The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-05-07

reading Hiawatha to the Yankee squatters and
SPECTATORS on the Kansas prairies Is Mr. Walk
er going to Kansas or does he intend to leave
his Secretary Of State to bear the brent Of tie
June eleodonf Certainly Robert can't expect
to be made President for making Kansas slave
State on paper, II Frederick does the work. Robert
should 90 to Kansas or resign in favor of Frede
rick-that's all.
The LScentiousness and immortality Of the
Boston Prcss-P restitution OF the Theatre.
Time was, and that not very iopg ago, that the
people of Boston claimed pre-emicent moral
position and had their claim allowed. No presses
bewsiled more pathetically the horrible condition
Of the stray New EngandeIs who were 30 heart
hardened az to prefer this Sodom TO their native
places-Do pulpits were more savage 10 their de-
nunciations OF the lusts Of the world, the flesh
and me devil than those of Boston. The city is
covered with complete network Of laws and Or
dinances-the people are governed, legislated,
educated and moFalized 10 the most distressing
extent,
Knowing a.; this, we have been little sur
prised to find that this fair city, supposed to be
entbroned upon her Eimountain pinnacle Of vir-
tue, morality and religion has lately fallen back
into the pes.ifeEo,H marshes of vice. iniquity AID
RIGHTEOUSNESS the press has beea foremost In
urging the people into the pit-thAt the robes of
the preacher are not unstained-and that the thea
tire, which always rises or falls with the moral
taste of the community, has likewise become the
arena wherein prostitution Is deiled, while all
Boston falls down and worships coarse picture
of Partisan strumpet o, Jerusalem! how art
thou fallen!
II is curious, If not edfying, to read the Bos-
ton journals for the past day or two. In one Co
lumn we find detailed report of most disgusting
evidence in suit for divorce, and in another the
language is exhausted in search for panegyrics
upon an actress whose only claim to notoriety
lies in the fidelity with which she represents the
proHigste life and miserable death of French
oourtesaD. This actress appeared at moral
"temple Of the drama" in moral city, on Mon
day last, as Camille" and straghtway we
find the moral journals breaking out in
strain Of praise little moro absurd, IL
possible, than the efforts in the same
line of some of our contemporaries in this city
She has, says one critic, 'true geniuss face full
Of intellectually, soul and expressiveness; she
astonished and electrified her hearers, throwing
around the character a nsturalness u and beau
ty (s? rarely witnessed. During the last scene
the awful silence remained unbroken for some
minutes, nothing being heard but the nelancho-
~ mbdued harmony frem the orchestra"
That's good! Another Journalist was so terribly
cut up by the last scene that he had swelling of
the heart, quiverins Of the lips aud intense &C.
ton upon the lachrymal glands Another wri-
ter thought he was looking at something very
wicked and suggests mildly that 1t Is not exactly
the correct thing The rest labor to make pref
ty pastoral stories out Of the plot, and to prove
by analogy that French prostitutes are really
very nice, liberal, generous, magnanimous, au,ia-
BILE, self denying, self-sacriAcing persons, who
are suffering under Q social ban which should be
removed at once.
II really appears as If the Boston people had
become 60 far sun1en in filth that they never
could emerge from II. For the past six weeks
the journals Of that city have been crowded with
the most disgusting details Of crlme-details
which the press Of no other city would dare TO
publish. First, the Kalloch csse-then the Dal-
ton divorce sut-then two or three trials for
rape-every nasty devclopement being carefully
retained for the delectation Of the family circle
and each case going beyond the other In beast
linese each paper ivslling the other In hunting
up new and erich" evidence In and out of court;
and now the scenes Of the court, the brothel, the
prison and the hospital are reproduced with
every attention to scenery and costumes upon the
stage Of the "lofty Academia Tue immoral
drama Il brought forward just as the public APP
petite Is becoming satisted with the drama Of
real life and the actress fans the living fame.
We have no doubt that there IL still some Of
the old Puritan spirit lett In Boston, and that
the well read and we'll bred people Of
that city look upon these occurrences
with the disgust which they must
excite in the minds Of every good man end wo-
man. But the record still shows that the majo.
rity inclines towards the nasty stun which L.
served up by the journals and the actora The
scenes now going on In Boston remind us Of the
ancient days when women Of the town were
chosen as the representatives Of the goddesses-
when the Aspssiss and Messllnas ruled mighty
empires-when the destinations Of Lais were
more popular and more profitable than the elo-
quence Of Demoshenes We should not be sur
priced 10 zee the farce Of the Reign of Terror re-
enacted, with slight change In the cast. Instead
Of sirumpet borne in procession, as the God
des Of Reason, the Bostonians would exalt q
third rate actress, who finds her fame and dollars
In representing the follies and vices Of the lowest
Of her eek, as the type Of all that Is pure and
noble In one Of the highest Of the arts
If the ghost Of old Cotton Msther, who launch
ed forth are birthstone, and all the torrents Of
the damned against the young men who kissed
their oncte, on sabbath evenings cou.d revisit tho
descendants Of his parishioucrs read their jour