Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-05-18
THE PLAYHOUSE.
A Minister Who Cries Out Against
Its Existence,
Alleging Thatit is Utterly Dsmcrali1ing---
A Discourse Addressed to Young
Men by DR.. Smith.

life on both aides Of the footlights was
the subject chosen by Rev. G. ~ Shott for
his discourse at the First Baptist Church
last evening. He prefsced his remarks by
reaGing from Acts xix from the list verse
TO The end of the chapter, following the
Scriptural selection with an earnest prayer,
Ills text was from Acts xix. 1881: They
rushed With one accord into the theatre
and when Paul would have entered IN unto
the people, the Disciples suffered him not
And certain of the chief Of Asia, which
were his friends. sent unto him, desiring
him that he would not adventure himself
into the theatre"
"a late poet" the speaker said, was fully
justified when he said
"'Ihe theatre was, trcm the very drst,
The faYorite haunt Of sin, though honest men,
Some very honest, wise and worthy men,
MAINTAINED it might he turned to good account:
And so perhaps it might, but never was.
From first to last, 1t was an evil place.
Tie stage was first known at Athens,
and upon that stage we're enacted
TRAGEDIES or THE DIREST FORM.
Theatres damage body, soul and mind. In
immediate sympathy with mans body Is
his finances. The man grows fat or lean
az his pocketbook grows fat or lean, and
therefore the advent of a costly luxury
directly affecting the pocketbook, also
affects the body. Men deny themselves
necessaries that they may patronize the
PLAYHOUSE; the pocketbook may be empty,
and if so the employers till will suffer; the
next night it suffers a little more, for not
content with going into the playhouse, the
Young man must go behind the scenes, the
next night he goes to the oyster saloon after
the theatre, with companion, and so on
from bad to worse, and all this series OF
evils is based upon
THE GAUDY ATTRACTIONS
hung out from the public opera house and
theater. Again, attached to every thestre
you will find a public bar, il not in the
same building, then next door, bearing
some hashy name, and the next thing you
see the young man who has .strayed into the
play house going out to beer up between
acts. Half or three-qusrters OF an hour OF
the excitement of q play renders the stimu-
lation to be derived from glass of brandy,
or whisky, or gin, if not necessary, at least
in some measure desirable, and so 1t ID
common thing to see the veteran theatre
goer' a veteran tippler and finally COM
mon drunkard. How is it that, if the the
atre be pure, as is claimed, that the thea
ire saloon is not abolished? What would
you think if some Christian church
should open saloon next door and call 1t
the First Baptist saloon, or the Second
PRESBYTERIAN beer garden? How ridiculous
that would be, because the church is
A RECOGNIZED SOURCE
of purity and responsibility Yet these
theatres, tolersting saloons at their very
portals, often under the same management
and in the same building are gravely an.
nounced as eminently respectable. And
right here" said the reverend gentlemen,
Il want to say that | propose to keep this
sort of thing up as long as | can. True, l
have been criticised to some extent, but tor
every critic ten persons have come to me and
said, That is Just the sort of talk we want;
keep it up will keep it up, and those
who do not like my plain facts can stay
away
The average theatre audience is not
high in morality The cry has always gone
up from the audience: A little more OBJ.
scenity,' q little more RIGHTEOUSNESS,
cut the skirts little shorter, give US a
little more gauze and little less of the
clothing of solid texture And the demand
is being supplied. 1t seems to me that the
theatre is
GROWING WORSE,
despite the conventional assertion that it is
growing better"
Again he said: Minds filled with stuff
which is daily set before US from the stage
are unfit for the nobler affairs Of life. The
oftener the man listens to the talk of the
actor and actress, and sees before his eyes
the tlashy and forced situations so frequent.
! " displayed, the less he becomes qualified
| 10 take hold of the commonest affairs OF
| life. The Iterateur, the musician, the
sculptor, the painter, the editor, the business
man, the mother and the young girl and
young man, must keep their minds and
hearts free from the obscenity of the foot,
lights if they would ever succeed
| in their chosen or expectant
occupations" The speaker drew vivid
pictures of the man who has kept himself
indebted of the stage, and of he who is
| affected with the theatre craZe-WnoSe brain
is constantly filled with the scenes behind
the footlghts-snd holding these two photo
graphs up to his audience, he asked which
was the better life TO lead.
he referred to the injury done to the soul,
and said that within the unhsllowed pre-
cincts of the stage, no sacred music was
ever heard and no sacred character was
ever portrayed. 1t has been said that the
stage originally was the chosen place for the
presentation of scenes from the scriptures.
! God forbids that such sacred things should
ever be mentioned in connection with
THE STAGE or TO-DAY.
He addressed himself to the business men
who employed young men and young wo
men, and asked them if they thought con
slant attendance at the theatre by their en-
ployes tended to better fit them for their
occupations, closing his remarks by refer
ing to a long list of authorities, ancient
and modern, in all departments Of life, who
had denounced the stage in uumeasured
terms. About seven hundred people were
present, and the discourse was listened to
with marked attention.