The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-12-08
BEEcHER AT THE rHEArpr
IPeck's Sun

The relations of the church and ,a.
 stage are becoming closer each year ,nS
 IT the sentiments of each towards .b.
 other continue to become softened .ss
 tune IS not far distant when the gre.-e
 room will be filled with preacher, h.-
 tween the acts, and after church sery,Ss.
 the ministers will go down into the or.
 gregation, and hug the actors. as.
 Sunday Henry Ward Beecher. who bas
 attended the theatre during the week
 and witnessed the performance of Ir,ing
 and Miss Tery, came from the pulpit and
 met the two, who had returned the cor-
 pliment and came to hear Beecher preach
 and grasped the actor by the hand ana
 introduced him to many leading chcrcb
 members, then fastened on to the Terry
 giri and took them home to dinner w,,b
 nim, and was so busily employed tina, he
 did not attend Sunday-schooi as is h,s
 won't. This is all right because i. <
 beecher, but suppose some of OUT local
 preachers should do the same thirg by~
 actors and actress who are here eeer,
 week and who are far better in nom. o,
 genus, education and morals, wha,
 howl there would be. And yet if Beecher
 sets the fashion, many others will follow
 and the Sunday school will be fo.yo
 while the pastor hobnobs around hs
 festive board with the latest stage SIC.
 cesses. If a minister may do this or one
 Sunday with Irving and the Terry g.r,.
 ne may do 1t hty-one other Scrd,ys
 with better actors and actresses, fer i; .s
 generally admitted that Irving Is loo5,
 the worst actor that has ever strucA ;h5, country Henry Ward Beecher preteads to be follower of the meek and !owty
 Nazarine, and yet it would be had n convince the majority of the straight backed, orthodox church members Ina. If the Savior should come to e.r.b . second time that He would make bee iine for theatre and occupy a box .o see any over advertised cockney play Shyiock," or that He would say to Ir- ing, If could not be Christ l would be Henry Irving" Beecher is alleged ;o have said that if he could not be Beeche.. he would yearn to be Irving. Bah Such disgusting taffy telegraphed over the country make people sea-sick. The .Sun does not blame Beecher for going to the theatre if he feels like it, and pays his money, but to make a show of himself. and parade couple of foreign nine-spots in front of his pulpit, for advertising our- poses, makes our old christian mothers shed tears of genuine sorrow. Many actors are better than many preachers. and on the average they conduct .aen,- selves as well, and many plays have as good moral as sermon, but the stage and the church are separate institutions. and never can be welded together, even It an occasional star preacher loses his cud and acts like a calf. If the con- gregations follow Beecher's examnie. al cannot entertain lrving's and Terrys. so they will have to take their choice out ot what IS left, and we will see a deacon attending Pat Rooney show, and l .av member going 1t blind at female min strel show. When it comes to art. Rooney pictures the character of the low Irish caucus whanger as we'll as Irvine does the Shylock, and the German come dian who comes out and dances with wooden shoes and an emigrant coas is as much a success in his part as the man that Beecher toadys to is in his oar,. Certainly the man who persona,es kich- ard the Third, a character conspicuous for its meanness and cruelty, is nc more entitled to respect than the coloreG man who represents Uncle Tom, or the variety actor who takes part where he is al. ways on deck to protect innocence and punish the guilty. Let the bars entirely down. and let the church members and the actors ard actresses mingle as freely as they please, according to their stations in their respective professions, or keer the bars up and let each go it alone I, will not do for Beecher to have d. the fun. Actors and actresses are mighty good company, and other preachers and other congregations will not be slew 10 md It out il. Beecher once sets the ex ample, and keeps it up until it is fashion able. A western preacher is ar old school-mate of man who is playing in variety theatre, and would like to nee, the old friend and talk over the cid times when they both smoked out of the same bag of tobacco, and stole water-rneions from the same farmer but the minister changes pulpit with another minister in a different town when the variety actor Is billed where the minister breaches. for fear he will meet the variety actor and slap him on the shoulder before he knows it and say, " How are you Bill 2" know ing his congregation would hold up their hands ID holy horror at seeing him talk ing with wicked theatre man. And ye; the variety actor gives more money to the poor each year than the poor minis ter earns. Let Beecher and a lot of,hose high-toned preachers issue a circular or pamphlet embodying set of rules for the guidance of other truly good people, telling how far it is perfectly proper and pious to go in assooiating with the peo- pie of the stage, and who it is no, wicked to invite to dinner and to hug in church. and great load will be taken fron, many pious mind.