St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-05-27
e. Among them were


Mrs. c. d. O'Brien,
Mrs Newport, than whom a better
presiding officer could not be found,
was asked to preside. Enthusiasm ran
high. Nearly every woman made a
speech in favor of the movement, and
when the roll was called every one rose
to answer AYE" when her name was
called. The matter was discussed in its
religious phase, in its moral phase, and
i'll its practical phase. Mrs. Newport
feels very strongly on the subject, and
1t is due III great measure to her infiu-
ence that the meeting was so earnest, so
parliamentary and so dignifed. After
long elaboration the following petit
ton was adopted:
We, the undersigned residents of ST. Paul,
sincerely believing that the opening of our
theaters on Sunday tor operate and theatre
cal performances. is injurious TO the morals
of the community, and unjust to the actors,
who are entitled to one day of rest in seven,
do hereby petition the management of the
theaters and opera houses of ST. Paul to
close their doors to all such performances on
Sunday.
Each lady has petition to circulate,
and OH Sunday evening at the Dayton
avenue church, the printed petitions
were distributed to everybody. The
wife of Bishop Gilbert is one of the
most interchangeable workers in the cause.
Mrs. IL. L. Drake spoke very feelingly
and well at the meeting, and has been
hard at work since with the petition.
There were fifty women at work solicit
ing names yesterday. j. j. Hill and
p. H. Kelly were among the very first
signerS. Next Tuesday the petition is
to be presented to the managers of the
various theaterS, with all its list of
SlgnerS.
Says Mrs. Newport: 1t is not a
crusade. We do not threaten the
managers with a boycott, or any
thing of the kind. We simply
ask them politely and respectfully
to close their doors on the Sabbath.
We have not even considered what we
will do in case the movement fails. If
the question had no religious or moral
aspects, we think the theaterS should be
closed on Sunday. The actors have a
right to one days rest. Most of them
dislike to play on Sunday, and it is too
much to ASK
Mrs. Burbank is fairly running over
with enthusiasm on the subject. She
says: Il have been asked again and
again to-day why we do not start
movement to close the saloons on Sun
day. L always answer that there is a
law for that, and if our authorities will
not enforce it, we can't; but there is no
law regarding Sunday theaters, and we
can at least try to remedy that by po-
litely asking the managers to close their
theaters. l have seen great many
young men to-day, and many of them
refuse to sign the petition be-
cause they are in the habit of
attending the theaters on Sunday.
The churches must wake up. Ministers
must substitute interesting talks Oh
questions of the day for philosophlc
theological discourSes-give the young
people something to interest and enter
tain them without demorallzing them in
any way 1t is simply working actors
to death to expect them to play every
night. No singers voice can stand it.
This isn't the only reform we have in
mind, but it is simply the entering
wedge"
THE town is simply flooded with pc
titions. Everybody must sign Or de-
fend his action in not signing. Now is
the time for the defenders Of Sunday
theaters to don their armor and prepare
for the fray. for it is well known fact
that when the women of st. Paul set
their hearts on doing a thing, bolts nor
bars cannot prevent their accomplish
ing their object; and really. it does be-
gin to look rather dubious for the Sum
day theaters.