Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-05-12
THE THEATER.
Sermon by the Rev. L. r. Ollie at the
Sixth-street VI. T.. Church.

The announcement that Rev. l.. H. Dllle
pastor of the Sixth-street NJ. L. Church
would deliver sermon upon thu
Theater, caused that building to be filled
with large audience Sunday evening. The
recognized choir of twenty-five voice.
rendered excellent music. The minister
read for his text Luke vi, 43-44:
For good tree bringeth not forth corrupt
fruit neither doth u corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit. For every tree is known by us Owl
| fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, moi
OF bramble bush gather they grapes.
The speaker commenced by saying the
! dramatic instinct was Unborn. In childhood
we played ake-believe circus and school
as we grow older we hold to it, hence the
dramas, comedies and tragedies of the
stage. In all civilized lands are to be found
! traces of the drama. Donaldson, in writing
upon this subject, said THE dramatic
art, wherever it has existed as genuine
| product of the soil, has always been con-
nected i'll its origin with the religious rites
OF an elementary worship; that is, with
those enthusiastic orgies which spring from
personification of the powers OF nature.
This was the case in India and in those
parts OF Italy where scenic entertainments
existed before the introduction of the
| Greek drama. But in Greece this was so
not only in the beginning, but as long as
the stage existed and the circumstances
which gave to the Attic drama its chief
strength and its highest charms, was its
continued connection with the state wor-
ship of Bacchus. in which both tragedy
| and comedy took their rise. The theatrical
representations at Athens, even in the days
of Sophocles and Aristophanes, were con-
stituent parts of a religious festival. The
sacred to Bacchus, and the worship of the
god was always as much regarded as the
amusement OF the sovereign people.
The Greek drama came from the mire
and was never able to clear itself of pam
derlng 10 the grossness of the vice of men,
1t was ever characterized by grossness of
speech and action, exerting a corrupting
and demoralizing influence. The orgies of
| Bacchus was the principal cause of the
moral decay of Greece. Rome borrowed
| the drama from Greece. Most of the early
dramas are lost, yet the loss is not to be de-
plored. Their plots were the downfall of
the virtuous, the escapades of courtesans,
unfit to be rendered before an audience
that had the least claim to Responsibility.
| The degradation of the drama became so
| bad that actors were refused citizenship,
and in some instances banished Rome
seemed to revel in the grossness of dra-
matte degradation. Actresses were num-
bered by the thousands, while in Greece.
and even in China to-day, no female
is allowed to play upon the stage.
The Jews never had the drama, nor did
Christians for several centuries 1t was re-
garded by them as a heather innovation.
and one of gross immortality. In the mid
die ages there was no drama, but it was re-
yived i'll the days of Shakespeare. Some
not horn die
one of them, and his writings will live on
forever. Where there is one that learns of
Shakespeare's writings by seeing them
dramatiZed there are hundred who have
read them. Addison said, Would to God
our modern English drama was as moral
as was that of Greeks and Romans"
Greece and Rome had no Bible. England
had, she rallied and lived The early
dramatists were atheists and immoral The
puritanical fathers opposed it in England,
our pilgrim fathers opposed it in America.
and the Continental Congress passed the
following:
WHEREAS, True religion and good morals are
the only solid foundation of public liberty and
happness-therei be it
ResotUed, That il be and is hereby earnestly
recommended to the several States, to take the
most effective measures for the disbursement
thereof and the suppression of theatrical enter
tginments horse racing, gaming and such other
diversions as are productive of ldleness dissipa-
ton and general depravity of principles and
manners.
A dramatic writer in the PHILADELPHIA
Press recently said: The stage has
reached that point of degradation which
DR.. Jonson deprecated, which Byron de-
plored and which Mr.. Boucicault and the
manager of the Drury Lane have so lately
avowed and Endorsed in the columns of the
London Times: yes, shamefully and de-
family Endorsed, their argument being that
as the standard drama will not draw some
thing else must. The mountebanks are
not very particular what that something
else shall be, provided always that the pub
lie will tolerate their disgraceful descent
into the darkest ages of the drama, when
the stage was a place for the orgies of
satyrs and its songs were the music of in
fernal sirens"
Olive Logan, who comes from dramatic
family, but who left the stage for the more
genial walks of literature, saws "Young
women who go upon the stage are subjected
to insult and wickedness from managers
The latter look upon and treat them as
women of the town. | can advise no hon
orable, self-respecting woman to turn to
the stage for support with its demoralizing
influences, which seem to be growing
stronger and stronger day by dav, where
the greatest rewards are won by a set of
brazen-faced, clcg-dancing creatures, with
dyed yellow hair and padded limbs, who
have come here in droves from Europe"
To-day Shakespeare is the standard, but
he is not upon the stage but shelyed in the
library. Edwin Booth expended fortune
in erecting a theater in an unsuccessful
effort to elevate the legitimate drama. The
speaker named a large number of PLAYS
that have appeared at the Metropolitan
Theater and Clunie Opera House, and gave
an outline of the plot of each. East
Lynne, adultery, murder, and elopement
She stoops TO Conquer" a case of seduc-
ton, full Opportunity. Saratoga" replete
with profane passages and full of impure
suggestion " Led Astray" language used
in this play if used by young gentleman
in the presence of ladies would be regarded
as grossly insulting. Fresh, saloon. stable
and grog shop characters in which the at
tire of the female characters almost an
proaches nudity. French Flats" it is of
the French, Frenchy; play in which the
actions are suggestive, and the language of
the most indecent character Pink Dom
lnoes, the dramatic critics saw of this
play, lit is naughty but nice" He spoke
of the late Tivoli in this city saving it was
bar-room with dramatic attachment.
He appealed to all decent people to
refuse to patronize theaters so long as
they exerted such demoralizing influence.
The speaker said all theatrical people were
not bad. Salvini and Mary Anderson were
sample of some of the stars that stood ont
in bold relief. The theaters should not be
patronized because there are a few good
people upon the stage. The managers take
everything that comes along. You must
judge the theater in its entirety. When
you contribute to it you contribute to all
the vileness that appears upon its boards.
1t caricatures religion, disgraces the Sab
bath and assaults family life. Can You
afford to take your children to a place
whose only recommendation is that it is
decent occasionally? Answer that cues
ton as you would answer it on Judgment
day.
STOLEN CIGARS REcovERED.-James Hen
Messy, late of Boston, who WIS arrested by
officer Rider few days ago for burglariz-
ing Fabian Bros store, and also room at
the Central House, is in danger of gaining
notoriety for neglecting the truth The
officers found that several of his statements
were far from correct, and yesterday it was
discovered that his assertion that he put
the cigars stolen from Fabian's in a drawer
in room at the lodging house and left
them there, was disproved by saloon
E.aar 10 h.