Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-11-04
O6ilIo) Statesman. d d
FROM NEW YORK.
lcorrs.pondenee of the Ohio stasssm.n.1
New YoRK, October 81, 1868.

/ NEW YORK, October 81, 1868.
TIE closing ceremonies of the Pro-
testant Episcopal Convention were per.
formed on Thursday night and were
remarkably impressive. The pastoral
letter of the presiding Bishop was read
and was received with marks of the
greatest respect. 1t makes grateful
allusion to the venerable members who
have passed away within the past nine
years, and after discussing the various
questions which have been considered by
the Convention, urges renewed exertion
in the dissemination of the truths of
Christianity On mooted questions the
letter is generally non-committal, and on
that of ritualism, is what may be called
radically moderate and conservative;
but it is by no means weak in its blows
directed against matters outside the
pale of the Churches. For instance,
it protests strongly againts the illegiti-
mate drama-plays of the Black Crook
style, and argues that its tendency is to
debase, to ruin the taste of the public
for pure simple pleasures and innocent
amusements. G3A IASzsEB ~ T
Whether the reverend prelate who
penned the letter had ever witnessed
performance of "Genevieve de Brabant,"
the filthiest of all filthy plays, is more
than can say; but the closing portion
of the paragraph on the subject of the
drama, so called, would seem to indicate
that he had either had sly view of the
dirty thing himself or had been made &C.
quainted with its peculiarities by some
sinner who had seen it.. He says -"In
our days there is licentiousness and
grossness in theatrical and like enter
tainments, which would have been shock
ing to even the less refined in the days
of our fathers. We exhort you to fee
these things and above all, to separate
from all contact with these pollutions!.
the young and precious souls for whom.
you have answered in the Holy Bap-.
| tism." ges - .-5y.. .,.sae,., 'l' 4
| 1t is not only the religious people who
dread the influence of the kind of plays
most popular in our days, All thinking
people are beginning to moralize in re-
gard to them. When the Black Crook
was introduced, the respectable world
was shaken with shame, but inexorable
Fashion, who governs in ethics as well
as in dress, decreed that the bare-legged
drama was proper, and her votaries le-
galized it. Then came the White Fawn
tandthe Devils Auction,in botlhofIwhich
Nths main feature was that portion of
womans form which old rime mod dsstly
required to be sedalously screened from
thespublic gaze. There was beauty and
grace, to be sure, and there We're ,magnif-
ieent toilettes, and the music was in
keeping with the rest; but to those who
weigh consequences, there was in all
this show Of beauty and graces some
thing lacking, without which the whole
was but an evidence of downward
growth. Then came the light, airy,
td6ubtfuHy decent. Grand Dushesse, with
itsd seductive music Then La, Belle
Helene, a. little more suggestive Of the
..sbperfect, ,lopseness", which so well marks
%French literature, French, plays, and
| French social life, 5i Atlast, as; a natural
and, necessary sequence, we have Gene
We've, de Brabant, than which there can
be- nothing beyond, until another a phra
Behn arises to write the, Ibrett0 of an
Opera Coufe, in which the characters
shall apear in 0u, as natura7i bus, and shall
dspeak and, act just, as il, there were no
restrictions, to be placed upon the IAN
guage, or, the movement of those who
cater, for the public amusement. -
1.-The Second AdYsntists, have not re-
Elinquished the hope of which 1 spoke in
, a recent letter. Elder Snow is positive
that the end is very near, and Sister
4 Benson predicts for all the wicked peo-
pile most agonizing time, when the last
4 horn, blows He says that the recent
conyuisions in South America and Cali.
fornia, are merely premonitory symp.
toms and that before long we shall have
l,oursshare of the fright and the damage
4 She laughs at ,Shakspeare's notion that
4 these things are merely strange efup-
'fcCES !" SIT - lsshTD"5N VyaMOt.e
With fssH Raa eitsS e6olic pinched and vexed
ky the imprisonmentof upruly wind aRL
Within her womb"
she says, is fat nonsense, geological and
4 physical; for these violent retchings are
s warnings giyenIto tue faithful to make
ready for the millenium.ai7When twitted
? with the fact that ttheseywarnings have
i been observed for many Thousand years,
4 she replied thatit is impossible for man
to read Alright the signs made by the cre-
ator, and that the ridicule which attach
es to those who have prophesied incor-
lgectly is ont of place, "a single mis-
] take, ina GfiallSnlation is sufficient" she
bnt we can fw aff1r4as Us Jaa back thousand years,
that the blessed day is coming"
You may be pleased to learn that we
: of Gotham are now enjoying beautiful
sunshiny days and lovely moonlight
nights. Never has there been more
f delightful season between the sobby'
f rainy, drizzly autumn, and the cold
snowy, dreary days of winter, than that
/, which blesses us now.