The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-02-03

markaOl6 Things Ln6y near HDOuV -
during the next twenty years, Ninety
Ave Of them will probably be equally
BIT ! must pass on from
perso nalities to principles, and l am
going to preach three or four saopathi
morning sermons on the right KIND OF
amusements and kindred themes. Inere
can be no more important question just
now than the one l have already pro-
pounded: "What shall we do with tne
dramatic element G has implanted In
most of our natures?" Peoule speak OF
the drama as something entirely outside
of ourselves, something built up by the
sheridans, and the Congreves and the
Skakperes of literature. And then men
are supposed to attune their tastes to
correspond with this human invention
So far from that the drama is a mere
echo of the dramatic elements in most
of u.s. and first beheld in the domestic
scene enacted by children three years
old, with dolls and cradles and carts
and ten years after in the moss.houses in
the woods; and ten years after that IN
the parlor Charade, aud after that In the
elaborae @ impersonations at the Acad
envy of Music Thespis, E'chylus, Soph-
ocles, Euripides, only dramatized What
was in the Greek heart. Terence, Plau.
tus and Seneca only dramatized what
was in the Roman heart; CoDgreve and
Farouar what was in the English heart;
Schiller and Goethe what was in the
German heart; Corneille and Racine
and ALTER dramatized what was in the
French and Italian hearts Shakspere
dramatized what was in the worlds
heart. The dithyrambic drama, the
classic drama. the romantic drama, the
sentimental drama, echoed from the soul
of man While there may be only a
comparative few who can dramatize,
nearly all are moved by the dramatic, as
NAV be seen in churches on a warm
summer day, when, after forty minutes
of soothing didactiC discourse, under
which people sleep 'in the valley like
grasshoppers for multitude" until sud
denly the minister strikes an Illustration
and changes the pulpit tone to a natural
conversation, in which two or three per-
sons are represented as talking to each
other, and instantly all the people are
wide awake.
lam not now speaking of the drama
on the library shelf, or the drama in the
playhouse, but Of the dramatic element
in your soul and mine, No need of
talking against it as though it were
something for which mar was RESPONSE
bic. He is responsible for any perVer-
sion of it, but is not responsible for its
original implautation. That is Gods
work, and / suppose He knew what de
was about when He made us. We are
all, or nearly all, affected by the spectac-
ula-. We find our emotion of gratitude
more deeply stirred when, on Thanks
giving Day, we have before our eyes in
the decoration of the church the cotton
and rice, and wheat and corn and apples.
We are moved to fearful tenderness
when, on Easter morning in church, we
read in letters of flowers, "The Lord
has Risen." All parents like the school
exhibition with its recitation and dia.
logues and costumes The torch-light
procession of political campaign is a
mere dramatization of the principles
involved You can not intelligently
look 10 any secular or religious direction
without seeing this powerful element in
human nature revealing and unrOlling
and demonstrating itself You can no
more suppress it than you can suppress
its Creator. You may direct it. You
may educate it, You may purify it.
You may harness it for multipotent use.
fulness; and that is your duty. Just as
the taste for the beautiful and the sub.
lime are to be cultivated by bird haunted
glen and registering stream and cataracts
let down in uprOar over mossed rocks,
and day lifting its banners of victory in
the east and setting every thing on fire
as it retreats through the west and Aus
terllz and Waterloo of August thunder
storms blazing their batteries into one
sultry afternoon, this round gathering
tear of world wept on the cheek of the
night. So the dramatic faculty ought to
be cultivated in every lawful way, by
every antithesis, by every tragic scene
in every day life. The plainest day of
the plainest man is in some sense his'ri-
oniC. This faculty existing in almost
all, in some sense is exceptionally strong
or weak, just as there may be million
appreciative of poetry to one poet. To
England one Tennyson, to France one
Victor Hugo, to America one Longfel-
low. AS there may be million appre-
ciaive of music. To Norway only one
Ole Bull, to Germany one Wagner, to
the United States one Morgan. In the
Scriptures God ha administered to the
dramatic faculty. You can hardly open
your Bible anywhere without your eyes
falling upon g drama. Here it is in the
Book of Judges. A fr-tree, q fig tree,
an olive tree and vine and bramble.
They each make speeches, and the whole
scene ends in a corona ion, in which the
brambe is made king. A political
drama. Here it is the Book of Job.
Euter Eliphsz aud Bildad and ZDphar
and Elihu aud Job. The first act of the
drama full of darkness, the last act full
of sunshine. Hunting mining, medi
cine, music, coinage, engraving, sea-
tered up and down the acts. Whirwind
and lightning and earthquake and bright
pasture fields, the shifting scene. Mag.
nifeent drama There it is in Solo
mons Song. Place with Oriental sur.
roundings, vineyards, pomegra 7ates,
Aocks of sheep, gardens of spice, mount,
aims Of myrrh. a wooing bridegroom
and bride. DIALOGUE after dialogue.
Most intense, all suggestive drama !
Here it is in the New Testament
Wealthy mansion at night; all the win
dows bright with illumination, and the
floor squake with the dance. Returned
son in silk robe, which perhaps did not
fit him very we'll, because it was not
made for him but he had to put off his
old clothes quickly and get ready for
this extemporized levee. Older son
pouting at the back door; and refusing
to enter because there is such a great
fuss made. Tears of sympathy running
down the old mans cheek at the story
of his wandering sons sufferings, and
tears of ~ at his return. Our Profess
sor Murdoch reCited that in one of his
lectures, and you would not know
whether to sob or shout. ReVivals of
religion have broken out at the reading
OF that soul-revolutionizing drama of
the Prodigal Son. Here it is, in Revela-
tion's crystalline sea-pearline gate