St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-12
He Diseourses on the Rela-
lions Of the Drama to Our
Modern Life.
Bishop Gilbert Urges the
Evangelization Of the En-
tire State.
DR.. Smiths First Lecture on
the Parable Of the Prod
igal Son.

| Opera house sermon yesterday morn
ing. The words had been suggested by
| the death of Emma Abbott. and
emphasized by the fact that so many
people had spoken to him about the
death of Miss Abbott. a feeling of per-
sonal regard having been created. no
doubt on account of her singing for the
church when last here, and her promise
TO sing again at some future time. The
personal interest had been increased by
her association with the Universalist
| congregation of the lamented DR..
| Chaplin, by the friendship of Horace
| Greeley, of G. P. Huntington, and OF
other important people connected with
| the church. On the stormieSt Sundays,
| Mr.. Greeley never failed to be present in
| his pew, and always said, with DR..
| Chaplin in the pulpit, and Miss Abbott
in the choir, he never failed to find sun
! shine in the church. no matter what the
outer conditions might be-" To the
| pastor of this church Miss Abbott
| spoke of her work in the New York
| choir, and declared that musical sue
cess cost immense effort. and her voice
| and manner indicated that she knew
the meaning of the I'D d drudgery.
| By her example, then, she teaches the
| gospel of hard work. This sounds very
! commonplace, but 1t has an unbounded
significance. 1t can never be Overmuch
emphasized. When Wendell Phillips
made music by his oratory that COM
| pletely charmed his hearers, how many
knew that in little room locked away
| from everybody. for hours of the day
through days together he polished and
repolished his sentences, brooded, COM
mitted sentences, worried and passed
| through the drudgery of work only 'un-
derstood by those who have been behind
| the scenes. And, whether we like it or
not, the history of Carlyle working
sixteen hours in his little cottage, the
history of Iyndall pulling through long
| stretches to his physical discomfort;
| the WakefulneSS and worry: the battle
| ever Waged and never won by every
man who makes success; all teach the
| diSagreeable fact that success means
pain; means worry; means all the dis
| comforts that belong to hard work, and
| mean that WatchfulneSS which has ever
| been looked upon as the price of liberty.
| The next lessons are less personal, land
| take much wider range. Does not the
! whole subject of the relation of the
drama to our modern life spring before
| us in clear outline to-day. The Gag
erness with which the newspapers are
| giving each scrap of news connected
| with the great singer proves that the
| many are anxious to read about her life.
And will any person be so blind as to-
conclude that in the minds of the peo-
| pie there is no particular interest in the
relation of the stage-dramatie and
lyric-to modern life? Or. shall we
rather conclude that we touch here one
| of the most
Important Modern Problems,
because nearly all our population go in
one way or another to the theater, and
| music and the drama are having a
stronger hold to-day than they ever had 7
before? But can only deal with sim
gle line of thought in my limited time
to-day.
The first fact that will fix your atten-
ton is the very commonplace fact that
the theater is here and here to stay. 1t
gains every year better class of adher-
ents, and is patronized by an entirely
different class of people than those
found by Nigel Olifaunt when he went
to hear Burbage play Richard the Third
in the Fortune theater in London. The
best people now go to the theater, and
not only do the best people 90, but they
go more and more. Settle it in your
minds that the church can never kill
the drama, and then you have the first
important fact fixed. And from this
we lead to questions that refer to our
characters, and the probable influence
of the drama thereon. In what way
does play influence the average per-
son? Does it not draw US out of the
ordinary world at once, and give the
fictitious scene reality? Then do we
not enter into the fortunes of those who
are before us, and does not their little
| life become of mOmentary interest?
And how good. how noble, how enthu-
siastic we become. We cheer the hero,
are ready to hiss the villain. We weep
with the dOwncast and the downtrod-
den. But does it do us any good? [
think it does. fully believe in the in
direct influence of all good emotions,
and beginning with these l feel very
sure the philosophers will tell us that
under their influence mans mind will
expand. Do we not write the best
poems and essays when we are strongly
moved, and when the currents of emo
ton start the flow of thoughts? This is
so important that Bronson Howard, the
author OF Shenandoah" has explained
to the Harvard students how he was
driven by the laws of dramatic con-
struction to make his great play, 1.-THE
Bankers Daughter" the subject of a
series of changes before the public
would allow it its final popularity. OF
modern productions there are many
| plays that are worthless, but can any
without coming away a little better
than he went? Can any one listen to
the pure prattle of Fauntleroy without
feeling
A NameIess Tendernesse
There may be such: l cannot be-
| lieve it. | believe that good dra-
en- of genius, is good influence,
and the object of those who know the
| Importance of making the indirect work
| of all social factors of practical moment
| will be to improve all the institutions
| that are here to stay.
But we pass to one more and larger
consideration. This singer represented
in certain way the relation of music,
and especially the lyric stage, to our
| social life. Here, too. we face the same
| fact. The opera IS with US, and it is
here to stay. Music will be more and
more cultivated. and the church, already
awake to certain extent, is not fully
| appreciated in its mission in this re-
| CPNSo' 4IooiN 1ieso a. w oJ . OSCli uChlIOWl-
edged powerful influence on the emo
tional nature OF man, and out of the
emotions thus stirred his best thoughts
will often be developed. Jefferson
| played the violin as prepara-
ton for work. So did Car
dinal Newman, And when we
see that noble instrument carving
the story of Stradivarius. picturing to
our minds the workshop of CremOna,
where genius achieved world-re-
nowned triumph. and hear the thrilling
| passages of great master in which the
child's sob, the mothers wall and the
peoples shout are all heard, how can
anybody call it profane instrument?
1 an sure, too, that the influence of the
operate stage, keeping the master
pieces in mind, is good. sWhen you hear
that little gem, ''From the Valleys and
Hills" in great audience, such is the
emotion stirred that hundred men
have hundred places in mind, but all