Having seen Sherwood's play, and having no-
ticed how the audience itself participated, I believe
it carries some shine of the American dream, that
it delivers great themes of human wit, behavior
and freedom, with Lincoln as mouthpiece and in-
strument.

Also there are moments when the lines of Sher-
wood as rendered by Massey achieve an involved,
baffling Hamlet of democracy. Or again there are
twilights of motive as curious as a Chekhov short
story. And one goes away from seeing the play
haunted by some reality persuasive of Lincoln's
presence, of his sobriety and wit, of his somber
broodings over the Family of Man on the earth
and the strange prices of devotion and discipline
paid for the getting and keeping of freedom.

-xii-