The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-02-10

VlaLlDg bDhkbp6f6th lohIo' 1AlAo NOAy
much to hear thirty pages Of "Milton's
Paradise Lost" but should be sorry to
have to hear the whole book at one sit
ting, In our new institution nothing
will be considered as tit for the platform
that would be unfit for the parlor. BY
no law of coma mon sense or OF morality
can that which is unfit for five people to
hear and see, become fit for fifteen hun
dred people to hear and see. All the
scenes shall be as Uhaste as was lecture
of Edward Everett or a sermon by +.
W, Robertson. On the platform Of our
institution shall be admitted only such
men and women as would be welcome
to our homes. We shall not require them
to be professors of religion. There are
professors OF religion l would not want
either in my parlor or my kitchen. We
Judge of people not by what they pro.
fess to be, but by what they are, But
those who come on the stage OF our in-
stitution must be ladies end gentlemen,
with all that these terms imply, such as
we would like to have sit at our table,
and introduce to our children, and with
whom we should not be compromised II
found walking with them down Broad
way.
On the platform of our Spectacular"
should come no inebriate, no Carouser,
no cyprian, no foe of good morals, mas
culine or feminine. 1t is often said you
have no right to discuss the private NOR
als of public entertainers. Well, dc as
YOU please with other institutions; in
our Spectacular" we will have on our
platform only good men and good wo-
men in the ordinary sense. Get such
platform built, and many a genius who
as vet has the dramatic element in his
nature suppressed, because he had not
seen the right sphere in which to move
it, will turn out on that platform to thrill
the world with his impersonations. Yea
there are giants in the dramatic world
waiting to step right over upon this new
platform of our new institution. This
Spectacular would combine the best mu-
sic, the best architecture, the best geni-
us six nights of the week, on the side of
intelligence and good morals. Does tbs
plan of such an institution seem Chim5r'
icaP l reply, only one man OF large
means, somewhere between here and
San Francisco need see and appreciate
it, and with $4,000 or 100000 he can
do more good than the Lenoxes, or the
LawrenCes or the Peabodys have done.
He will settle for all nations the question
of famusements. At first requiring capt.
tai donated, after one year the idea wo d
take care of itself, and the Reform Asso.
citation Co., would find that it paid well,
not only in morals and social elevation,
but in annual dividends in bard cash,
To such an institution | would 90 once a
week the rest of my life, with my fam
ily, and nine out OF ten of the families of
Christendom would patronize it when
they had the opportunity. | expect to
see the day when, without bringing upon
myself the charge of inconsistency as
minister of the Gospel of the good old
Presbyterian church, | can go and see
at the new institution, Hamlet, and the
Merchant of Venice, and Hunchback.
As it is, the dramatic element in a great
many of us goes uncultiyated and unre
gaed. For my love of pictures | may
go to the art gallery. For my love of
music / may 60 to the concert; for my
love of literature l may 60 to the lyce
um; but for my love of the dramatic, as
strong as the other passions, there is
nothinc but njunCtion and prohibition.
Unless you establish this new institu
ton, or something equally pure and good
and entertaining, you may thunder away
against evil amusements till the last day
of the worlds existence, and all without
avail. This dramatic element God i'm
planted in our natures will drag out an |
mb over and tramp under foot every
effort at suppression. If you can not
guide it into right directions it will go
into wrong directions. 1t will be either
angel or satyr. We want for this ele
ment of our natures an institution indie
pendent of church and theater. The
church tries to compromise the matter
by giving entertainments of varioussorts,
sometimes called charades, magic Ian
terms or something else, which for fifty
cents you can 20 and see, the proceeds
to 90 to some charitable object. So, on
an extemporizsd stage in the church or
lecture room, you see David and Coli
ath, or Joseph Sold Into Egypt" The
chief difference between such eXhjbi
tions and the theater is, the former are
not skilled.
Because the fifty cent exhibition in
the church is not 80 we'll done as the ex.
hJbition in the theater, you think it is
nearer to being pious. The old elders
do not object to the performance, because
they do not want to make trouble in the
church, and the minister atones next
Sabbath for the dramatic exhibition in
church by anathenatizing in manner
little more vitriolic and brimstoney the
playhouse, and 80 all are cheated except
God. Now, lei US havs an institution
which, without any deception or soph.
istry, we can patronize and support-an
institution so uncompromisingly .ood
we can attend without any shock to our
religious sensibilities, though the day
before we sat at the Holy Sacrament. l.
will not be dull entertainment, because
it is good. There is more fun in virtue
than in sin. The only way to scatter
darkness is by clear light, and to wash
out filth is by clean water, and to drown
ulbCOru ID Dy Iu6 uEuM Dehb anu uuLo
wsrble and trumpet blast of grand har.
mony, and the way to overcome the de-
praving and besotting and soul.destroy,
ing entertainments of our great cities by
the establishment of model "Spectacu,
lar" under the control of Reform En-,
tertainment Association, composed Of
the purest and best women of the world
and the church. The philanthropist
who has the money and the brain and
the heart to inaugurate this movement
will be the man of the nineteenth CEN
tury, the church of God and the whole
human race his everlasting auditors. But
until this new institution is built do not
be led into condemnation Of the dranat.
iC element in your nature. For the graf
ification of that one taste do not sacrifice
your purity, your influence, your soul.
Remember, the recrestions of life are
only for the intefstiees, and to rest from
other hard work. He who does nothing
but hunt for amusement is like man
who loses diamond among the rocks,
and looks for it, regardless Of the preci-
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