New-York tribune., 1875-03-05
The ME4NDERIEG DRAMA.

the he and she sort, who give what are called
.dramaticn performances. Under the pre-
tense of doing this, such disgusting indecen-
cies are presented to foolish young men and
fooaher old ones, that in many instances which
have lately come under our observation, the
police have been compelled to interfere, to
break up the show and to order the show
folk out of town. Such exhibitions,
cheap and uncean as tney are, 90
infinite harm in more ways than one;
for while they forward and feed that latent
prurience from which no community, great or
small, is entirely free, they bring the decent
drama into disrepute and strengthen the hands
of those who are TOO ignorant or too blgotcd
to make justidistinctions. Anything more ior-
lorn, anything more repulsive to the possessor5
of the smallest good taste, than these nova
bic nuisances, it Is impossible to conceive CT.
The music is bad the auditorium Is squalid
and uncomfortable the scenery, what there
is CT it, unlike anything on earth; the
actors cannot utter three consecutive
sentences grammatically; and the ae-
tresscs are CHASTITY, painted, padded
creatures, and badly painted and padded at
that; while il daucing be their business, they
have 20 more idea Of dancing than PAIR CT
tongs. Yet having been told that it is wicked,
curious fools will give twenty-five and even
fifty cents to see q sight, in comparison with
which the side-show which humbly follows
circus with one snake and two "nigger min
"srels" rises to the loftiest regions of re-
spectabilty. Now, when an unsaycry com
bination like this reaches village,
having for some time before plastered all
its walls and fences with pictorial abomi-
nations, We DO net think it at all strange that
the clergyman of the neighborhood is aShast
at the invasion. He does right to be. tie
does his duty when he warns his parishioners
and his Sunday scholars against attending the
presentation. II religion were out Of the
question, and even if morals were out CT the
question, il the matter we're merely matter
of taste. the parson would still be right in his
denunciations. Before We find bitter fault
with cergymen and write them down over
righteous and over-rigid, we ought In
common Justice to take into account
the grave responsibilities of their position.
They have been called by us to do what we
censure them for doing. We pay them to
take care of our morals. We have engaged
them to tell lis when we are going wrong or
are getting unsteady. Whether the pulpit
shall be abolished and the clerical function
shall pass into desuetude, is another question
which need not here be discussed; bat while
we have censors of orr own choosing, it is
unfair to deny them the liberty of censorship.
Now we say plainly that if we were the pas
tor-if we may suppose anything SO absurd
of the First (and only Congregational
Church in Sweet Auburn, and if the
hamlet were subjected to an invasion of these
Sylvester Daggerwood5 and Dorothy Draggle
tails, we should certainly advise people in
pretty loud language not to rush to the diver
tisement. We should run the risk of being
called bigoted, fanatical, and even subacidu-
lated. Moreover, if bad business in the cities
had driven the sawdust calves to an unusual
degree into the rural districts, we might in
some council, convention. conference, or synod
move a resolution against those mendacious
protuberances, and support it with such elo-
uuence as we could command for the occa-
sion.
1t is, we admit, little irritating to con-
slider the mischief which these dancing,
p0sturing, painting parasites of the drama are
doing. Why do some clergymen denounce all
dramaticals : Why do they lift up their
voices against what might be altogether, and
to a great extent already is, harmless and even
profitable diversion What was it so scared
the Methodist Episcopal preachers of Cincin-
natl the other day' Why were they frightened
into passing three resolutions because tho
girls OF the Wesleyan Female College had
acted. for their own amusement and that
of their friends, play called Little Women "
in the College Chapell Why did they declare
that "the modern theater is evil, and only
"evil, and that continuallyN What led them
to state as truth this extraordinary untruth?
to snub the poor little women, and their harm
less, decent play4 Was it not because of
Senorita ida and Mesdemoiselles Therese
Celeste, Augusta, Lucille, and the rest of the
berouged bevy g--oecause of Messrs. Morti-
NOR, Stanley q Co. travelling about the cOun-
try with the fossil remains and the surviving
smells of the Black Crook, and with the Graces
and glOries of half a dozen Bowery beer base
ments The Cincinnati Methodist clergymen
may not know much of the real drama, but they
know altogether too much of the sins and
shames which have stolen its name. There is no
reason in the world why the girls of the Wes-
Ieyan College should not act little play if
they please. Properly done, it will 90 them
good it will help their elocution and improve
their carriage; it will cultivate their memories
and relieve them from the strain of severer
studies 1t is hard, it isn't in the
least pleasant, that the denouncers of
the drama should have so much truth upon
their side. 1t is harder still that they will not
the mischief which they may do
by holding the dramatic art responsible for
the sins and iniquities of haugers-on and pre-
tenders, the refuse and spawn of the theaters.
tLax IL