ond all mere actors,
and for this reason--that they do not seem to act. From childhood they
have grown up in the parts they play. Childish voices learn the solemn
music of the chorus in the schools, and childish forms mingle in the
triumphal procession in the regular church festivals. All the effects
of accumulated tradition, all the results of years of training tend to
make of them, not actors at all, but living figures of the characters
they represent. And we can look back over the history of Oberammergau,
and see how, through the growth of this purpose of its life, it has
come to be unique among all the towns of Europe.

Many have wondered that in so small a town there should be so many men
of striking personality. The reason for this is to be sought in the
operation of natural selection. In the ordinary German village, the
best men find no career. They go from home to the cities or to foreign
lands, in search of the work and influence not to be secured at home.
The strongest go, and the dull remain. All, this is reversed at
Oberammergau. Only the native citizen takes part in the play. Those
who are stupid or vicious are excluded from it. Not to take part in
the play is to have no reason for remaining in Oberammergau. To be
chosen for an important part is the highest honor the people know. So
the influences at work retain the best and exclude the others.
Moreover, the leading families of Oberammergau, the families of Zwink,
Lang, Rendl, Mayr, Lechner, Diemer, etc., are closely related by
intermarriage. These people are all of one blood--all of one great
family. This family is one of actors, serious, intelligent, devoted,
and all these virtues are turned to effect in their acting.

This work is that of a lifetime. Little boys and girls come on the
stage in the arms of the mothers--matrons of Jerusalem. Older boys
shout in the rabble and become at last Roman soldiers or servants of
the High Priest. Still later, the best of them are ranged among the
Apostles, and the rare genius becomes Pilate, John, Judas, or the
Christ.

In the house of mine host, the chief of the money-changers in the
temple, the eldest daughter was called Magdalena. In 1890, at
fourteen, she was leader of the girls in the tableau of the falling
manna. In 1900, she may, perhaps, become Mary Magdalen, the end in
life which her parents have chosen for her.

After the cannon sounds, the chorus of guardian spirits
(_Schuetzengeis