The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-08-04
THEATRICAL BLUNDERS.
Mr. Ha11eron's Unchristian
Sermon on a Subject He
Knows Nothing About.

leron had to say about the theatre. Be-
fore service was over all were very posi-
tive that the pastor had said considerable
on that subject, and his vigorous denun-
citation Of the theatre will afford the good
brethren a topic to discuss for a long
time Pastor Halleron is emphatically
opposed to theatres, and after selecting
for his text, THAT which is crooked can
not be made straight" Ecclesiastics, l.,
Is, he said
THE theatre is an old institution. Its
early beginning commenced with the
dawn of authentic history. Two thousand
years before Christ's birth we find traces
of the theatre in the nations that then
flourished, SO that certainly there has
been sufficient time for the formation of
just opinion concerning them. Age is no
guarantee of good in anything, and can
| not become bulwark of defense. The
theatre is only the portrayal of things ma
| tural. What harm, it is asked, can there
be in the rendering before the public
hat each one is brought in contact with
more or less frequently? There is NOR
| bid desire in the natural mind for fuel
| which only feeds to an intense heat the
fires of depravity; hence there is and
4 there should be the elimination as much
as possible from the public these scenes
I which bring into prominence the corrupt
THE THEATRE A FALSE EDUCATOR.
| "The theatre, it is said, is public edu-
1 Gator, and therefore should be sustained
There are two systems of education.
| There is the education that is true, moral
| and religious, and there is the education
| that 1s the opposite of this, and demoral-
| ICES the pupils and breeds foulness every
! where. We are told the aesthetic should
be cultivated, and the scenery OF the
theatre, the classic defamation, the rem
| dition of the grandest music, the Co.'S
| tunes all conspire to form high taste in
those who attend; but it was never in
| tended that any of these should become
| the adjuncts OF crime. We do not want
to know how skillfully one can pick a
| pocket, how deftly one can gamble, how
| smoothly one can swear, how recklessly
| one can drink, how daringly one can
| plunge the mnrderous knife into the heart
| Of others. This education is the child of
| the pit
1.-THE abuse.of anything should not lead
to total suppression of good. For in
stance, some people are gluttons, but for
| that reason we should not abolish eating.
| Sound moralists in many instances, and
| sincere Christians almost always have
| condemned the theatre as vicious and
! corrupting. THIS is not conclusive ar
| gument l am aware, but it is an argu-
ment of very strong kind. People
imagine, suppose, that none but Chris
| tians and those of the morose description
! oppose the theatre, but Plato, Seneca and
| Cicero placed it under ban two Thousand
| ago. In these times shall webe legs deter
mined in our opposition to the theatresf
1 Shall these heathen moralisus outrank us
| i'll opposition? hear that at times Chris
! tians attend the theatre and openly ex-
1 press their admiration for il. ask you
TO examine these Christians who attend
| the theatre. Are they the most frequent
at the weekly prayer meeting? Do they
| lead in public prayer? Are they the
most pious of the church? Is 1t to them
| the pastor goes for advice in the conduct
| of the meetings?
| ''Do not, if you please, when you speak
of American society, point out the tramps
| along the highway, the vampires of the
| Fourth ward, New York, or the cowboys
Of Texas. In all churches there are the
| hangers-on, whose names are on the
| church records, but their religion stops
| there. think am correct when say
| that every deeply pious man or woman is
| opposed to the theatre as it is today or at
any age in the history of the Christian
church.
THE STAGE POSITIVELY IMMORAL.
"The theatre is positively immoral. 1t
is a serious matter and the pulpit should
be careful in denOuncing any place as
immoral. / have reference now to the
theatre as it is now conducted; not your
ideal, but the the theatre of fact, which is
for dollars and cents, and not the purity
of the drama. Only what will pay will
be placed upon the boards. Young men
and young women are always engaged as
actors, and now say boldly in this
presence that honestly believe
ninety-nine out Of every hundred
actors are immoral and leading corrupt
lives. How can they be otherwise? They
personate the yilest characters, are under
The largest excitement in the delivery of
their parts, are young with all the pas
sions of an unbridled nature possessing
them, are faded by the late hours and so
draw freely on intoxicants. | care not
how pure that woman may be when en-
tering the stage, she has to consort with
licentious vagabonds, appear in all the
stage amorous life, must utter slang, in
nuendo, coarse wit and too often foul
language. She has to pose in all sorts of
attitudes and fall into the arms of the
adulterous harlequin who carries the
parts with her.
"a pure. virtuous life Is next to an i'm
possibility. | admit that there have been
notable exceptions but they are so few
that they have no appreciable influence
in the balance, and do you not feel con-
vinced yourself of the truth of what l
say?
DEGRADING ACCESSORIES.
your sisters consorting with actors?
Would you not violently tear them from
their society !? Mothers and fathers, do
you not shrink from the contact of ac-
tors with your sons and daughtersS You
never invite them to your homes. Sup
pose you do, even, how many moral and
respectable people will visit you? Every
moral and respectable person will pass
you by. This immortality on the stage is
not confined to the ballet dancers; the
most artistic. the seemingly loftiest
types who render the grandest pieces are
equally corrupt. When Miss Sarah
Bernhardt, the mother of several chill
dren, came to America all the flunkyiGm
of Wall street waited dalliance upon her.
~ look now at the costumes worn.
There is constant effort to present the
person of the player in the most attrao-
tive form. The gaudiest dresses are pur-
chased, jewelry adorns their fingers aud
heads. cosmetics are brought into play
and even costly enameling of the fea-
tures The low dresses and short dresses
worn are blot on our civilization that
such pandering to vice should be permit
ted.
"Oh, thou corrupter of youth, would
not take thy death for all the pleasures of
thy guilty life Thousand fold Thou
shalt draw near to the shadow of
death. To the Christian these
shades are the golden haze which
Heavens light makes when it meets the
earth and mingles with its shadows But
ho RI. f,,fi