New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-15
NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER I5 1853

may not waIder in pursuit Of amusement or OF
shelter into the Academy Of Music or the National
Theater, and may not hear words which viii
r, main to him q possession forever. But the
point 10 be settled il, whether amid the
novelty, the excitement, the oddity aud
the general eccen,ricty of the whole perform
ance. those peImaneut impressions which will re-
suit IN sober and religious life may be eisonsbly
Anticipated Those gentlemen who have UNDER
taken this enterprise have, of course studied these
matters better than We have had occasion leisure
% 20 and what they think is for the best interest
of society. We do not mean lightly to condemn
But We may be pardoned for doubling whether
those who on Thursday evening wept with Leonora'
ho on Fridsy evening laughed with figaro' VINO
on Saturday evening wept again win Lucia' Would
care TO hear prayers offered and sermons preached
in the same place, under the saue prosceniuin'
upen the same stage. They would prefer, ana we
should no. blame them for preferIlng pew /"
Trinity Church. in which to accomplish their de-
vo,ion,. or indulge in their psslmody, or listen
10 their moral ndoctrinations. We appreciate
,be delcscy of their feelings-we have no
speer. in our repertory of sneers, we'll stocked as
il i. usually considered to be. for their religious
tastes. But we would remind them that this little,
forlern, ragged, dirty. goddess boy, who Is 10 De
ent;ced into hearing the Word of God-that this
person who is large and prosperous, and well
clothed, and clean, aud perhaps already pous, who
il 70 be- enticed into hearing the Word OF God, may
have far other thoughts than those naturally tend
randy Tarpne of
Thalia. We would remind them that the acquisl-
ton or the cultivation Of religion Is not thus lar
REGARDED a. an amusement. Abstractly it may be
considered proper and profitable thing to
take theater. BY storm. There is, we know,
more Joy over one actor who puts on
surplice than over nirety and nine gentlemen
who 1eyer wore seek or buskin all their lives. But
it may well be questioned whether these religious
specuatons are of the highest and most perma-
nent value II is an easy thing to open the doors
of theater; to say to the passers-by, g Come in
without money and without price, and listen to
the Word of Cod II is much harder thing
to be true to the dictates of Christianity in thought
and word and deed; to abstain from that traffic
which is plunging souls uncounted into perdltlon;
TO take while surrounded py tne WIFI anu stoiu
of society that interest in the temporal and splr-
itua welfare of our brothers and sisters which the
Bible commands, and which our better nature en-
joins; to be good aud to do good even unto the
least of these sufferers the fororn and torsaken of
the earth. The Kingdom of God, We are told
upon very fair authority. did not come with OBJ.
servatiOn.
The reports of these services which we have
seen seem to indicate very fashionable audience
at the Academy of Music, and rather miscela-
neous one at the National Theater. Reading our
Journal Of Commerce with due reverence, we learn
that the pit of boys at the ast-named institution
was mischieyous and thoughtless-" the poor, neg
Elected creatures, " as The Journal complacently
terms them. Pray what did the gentlemen of The
Journal expect of the "po0r. neglected. "'@"
'tures"l sOemnty plety, devotlon--n the Ma
tiona Theater! There We're many hundred boys
there who had never read The Journal of Commerce
in their lyes-the "poor, neglected creatures"
How should they fail to remember that they were
in theaterl How should they forget the riotous
call, the painted faces, the spanged dresses, the
footlighs, the scenery aud the music OF Saturday
night