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Virtually all of the fire literature is unrelievedly serious, and one subject that is almost
always discussed in the most respectful and admiring terms is the relief. This play,
published anonymously "By a Chicago Lady," is a refreshing exception on both counts.
Relief spoofs both the sanctimonious givers of aid and the scheming applicants. Here the
appropriately named Miss Pry and Mrs. Redtape (the cast of characters also includes Mrs.
Bombast, Mrs. Pursestrings, and Mrs. Warmheart) have come to investigate the
worthiness of Mrs. O'Brien and Widow Flannigan, whose thick brogues add to the comic
satire. The childless Mrs. O'Brien convinces the visitors that she has three children, that
her husband, who is very much alive, died at Gettysburg, and that she is a good Protestant.
The overall message of the play, however, is not very
far from the official relief policy in its endorsement of self-help rather than reliance on
charity.
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Stage, Story, and Song 