
men had celebrated, in songs and dances
set to the foot-tilting banjo, their perfect
happiness on " de olc plantation." And
then, as in a moment, like lightning from
a supposedly clear sky. Uncle Tom's Cabin
descended upon the boards, and they in-
stantly and eloquently echoed the woes
and wrongs of the oppressed. I strongly
suspect that the play was quite unworthy
of the novel ;
but the humor, fire, and pas-
sion of the story swept ever}^thing before
them. Mr. Warren appeared at the Mu-
seum performance of the drama in a char-
acter, interpolated chiefly for purposes of
farcical mirth, entitled Penetrate Partyside,
— a cool, shrewd Yankee, with advanced
political opinions concerning "the peculiar
institution," — and this part was played by
the comedian two hundred and forty-eight
times ; leading, in frequenc}' of perform-
ance, all the other characters in his vast
repertory, even to the hour of his retire-
ment from the stage. Mr. Frank Whit-
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