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Kansas University Weekly.
the school-children that they may be able some time to acceptably interpret the Passion Play music.
II.
The Play.
The route commonly followed by tourists to Ober Ammergau goes by way of Munich, and this was the route chosen by our party in the summer of 1890. Leaving Munich, a pleasant ride of three and a half hours brought us to the station of Oberau, where we left the cars and took carriages for Ober Ammergau, about seven miles distant. It is well that the railroad does not reach Ober Ammergau. Although modern engineering could easily surmount the obstacle of the steep grade, yet it is more impressive to climb the mountain over the well built road, and the smoke and din of a railway station would seem strangely out of place in the quaint little town. The old monastery of Ettal, now become a brewery, is a favorite halting place. The chapel, with its wonder-working image of the Virgin, remains unchanged, and is shown to visitors.
Neither the long train we had descended from at Oberau, nor the vehicles seen on the mountain road, though numerous, gave much indication of the croud we found at Ober Ammergau. Fortunately our quarters had been engaged for weeks, and a guide conducted us to the white plastered house of one of the villagers, which, though conspicuously numbered like all the rest, we had considerable difficulty in finding alone on several subsequent occasions. We were shown to a small, neat room with four single beds—one in each corner—and old-time pictures on the walls. A little too near the apartment of the cows, perhaps, but that is not to be resented in Ober Ammergau. Much more important is it to know whether or not one is in the house of one of the play-actors. As these are many, and the inhabitants of the town but few, it is more than likely that one is. We were not long in discovering that our host was the central figure in one of the tableaux; namely, the departure of Tobias. Consoled by this fact for many things, and tired by the afternoon's journey, we soon crept
It was a beautiful Sabbath day, and the view from the front window of the house of Tobias was a pleasant sight to see-if one kept one's eyes above the level of his neighbor's bit of ground. We congratulated each other on the sunshine and clear sky, for half of the large auditorium where we were to spend the day is absolutely without protection from the weather; umbrellas and parasols are not allowed, and, rain or shine, the play goes on; hundreds of people occasionally allowing themselves to be alternately drenched and broiled rather than to miss what is going on before them.
under our several feather-beds, to know no more until the booming of cannon and ringing of bells greeted the dawn of the morning of the Passion Play.
By eight o'clock we were in our places, full of excited anticipation, for that was the appointed hour. The great theatre was full, with the exception of the places of the constitutional laggards that one meets everywhere, and the crowd was as orderly as in any well regulated place of entertainment. The orchestra is hidden from sight under the front of the stage. Before the proscenium arch there is a broad, open space, on each side of which stands the houses of Annas and Caiaphas, and from which two roads—streets of Jerusalem—lead into the background of the stage. The real background is formed by the Bavarian Alps and the cloud-flecked sky above. "How incomparably the effects are, in sunny weather, heightened by this background of mountain and sky, fine distances, and vistas of mountain and meadow, and the canopy of heaven overhead, it is impossible to express."
A few slow, solemn strains from the orchestra, and the chorus enters from the sides and forms a semi-circle between the audience and the curtain. It is composed of twenty-three or four members, including the Choragus, who sing with sweetness and expression, and who form a picture of rare harmony and effectiveness. The costumes are appropriate. "They have dresses of various colors over which a white tunic with gold fringe and a colored mantle are worn." All wear crowns, and the