The Progress., 1893-04-29

fines: aud best influences of which they
are respectively susceptible.
ITO the thoughtful aud reading man il
brings the life. the fire. the color. which
are beyond the reach of study. To the
| common, Indifferent man. immersed as a
! rule IN the business ard socinlities Of
daily life. it brings visions of glory and
adventure. of emotion and of broad hui
man interest. It gives glimpses of the
height and depths of character and cx-
| pcricnce. setting him thinking and won
dcring even in the midst of amusement.
To the most torpid and unobservant it
exhibits the humorous in life and the
/ sparkle and fincSsc of language which in
. dull, ordinary existence Is Stupidly shut
ont Uf knowledge or omitted from par
ticular notice. BE it observed. and | put
1t most uncompromisinglv | am not
thinking or speaking of an unrealizable
ideal not of any lofty imagination of
what might be. but of what is. wherever
there are pit and gallery and footlighis." "
TRUTH AND ERROR IN EACH VIEW.
There is truth in both of these views,
and there is error. What Irving saws Of
the stimulating influence of the drama
IS true, but when he declares that this is
an actual condition wherever there are pit
and gallery and footlights ne has con
fused ideals in his own mind with the
actualities of life. or else he has supposed
that his thcatCr is the standard not only
Of London. but of all thcaters of the
world. which is a manifest absurdity.
would accept Mr.. lrving's view of the
drama and of its function and of its pos
sibillties as rational statement of the
case provided we understand the ideal
condition Of the drama. But that thisis
realized as yet, except in rare cases. is
certainly not a fact. | have been a close
student of the drama for six years
During the last year | have made
special investigation of the subject from
the moral point of view. speak ofwhat
know and have seen personally. There
are few good thcatcrs in New York.
but they are very few. There are q few
good theaters in our other large cities.
but the bad ones outnumber the good
ten TO one. There are good plays. and
there are bad plays. There are plays
that are wholesome and that are helpful,
and | wish there were more of them pro
duced today in America. | have come
TO the deliberate conclusion, after the
study of which | speak. that il is the
duty of the teacher of morals today TO
encourage that which is good and whole
some and to discriminate between the
good and the bad in dramatic represen-
tation.
On rare occasions through these six
years | have attended good theatcrs with
helpful results 20 myself But the great
est care must be exercised by anv man
who goes to a theater today lest he bring
himself in contact with the vilest and
the foulest possible action. which today
dominates the theatrical world.
The men who are trying TO give the
public the highest class of entertainment
and instruction in the theater should bc
sustained and encouraged, and it is time
that this element united with the Chris
tian sentiment of the community in a de-
termined effort to crush out or at least
to muzzle the evil influences of the low
playhouses. The plain truth isl say
it deliberately; say it from personal
knowledge and from study, without pref
udice:
Most Of our H.edters as at present con-
Quoted arc a disgrace 10 The morals and
an indictment Of the Intelligence of the
American nation and are The sources of
Unreasonable corruption to orr life.
maintain that this is true
OPERA BoUFFE.
First-BecauSe the theater is one Of
the first powers that touches young life
in our civic centers. either the life of the
youth born i'll the city or of the new
blood which pours into the city from the
country. To the theater they go first TO
see the city. The truth is that the city
has created the theater. The theater is
a product of city life. 1t was so in an
cient times. II is so today. If the thea
ter is bad, it is because the city is bad
The theater is growth of city life.
The barrenness of the city, its loneli-
ness, its dull round of uninteresting toll,
its gloom and despair, have created the
theater as the reaction inevitable from
such conditions. In the life of the city
there is an awful need of cheer and re-
Taxation, of amusemonts. of change from
rush and din and roar and grind and bur
den and toll The city is the loneliest spot
on Gods earth-that is. for the average
man or woman. The theater is created
by this morbidly developed need in the
human soul The theater first touches
character in the city in this hour of
crisis, in the reaction and recoil from
these dull clements Of life. and il sweeps
with resistless power the half formed
character.
In that condition of crisis in the devel-
opment of life. i'll the awful craving Of
the soul for the beautiful and the joy-
Gus, moral distinctions even are lost sight
of. once knew a spinster of some 40
years of age who had never seen the
atrical production. She decided on one
occasion that she would see what the