More surely within the sphere designated by her large but specialized talents was _Leah Kleschna_, a strong drama of the redemption of a thief’s daughter by the influence of a man whose house she attempted to rob. The narrative is continuously and plausibly interesting, the incidents of great dramatic effectiveness. The play was “modulated melodrama”--an effort to lift a story of striking incident and broadly drawn emotions into the realm of reality. In the light it throws on the nature of the thief, its making and its possible breaking, the play had its social bearing. The immediate popularity of _Leah Kleschna_ was a hopeful sign to those interested in the growth of a worthy native drama. With some point it was asked why the author had not placed the scene of his play in America instead of Paris. Mr. McLellan has not, perhaps, borne out the promise of this one play, but it is interesting to note how many of Mrs. Fiske’s later plays have been of native writing. To be sure success has not always been the result. With moderately gratifying results she has played three one-act plays of her own writing,--_The Rose_, _A Light from St. Agnes_, and _The Eyes of the Heart_, all written years before, besides a one-act play, _Dolce_, by John Luther Long. _The New York Idea_ and _Salvation Nell_ are both, of course, absolutely American. After _Mrs. Bumpstead-Leigh_ and _The New Marriage_, both by Americans, came _The High Road_ by Edward Sheldon, the young author of _Salvation Nell_. The foreign-made plays, _Rosmersholm_, _Hannele_, _The Pillars of Society_ and _Lady Patricia_ have varied this programme, but it is plain that Mrs. Fiske in her encouragement of the native dramatist has been courageous and persistent to a point that few of her rival managers have cared to follow. The most interesting instance is Mr. Sheldon. While he was still a student in Harvard, his _Salvation Nell_ was accepted by Mrs. Fiske. Produced in 1908, it made a curious impression. Without the contour or substance of sound, full-bodied drama, and largely depending for its popular appeal on the faithfulness of the scenes of the New York slums, the play nevertheless showed the young author’s gift for situation, and afforded Mrs. Fiske a part well adapted to her gifts. This comment is almost equally true of _The High Road_, of four years later, which Mr. Sheldon does not call a play at all. It is a “pilgrimage” in which Mary Page is taken through nearly forty years of her life, successively as a young New York State country girl, the mistress of a rich young artist, the awakening young idealist rebelling as she matures, as the woman’s labor organizer, and as the devoted wife of a distinguished statesman. The play is not a great one, nor even a big one, but it is firmly interesting and the range of effect for Mrs. Fiske is obvious.