Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-28
PULPIT AND STAGE ARTISTS.
why There is NO Longer q Vital Con-
tr0versY Between Church and The
ater-Rev. Mr. Rockingham Con-
sideriaE and CrIticising the
Work of the Modern
Actor.

new lOrk " ora, Z4Cns lnS sage,
Rev. Mr.. rockingham said yesterday morn
trolling forces of mankind. 1t should, ac-
cordIngly, be neither sighted, despIsed nor
set aside as of no account. 1t teaches,
moves, actuates and inspires men and women,
old and young, and it is high time that the
old quarrel between the pulpit and it, which
was earnest and honest while IT lasted,
should be ended. It had its legitimate
causes, but they exist no longer. No thought
full person who knows the needs of society
should ever allow himself henceforth to speak
lightly or dlsparaglngly of an Institution SO
universal and popular as the stage. The
quarrel should be ended, too, because neither
the pulpit nor the stage is what 1t was when
1t began Pulpit dogmas have fallen into
discredit, and that doctor of divinity who
should tell class of students in these days
that the representatives and followers of re-
hgIon are united against the stage would
talk foolishness, even for doctor of divinity.
The character of the stage has been so far
changed that all of its worst features have
been pruned, anu there is no longer anything
or shadow OF anything to offend the most
fastldious taste or to wound the most delicate
sensibilities In any of our frst-class theaters
Ladies and gentlemen go to theaters without
being ashamed OF themselves, and without
forgetting for an instant what becomes gen.
tiemen and ladies. | have seen doctors of
OlNlnlJy IN DldJ1OuSeS IN new OK, Lon
don ana in Paris, and the Iii; tie sChurch
around the Corner has among Its most re-
spected members actors and actresses. Thus
the two professions mingle. Actors go into
society and society goes to the play. The
time has come, then, for argument, not for
Remuneration, aud the argument should be
fair and the discrimination lust"
lit mas been said" Mr.. rockingham went
on, after promising that the offices of the
stage and pulpit were distinct, that the
stage Is superior to the pulpit because It
draws the most people. Is that an argument?
The worst and most discredItable things are
apt to be the most popular / will venture
that more people went to Gilmore's garden
week before last than to all the theaters to-
gether; bull-fght, a dog fight, a bear
show will attract more people than Hamlet
Emerson's Nature, which has worked revo-
luton IN literature, had been published
twelve years before FIVE hundred copies were
sold, and could mention a novel of which
twelve thousand copies were sold within a
fortnight after publication. In music, where
one person plays Wagner or Beethoven, one
hundred play Ofenbach. In painting, it is
not Raphael who delights, but the one who
excels 10 putting on the strongest contrast of
colors and thus appeals to the lower senses.
Is all this an argument against what is really
best? | trust not. 1t is to the credit of the
pulpit that but few people flock to it, If they
not to instruct. That is why it cannot be
compared with the pulpit, whose office is to
educate morally human society. Whenever
the stage has tried to elevate society morals
1t has failed. Herein Is a primary reason
why it should not try to do so, nor be ex-
pected to try to do so. Again, the stage is
Elusive, delusive, artificial. We 90 to the
theater not to see life, but representation of
certain phases of life. 1t is not our cul-
ture, but our fancy, which Is addressed.
There Is no logical connection bet what
trapspires on the stage and actual life. If
anything revolving is to be done the imagi-
nation Is left to prey upon tit is not done
openly. The scene is not laid In Broadway
1t does not mean the people of Wall street
or Fifth avenue, but it means old Venice or
somewhere about which we know nothing.
1t is a picture with the thick layers of time
over 1t. Accordingly the demi-gods above
and below are loudest In applause of the very
virtues which every day they violate, and
men cry like babies over piece of sentiment
and go home and beat their wives nearly to
death. In the third place there is, should be
and must always be a divorce between the
actor as an artist and as man. Vice eradi-
Gates the actor as man as summarily as it
does the merchant or fnancier. Bat as an
artist his responsibility is laid aside. 1t is
his whole duty to perfect art, and the more
completely he suppresses his Individuality
the more perfect is his art. If austerity of
conscience lnterteres with art, art is spoiled.
1t Is so IN other lines of art. 1t is none of our
concern who paints picture so long as 1T
Is artlstlcally done. A good man may paint
a very bad picture and good artist may
be very bad man. On the other hand, a
preacher is supposed to be good man. His
character and his preaching must be in &C.
cord. 1t is his business to set forth moral
truths from moral background. Theaters,
In the next place, must pay, and that makes
it necessary that the stage should not be far
In advance of the people to whom it looks for
patronage. But preacher is not expected
to keep to the level of the morals of the COM
munity with which he is dealing. He assumes
a position above society. He proclaims the
divine law and holds up the highest standard
of goodness. If he descends to the level of
the community he is deserted, disapproved and
denounced as trlckster. That is looked for
in him which would throw an act.r assuming
1t into discredit. But should the STAGE be-
cause it amuses, be derided? Not In the
least. There is no more honorable work than
that OF sweetly, innocently and honestly
diverting and recreating men and women.
Amusement takes the bitter gall from pain,
the sting from care; 1t untles the knotty
hber OF puzzled brains; it frees the mind of
the miasma of melancholy, and restores men
10 their natural and free relations with each
other. Acting is the art of arts, if done hu-
namely, and the high comedian who can
urn an audience to tears or smiles deserves
lot merely applause, but profound respect.
Those who cultivate and are proud of this
Irt are persons who are attaining with il the
highest refinement, and refinement of this
lind is attended with cultivation of character.
oftlness of demeanor and 6neness of speech.
hat Is the aromatic fragrance of character
which no real ar ist of the pulpit or stage
eglects. Hence the stage has before it a |
roud future, and the time is coming when |
ne theater will be one of the finest forces |
Or the refinement and education of man