St. Paul daily globe., 1888-06-26
DISCUSSED THEATERS.
Meeting of the State Congrega-
tional Society.

Meeting of the State Congrega-
tional Society.
The meeting of the Minnesota State
Congregational society,at the First Con-
gregational church on the East side
yesterday afternoon and evening, was
very pleasant one and was largely at
tended. A pleasant supper was
served in the dining room by
the ladies from to o'clock. At
s o'clock the society was called to order
in the parlors of the church, and G. w.
Purple, w. S. Sawyer, G. A. B. Simp-
son and c. G. Brown elected 10 member
ship in the society. DR.. Dana. of st.
member of the society, on account of
going East, and committee was ap-
pointed to draw up resolutions of regret
and transmit them to DR.. Dana, The
literary exercises opened by paper on
"The Church and the Theater" by r. r,
Dorr, of St. Paul.
The theater was in the past and is
now largely place where the depraved
tastes of depraved human beings are
pandered to, the speaker said. The
state was the one to blame for
all this. for it should protect
its citizens from immoral plays
The theater, it can be said, corrupts the
young, leads to eXtravagant habits and
the like. Now. the church has built a
wall around the theater, and many men
now holding church offices think twice
before attending. A -theater can
not be made a school of morals.
as the aim of managers and
actors is to make money, and to this
they must present plays which suit the
taste of those who attend. But there
are two kinds of theaterS and two kinds
of actors and actreSSeS-good and bad.
The crowning error of the church has
been improper discrimination, and hold
ing that which is not a sin up as dark
and terrible sin.
The speaker branched out and showed
how in tunes gone by cards, novels and
billiards were considered wrong. But
things had changed. and the church had
awakened to the fact that people needed
some sort of recreation, and that cards
and the like were not dangerous when
used in their proper place. We cannot
afford to discriminate, continued Mr..
DOrr, against these amuSementS which
are not wrong. If man wants to see a
good play, when he knows it to be good
and clean, he should go and see
it. We should encourage pure
actors and actresses, and show
them that we appreciate their
efforts to make our lives brighter and
better. Denounce the bad in the thea
tiers and applaud the good. Do not
denounce it all because there are some
things wrong in it. The church is not
perfect yet, and for that reason we
Should give the theaters at least fair
show. Let the Christian public en-
courage the production of good plays
and rOundly condemn the bad ones.
A discussion of the paper followed.
DR.. Seaver, of st. Paul, thought the sub
ject a complex one and fit for a good
deal of discussion. On the whole he did
not see how the church had anything to
do with the theaters, but added that in
his opinion the people ought to make
the best of everything and not the
worst. People did not go to the
theater to be intellectually Instructed,
but to be amused. The theater began
with the expression of religious rites
and had deteriorated every year since.
Several other gentlemen made ad-
dresses, some holding that the church
| people had no business attending the
theater, while others thought there was
nothing particularly wrong so long as
the play presented was not an immoral
| one