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Show battle action. Shells are bursting, officers gallop frensiedly over the field giving orders, soldiers grapple the enemy and right and left men fall under the hail of shot and shell. Suddenly, amidst the smoke and dust, the figure of the young girl from Dixie land, dressed in her brother's uniform, dashes over the breastworks, and, picking up the Confederate battlo flag, waves it about her head and then crumples up dead as northern bullet3 find their mark. Great scene that! Any applause? Nary a murmur. When, following close upon the death of the young heroine, the line of blue sweeps over the breastworks bearing Old Glory to victory was there any patriotic applause? Not a ripple. Where was the applause of the sons of the south when the likenesses of that idol of Dixieland, General Robert E. Lee, and hi3 staff were thrown upon the Bcrccn? And where was the applause of the sons of the north-land north-land when the boys in blue swept over the Confederate breastworks to victory? Oh, we are a chilly, undemonstrative people, wc west-erners west-erners 1 Wonder if it is the altitude? A WESTERN CHARACTERISTIC. The average westerner is about as demonstrative a3 a wooden Indian. This characteristic of the western people has been patent to show people for many years, and the actor or actress who wins applause ap-plause west of the Mississippi river has reason for self-congratulation. It also takes more than the waving- of the Stars and Stripes to stir up patriotic enthusiasm in this section of the country. Should any doubt this assertion visit a local moving picture theater and note the degree of demonstration that greets the showing of that wonderful picture, "The House With the Closed Shutters." This picture is a masterpiece of moving picture art. Hundreds 'of men garbed in the uniforms of Confederate and the Union soldiers engage in a terrible battle, which results in a victory for the northern soldiers. sol-diers. Several years ago the writer attended a performance of "Barbara "Bar-bara Fritehic," given at the Grand Theater in Norfolk, Va. The play was a war drama filled with exciting climaxes, battles, love scenes and pathos. We shall never forget the varied emotions displayed by the large audience present. How they did cheer the southern gray, and how they hissed tho Yankee characters! It was highly amusing to a chilly, phlegmatic westerner like myself, but tothe son of a northern veteran who attended the performance with us the hissing of the Yankees sent his blood up to the boiling point. When "Dixie" was played by the orchestra the audience howled, and when General Lee's picture was flashed upon a screen those demonstrative southerners went wild. The picture shown at the local house this week presents a battle scene that is simply great. Hundreds of men are shown in |