The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1880-11-18
A Conscientious Divine AL
ludeS to Some of the De-
mOralizing Tendon
cieS of the Mod
ern Drama
And Excites the Ire Of a Strolling
Player, who Takes up the
cudgel for the Stage
And Compares the TinseIled Raj
ment of the Actor with the
Livery Of Heaven.
An Impudent Attempt to Hang the Sock and
Buskin on the Arms Of the Cross.

al Value of Money, taking for his
text, l Timothy, vi, I0-"For the
love of money is the root of all
evil.'' In terse and epigrammatic
way the Doctor went on TO show
that from a religious and moral
standpoint the value of money
was in proportion to the moral eff
fects it produces-that a dime
spent for dram, or a dollar invest.
| ed in circus tickets or cigars, was
certainly an Improbable and repre-
hensible expenditure, when one
might have been used in the pur
chase of testament, or the other
in procuring a years subscription
to a religious newspaper. The
dram, the circus tickets and the
cigars would prove positive inju
ry to the man, while the testament
and the religious newspaper would
be ministry of good to a whole
family. Following up this line of
thought the speaker declared that
we are accountable to God to the
extent of our ability TO do good or
evil, and that mans money carries
with it the power to do one or the
other, and as 1t is entirely under
his control, he is responsible for the
manner in which it is expended.
| Continuing the subject in another
aspect, at night, DR.. Leftwich took
occasion to allude to worldly vices
and pleasures, such as betting, switch
he characterized as only another
name for gambling, and theater-go
ing, citing them as instances in
which motley is badly employed,
when it might be put to bet
ter uses. Under this head he took
occasion to explain why the church
condemned worldly amusements.
The temptations to vice, he said,
reach men with more facility
through their social pleasures, and
that is the reason why the church
frowns upon them. In the crude
conditions of society, mere employ
ment affords sufficient stimulus to
the natural feelings to satisfy the
demands of ordinary life, but as
civilization advances, and the arts
and refinements which keep pace
with it multiply, men feel the neces
sity of lifting life out of the monot-
ony of dull duty and habit and Gre
ating by artificial means an inten-
sity of excitement which they real
ize through their sensuous condi-
tions. Here the distinction was
plainly made between "sensuous"
and sensual" In this intensity
of feeling men seek their happiness.
This is the basis of he fascination
of gambling. This same physical
and mental demand for excitement
drives men to romance and to the
theater.
Upon the subject of the drama,
DIR. Leftwich said he was free to
say that there were some high con-
ditions of the drama that are GER
tainly not immoral and may
not be improper to see. But
when Shakespeare said, "All the
worlds a stage and all men
the players" he was guilty of a
false statement for the reason that
the stage is not true representa-
tive of human liGe-it is rather au
artificial caricature of it. That
which represents life as unreal is
mIschievous in it's influence upon
human character. The stage, 1t
must be admitted, often falslfies
human life to such an extent as to
imperil public and private morals.
1t is for this reason that the pulpit
and the church condemn the stage
as one Of the popular amusements
that is vicious and immoral in it's
tendency. There has been recently
bold plea for the morality of the
stage made through the higher
forms of our literatrre-such as
magazines and quarterlies. How
does this plea stand in the light of
recent events connected with the
New York stage2 If the press is to
be believed, crowds of men spent
the livelong night before the theatre
to obtain tickets early next morn
ing to see French actress Sara
Bernhardt) who is a mother with
out having been a wife, and who
boldly and de6antly flaunts ner
shame in the faces of chris
tian mothers. After discussing
the morality of the stage
from this standpoint, DR.. Leftwich
then spoke of the unsatisfactory
and transitory character of these
excited conditions of life. Under
that clause of the text which says,
The fashions of the world pass
away and the lusts thereof; but he
that doeth the will o: God abideth
forever" he contrasted the sub
stantial hope in death of man
who plants bis life on the word Of
God and said this hope is worth all
the Bernhardts and Hunts in the
world, The last remark, as we
shall presently show, gave rise to a
controversy which produced consid.
cradle hubbub in the community.
Among DR. Leftwich's hearers was
a brother of Mrs. Julia A. Hunt,
who was then filling an engagement
at Antoinette Hall, as well as sew
eral members of her dramatic com
pany. These gentlemen construed
the association of Mrs. Hunts name
with that of the Bernhardt as an in
suit to the former lady, who is said
70 be q chaste and virtuous woman
and a member OF the Methodist
church. On the following day, Mr..
Hunt, the husband of the lady.
called upon Dr.Lettwich and reques-
ted an explanation of his language.
DR.. Lettwich received him with
much politeness and disclaimed
any intention of rejecting upon
J Mrs. Hunt personally and insisted
I that his Language would not bear
! any such construction. He con
tended that the use of the name
Hunt referred as much to the hus
: band as TO the wife and that if the
I proper connection were gwen &C
| il, It woald be seen that the allu
: sion was TO the calling, not to the
: character OF the actress. This ex
| PLANTATION seemed to satisfy Mr.
e Hunt, but later in the day dodgers
were issued announcing that Mr.