The Passion Play In Its Home

THE PASSION PLAY IN ITS HOME

Mrs. Emma Fischer-Cross Tells of Her Visit

TO OBER-AMERGAU

And the Scene About the Village of the Sublime Tragedy--Its People and Their Homes

Mrs. Emma Fischer-Cross, of the School of Music Faculty, has instituted for her class what promises to be a most interesting "Friday," when every week they meet together for an hour to study and discuss in an informal way some composed or musical wood were brought here Friday on ciation test and a study of the life of Mozart, Mrs. Cross read a paper to the class on the Passion Play at Over-Ammergau. It was with more than interest that her class listened while she told how as one of 4,000 pilgrims, accompanied by Miss Lizzie Thorpe of Pontiac and her mother, they made their way to this little village of Ober-Ammergau, set in the hills, how they stopped at "the Sign of the Rose," how they approached the new theatre where the most sublime tragedy of the crucifixion is played out in the lives of these peasant people, which seems to make even the valley below seem holy ground. Only the natives take part in the play, but out of the 900 inhabitants of the village 700 have some role. The greatest honor is to be the Christ and the next greatest is to be the mother of our Lord. The postmaster's daughter, when she received this honor, fell on the neck of her father and wept. Such care is taken in the choosing of a Christ that a committee is appointed to make the selection. The characters are trained from their childhood up, for the parts they may sometime fill. "I am going to be St. John," said a tiny boy, into whose wee life the play had so soon become a realization. How the Passion Play came to be was because of a plague in 1644, that raged in the surrounding country and threatened the village of Ober-Ammergau. And the people vowed a vow unto the Lord, that if the town was spared they would set up a memorial and give the Passion Play every ten years, and for nearly 300 years they have kept their now. The play begins at 8 o'clock in the morning, lasting until 5 with one hour's intermission for dinner. When the curtain goes up, the stage is occupied with a singing chorus representing guardian angels. There is a prologue at the beginning of each act which sets forth the motif. Act 1 shows the Christ entering Jerusalem on a mule, the people strewing palm branches in the way and shouting: "Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." Every scene in the passion of Christ is given. The Lord carrying his cross to Golgotha and the weariness of utter exhaustion is painful to see. The crucifixion is as real as life; the crunch of the nails driven through the hands that have never wearied in well doing, and the blood upon the agonized face of the world's great martyr trickling down beneath the crown of thorns. "It is finished" was the last cry to the Father, and every soul in that great audience thrilled with the awfulness of it. But you are not left in despair, for as the morning breaks, the stone is rolled away from the tomb and this Jesus hung on the cross comes forth the glorified and the living Christ. "It was so impressive," said Mrs. Cross, "that I couldn't get over the effect of it for three days," and it meant much to the audience who had never seen it, to hear Mrs. Cross tell of this wonderful play, acted among the hills, where the world's travelers turn their faces once in ten years.