The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-05-17
THE NAUGHTY FRENCH DRAMA.
4 SMART CAsTIGATION FOR IMMORAL PLAYS
AND FOR THOSE OUTWARDLY RESPECTABLE
PEOPLE WHO GO TO SEE THEM.

The New York Times has the following to
say of a certain class of productions that
have recently become more popular than any
others upon the metropolitan stage:
Some French plays are very good, most o.
fhem are interesting, but some are so bad
that they ought never to be produced out OF
Paris. There, we believe, young persons OF
both sexes can 90 and see the "adnlterOus
drama" without being contaminated; but
it is not so everywhere else. The fOunda-
fion of most of the French plays recently
prp luced is what Macaulay described as
ByrOn's moral cOde-the art of hating your
neighbor and loving your neighbours wife.
There must be an illicit intrigue or it is
supposed that the comedy will not "take'
And the success Of these depraved works
goes far to justify the theory. Ladies go
an crowds to see them We think they make
a mistake in SO doing. Most young men set
ont in the world with belief in female pu-
lions of home or the associations of early life
are sufficient to produce this belief. 1t is
certainly not a wise course for women them
selves to seek to establish different belief,
or to break down that instructive dependence
anon their nobIeness of character which
does so much to elevate the intercourse be-
tween the sexes, which lies at the basis of
all home life, and which is one of the high
.cst Influences that can be brought to bear
ssn human mind and character.
STAGE WIVES AND HUSBANDS.
Yet, when wives or sisters ask to be taken
10 these French plays, or when they sit out
the performances, not only without remOn-
STRANGE, but with evident relish, they lower
their sex in a way which no amount OF mere
calumny or cynicism could ever do. What
are the lessons set forth That a woman is
perfectly justified in betraying her husband,
that she must be rather soft in the head if
she does not do it. The husband is gener
ally lOutish or stupid being, at whom
everybody laughs, and who is clearly seen
+. q, be proper victim for deception. If he
complains Of his wife's behavior, he is
depicted as monster of brutality. The
GLOVER" ON the other hand is represented
a. a chvalrous and delightful character,
the pink of fashion, man warranted to
win any woman's heart
The ordinance of marriage-the great safe
guard of women, if they only knew it's
brought into contempt and disrepute. Some
times the wife is represented as having been
a mother before her MARRIAGE terrible
revelation to many youth whose education
never taught him the accomplishments of
the modern French school. To speak plainly
ON the subject would doubtless shock many
q of orr lady readers, who, nevertheless, 60 to
the theatre and see the thing acted without
A blush. If the ideal of wOmanhOod with
(which, we repeat, most men start in life
thanks to our mothers and sisters-is I'M
speakably degraded, are not women them
selves largely to blame for it
THE FRENCH DRAMAT1sT AS A CORRUPTER.
The circle of human emotions is great
enough for all purposes without travelling
into this dangerous and polluted region. Is
there no love possible to the human heart
but illicit love? In these French plays the
n,iseries and disasters which are almost in
Vsriably produced by a guilty passion are
carefully left out Of sight The path Of the
transgressOr is strewn with roses. Every
man of observation knows how little the
picture corresponds with the reality. He
has seen the plly go on after the curtain has
fallen, and he knows that the comedy ends
IN bitter tragedy-homes broken up,
hearts broken, women and children brought
10 poverty, despair or a shameful grave.
The French dramatist does not care to ex-
aajbit the inevitable sequel to his little
drama. When he corrupted the minds OF
FMS audience, the remainder of his story is
recorded in police and divorce courts, or is
hidden away among those CHASTITY family Sc
esrets which are only too common III this sor-
rowing world.
THE pUTY OF AMERICAN WOMEN.
The attempt to excite interest by dealing
with the depraved and criminal aspects OF
E,fe rs not only wicked, but it is also abso-
saaisly unn cessary for the purpose really in
view. The feelings of the spectators can be
tx,syed as much by a story of virtuous love as
by a picture of profligacy-nay, far more so.
She true affection of young girl for her
anrst lover is one of the most beautiful things
an the world; no matter how long we live,
T9 ,sever ceases to touch the heart. We may
>sa1y at sentiment, but such relationship
:as islis strikes all tine chords of feeling, and
s-ysra in the hardened man of the world, it
;-Erumnons up recollections which he will
acknowledge to be more precious than any
fss,iug he has acquired in later life. The
sa7ited dramatist Of our own generation-too
.Fo.sn lost to the world-the late Mr.. Robert
sasg,, proved this in several of his dramas.
Nss play of "School" now being acted at
Sga2lack's Theatre, is work of this kind
zx takes one back imperceptibly to the morn
snlg of life, when glamour was still over
ssi,e world, and when the fair young maidens
s7G many a peaceful home seemed straight
From the hand Of God.
BEATIrUDE OF BETTER LOVE.
qnstesd of crushing the nObler instincts of
gaE., it revives and confirms them. No one
s.an complain Of any lack of interest in this
vHork-on the contrary it is intensely inter
ses15ng, and when the curtain falls people
ssse sorry that the evening has come to a
ss3oee 1t is greatly to Mr.. Wallack's credit
-sAat be has battled stoutly against the in
ezaaslation of the "adulterous DRAMA and
conducted his house i'll such way as that
NO father need be afraid to take his daugh-
tiev nbere. We sincerely hope that other
managers, equally enterprising, will follow
Ais example. The theatre is not necessa-
rIly an institution for demoralizing the
ninds of the yonng. Nor is public taste
1osdtcssly depraved, as is proved by the
sacf s.hat on the second revival of this very
play of "School" in London, it ran for five
hundred nights. A return to the legitimate
aacsions of the stage would not impair the
fs,rtnnes Of managers; and, as in most social
rsSersns, we must look chiefly to women to
isasist upon this one They owe it to their
<awn seif-respect, and to the honor of their
l&m 10 discountenance the infamous teaSflz
fngs Of the modern French dramatst, that
-all wUn,en are treacherous and base, and all
~scn submissive victims to the vilest treach-
,Gzy and fraud.