The Road to Dumbiedykes 



The tragedy moved forward to its 

 climax. Personally, I have never 

 thanked the author of this libretto for 

 saddling upon an officer of the United 

 States Navy the opprobrium that 

 naturally falls to Lieutenant Pinkerton 

 in the play. Moreover, the character 

 of Butterfly herself is no more Jap- 

 anese than Pinkerton is typically 

 American. Both would fit more logi- 

 cally into Latin rather than northern 

 environments. Besides, the psychol- 

 ogy of the situation presented is inimical 

 to the cultivation of that spirit of 

 mutual respect and consideration which 

 .is so greatly to be desired at this time 

 between the nations. The desertion 

 of the trusting female Nipponese by 

 a man wearing Uncle Sam's uniform, 

 even although the fanciful creation of 

 the imagination, when publicly paraded 

 in grand opera, is not calculated to 

 stir the pride of any American, nor 

 stimulate the halting friendship of our 

 trans-Pacific neighbors. However, this 

 [146] 



