Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-05-05

down in barroom with bevy Of village
loafers and expect to get moral elevation
from them as from the popular play Ticket
ot-Leave Man" with its pictures of villiany
and low slang. "a New Way to Pay Old
Debts" is a practical eulogy on deception il
it be prscticed on the bad, and the men and
women who go, into theatre and see Sir
Giles" come away not so pure as when they
went. "She Stoops to Conquer is as full o.
moral malaria as Roman campagna Of ty-
phus fever on an August night. Write Oil
yerfGoldsmiths name on it and at the bot
tom of it and at the close of each act and
you cannot cover the profane and sacrilgous.
The School for Scandal is rotten clear
through with laciviousness and if man
should go into your house and take that
play from under his arm and read certain
passages to your family the bones in his
body which were not broken would not be
worth speaking of. :
But who would have the heart to mention
the "Don Cesars," the "Barmaids," and the
Peg WoffingtOnS" and Lady Gayspank
ers, " and the "Courtlys," and the poltrOons
and the scapegraces, and the people minus
all excellencies, plus all denominations that
gather men, women, boys and girls by tens
of thousands, night by night into the
Lazaretto of the average American theatre.
An average Of thousand boys of this city
every night breathe this pestilence. Hear
it parents who let your boys stay out till III
o'clock without finding where they baye
been; hear it, philanthropistS, who want the
coming generations to be better than this.
Once in while great tragedian renders
King Lear, or Hamlet, or Merchant OF
Venice in the presence of entranced audi
enccs but that style of play is in as small
proportion 10 the imbecilc and depraved
rlavs of America as the few drops of good
blood are to the bad blood in man who
a><cd out of yellow fever into asiatic
cholera and is nov winding mp with first
clas, small pox From the style Of theatri-
cal rlayS which have been in majority for
.hr last ten wears, conclude that the
American theatre is not improving in high
moral tone
Rescue the Drama.
Now demand that there be conspiracy
10 rescue the drama from its vile surround
ines. Let all reformerS and philanthrOpists
TIE drama is not the theatre. The theatre
is human creation. The drama is the liter
ary expression of feeling which God put
in the human soul. Some people speak Of
the drama as though it were something
built up outside of ourselves by the Con-
greves and the Goldsmiths and the Shake
spc ares and the Sheridans of literature and
that then we attune our tastes to correspond
with human inventions. Not at all. The
drama is an echo from something divine
inn lanted in our immortal souls. 1t is seen
first in the domestic circle among the chill
dren of three or four years playing with their
dolls and their cradles and their carts; some
ten wears after in the play houses Of wood;
ten wears after in the parlor charadeS and
after that in the elaborate imperSOnatlonS in
the academies of music. Thespis, and Is
chvluS, and Sophocles and Euripides merely
tramatized what was in the Greek heart
Tcr,ac, Plantus and Seneca merely drama
tied what was in the human heart. Con-
grrye and Earguhar merely dramatIZed
what was in the English heart Racine,
Corrrille and Afcri only dramati2ed what
was in the French and Italian hearts.
Shakespeare only dramatiZcd what was in
the great worlds heart The dithyrombis
and classic drama, the sentimental drama
and tie romantic drama were merely echoes
of the human soul
Shall we suppress it? You can easily
supprCSS its creator You NAV dl-
rect it, YOU may educate it, YOU may puri-
fy it. on may harness it to multipotcnt use
tuneSS and that it is vour duty to do Just
;iS we culture the taS;c for the beautiful and
the sublime by bird-haunted glen and rows
tpring stream and CataraCtS let down III up
ruar over the messed rocks and the day lift
ing Is banners of victory in the east and
.rtting everything on fire as it retreats
through the gates of the west and the Ans,
,erltz and Waterloo of an August thunder
storm blazing their batteries into - SUitry
afternoon, and the rouud ghtlering tear Of
this world wet on the check Of the nigh;
as in this way we culture our taS;c for the
beautiful and sublime so in every lawful
way we are to culture the dramatic element
in our nature by every StacCato passage in
literature by antithe,iS and SvntheS,s, by
every tragic passage in human life
The plaincst man has in his plaincSt lay
something histriOnic This dramatic ele-
ment in all our natures or nearly all our ma
lures. is exceptionally strong or weak in
some just as there may be million men
who admire poetry where there is only one
poet, one TcnnvSon to England, or one
lOngfellow to America. Just as there may
be million people who admire music
where there was only one Old Bull to Nor
way and one Wagner to America.
Good in the Theatre.
Now have to tell YOU that God has i'm
planted this dramatic element in our ma
lures but have to tell YOU in the sculptures
He cultures it. He appeal to it, He develops
it. do not care where YOU open the Bible
your eve will fall upon drama. Here il
| is in the Book of Judges The tir tree, the
vine, the olive tree the bramble-they al
make speeches. Then at the close of the
scene there is coronation and the bramble
is declared king. That is political drama
| Here il is in the Book of job: Enter Eli
phaz. Bildad, Zophar, Elihu and job. The
| opening act of the drama all darkness; the
closing act of the drama all sunshine
Magnificent drama is the Book of Job
Here it is in S6lomOn'S Song. The region
an oriental region-vineyards, pomegran
ateS. mountain of myrrh, flock of sheep
garden, of spices wooing, bride, bride
| groom, dialogue after dialogue after dia
logue, Intense, gorgeous. allsuggesting
drama is the Book of Solomon's Song
Here it is in the Book Of Luke: Costly
mansion in the night; all the window:
bright with the illumination; the foo
aoHake with the dance. Returned son ii
costly garments which do not very well n
him, perhaps, for they were not made fol
him, but he must swiftly leave off his ole
| garland prepare for this extemPorized leTee
| Pouting son at the back door too mad to g
in because they are making such fuss
Tears of sympathy running down The ole
mans cheek at the story of his sons wan
dering and suffering, tears of JOY at his re
turn. Hear MGrdock recite the Prodiga
| Son in one of his readings and you will no
know whether to sob or shot Revivals o
religion have been started under the reading
of that souLreyolutionizing drama OF th'
Il D.lssl -, Hara ~ IS in the hook O