flimsy tinsel, but in garments such as real kings and priests may have
worn. And so no artificial light or glare of fireworks is needed to
make these costumes effective. And this genuineness enables these
simple players to produce effects which the richest theaters would
scarcely dare to undertake; and all this in the open air, in glaring
sunshine or in pouring rain. The players themselves can scarcely be
called actors. In their way, they are strong beyond 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