The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-12-26

Grating influence over the stage. 1t
was short-sighted when it allowed SO
effective an engine as the drama to
drift away frnm it.
He denied that the stage had de-
generated. 1t had, like governments
and individuals, been emancipated
from the shackles of ignorance and de-
potism of super stition. A voice
prompted partly by hate and partly
by fear. cried out: ''Shall it not be
banished from the face of the earth ?"
That voice had been ringing along the
corridor of ages. but the stage still
lives, because across it wss written
That which God has planted in man
can never die" The stage was the
highest development of the love of
spectacle. which was born in the hu-
man heart.
THERE WAS NO OTHER PRODUCTION
of the senses of sight and hearing which
satisfied so completely--no other which
reached the emotions ami sympathy of
humanity so quickly, none which illus
trated so wildly the story of human
life. 1t advanced with true christian
spirit. with no elemen of hate or COM
bativeness in its nature. If insuited
it responded: 'Onr enemies cannot
kill us; we can afford. to suffer and
progress,
The second born of tie triumvirate
was the church. which had professed
ever since the birth to hold I'm IFS hand
all the good there was in man OH this
earth, and to control his destinies in
the life to come After referring +"
its selfishness and greed "for the glory
of Z'on." he said the cruelties of the
church came down for this side of the
Reformatien-reached down even to
our own day. but in wonderfully
modified form, being compelled to
yield to a superior civilization which
other forces had established. 1t no
longer availed itself of the implements
of torture-the only implements ever
invented under its patronage. Its
burden was heavier than the cross its
Hebrew antelope imposed upon the
Savior, and it grew weaker as the
world grew stronger. On AL sides
we saw disintegration. and confusion.
and plaintive voice asked, "What is
the trouble with the church = The
trouble was the entrance was too mar
row. 1t did not appeal to the iudg-
ment of man in offering him childish
promises and foolish threats. 1t had
not touched the proper chord in the
human heart or it would meet with
universal response. While it claims
monopoly of the only true God, it was
an abject devetee of Mammon. 1t
reveled in millions of idle capital, free
from taxation, which might build
schools, libraries and temples of art.
1t made no prefer of good-fellowship,
or, if it did. it was with icy GOODNESS
save with him who had long purse.
1t adhered to its own methods. offering
dogma and superstition as pabulum
to a people who had
LEARNED To THINK AND REASON.
1t had planted itself i'm the light Of
progress-had failed to keep pace
with the progress of the world, and
was fast becoming a relic Of exploded
methods.
The next child was the press, des-
tined to emancipate mankind from ig-
norance and superstition. About the
The time Of It's birth theWestern Hem
sphere was discovered, as if "a cradle
wer5 needed for the repose oe and lib
erty of he child, in which it might be
rocked until it grew TO be mans
greatest hope in the present life.
He spoke of its advent on the
American continent and of its prog.
ress-the stage regarding il with
mirth, and the church as the offspring
of the devil. The history of printing
during the last three centuries was
written only in the progressive history
of man. Since the invention of print
ing and the discovery Of America the
progress of man had been greater than
during the fifteen preceding centuries,
when The church was the guiding star
of the human race. The press of
America had achieved greatness and
liberty, blu: it bad not always been
faithful to its mission nor bad it al
ways respected the power it welded.
But, unlike the pulpit. 1t had always
been progressive. 1t had cost many
lives, and brought dire distress upon
many happy home by the license
which it assumed. It's personalities
from an impersonal, aHi. too frequent
lv. from an irresponsible source, were
a blot upon its escutcbeon which could
never be rubbed out. Its dealing i'm
. e Il