Connecticut western news., 1893-05-04

of today is found in the reign of Herod- ias The introduction of women on the stage in large numbers and for the sole purpose of disgraceful exhibition of their bodies has been carried to a point that must soon demand the active interfer- ence of the moral forces of our civihza- ton. The dances made popular within recent years are disgraceful beyond the power of description. They are simply masterpieces of sensuality set to music and action. The dance today has the field in the theater. It is introduced in season and out of season. All sorts of dances, in every position in which the human body can be placed, every con tortion of limb, every attitude, every movement that can by any possibility of means suggest the sensual, Is resorted to without hesitation.
 The serpentine dance, invented by a woman who has become famous for her haison with the disgusting hbertine who is now in Sing Sing serving a sentence, has set the fashion of the dance of today. She is even giving lessons to the roues of Paris in this art. The popular successes of today pander to the lowest in human nature. Three-quarters of the theaters in our great city of New York at this time depend almost entirely for their suc- cess upon the exhibition of seminude women.
 METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE.
 Nor is this evil absent from the high est class of our entertainments. The Metropolitan Opera House last year was the scene of @ magnificent production of grand opera. The singing was superb. It was worth any price man was able to pay for seat. But every magnificent performance must be marred by the in- troduction of the chorus, in which the ancient ballet choir, exhibiting women of all sorts, of all sizes, of all ages, from grandmothers down to maidens of 16 and 16, in condition of indecent nudity, was invariably introduced. A writer in New York evening paper a few days ago said at low estimate there will be nearly 2,000 women in tights at the vari- ous Chicago theaters this summer. Henry E. Abbey's spectacle at the Auditorium will employ TOO; Steele Mackaye's show, TOO; Henderson's extravaganza, 100; "Black Crook" 100; M. B. Leavitt's Spider and Fly" 60; Lillian Russell's company, 50; Seabrooke's company, 50, to say nothing of those in farce comedies and in dozens of music halls.
 There is no ground on which any man can discuss this kind of theater. It is of the devil. It was born in hell. It is disgrace to any civilization. There is not one single, solitary reason for its ex- istence, save that men are willing to ruin their fellow men for money. In one of these theaters in the city of Cleveland, on Euclid avenue, Isaw an audience gath cred in which there was not woman present, except two or three servant girls who had strayed in apparently, and of the audience one-third were boys between the ages of 8 and 15. The performance appealed to the vilest instincts of the brute from the opening to the close Does any man believe that this can con- tinue without its harvest?
 A man who has studied the subject declares that there are thousands of boys in the city of Brooklyn every night witnessing these performances. There are thousands more in New York and in every city in America. Thefts and crimes in the street urchins are the nat ursl results of this sort of life, and the early debauchery of manhood, physical and moral, foregone conclusion.
 HAYDN's CREATION.
 The theater I believe to be capable of high things. Dramatic performances are not in themselves harmful Men of transcendent genius have spoken to the world through them, but they have not ol. sx, koI r. Haydn's Creation" there is unique arrangement which gives tremendous force to the words, "Let there be light" The gradual fading of previous sounds prepares the ear for thrilling surprise. Instantly there is the crash of all the instruments, producing the effect of thousand torches suddenly flashed from darln, 8 and Illuminating space
 This oratcrio was given in Vienna, when Haydn, in his 76th year and very feeble, was taken to hear it. When the orchestra came to this passage, the whole audience rose, and turning to the old man applauded with enthusiasm. Haydn, pointing upward, falteringly exclaimed, "It came from therep and overwhelmed he fell back and was carried out. be- heve the world has received true inspi- ration and highest impulses from those who have spoken to us through the me dium of the theater. So much the more horrible is the present utter prostitution of all its transcendent possibilities.