Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-12-14
Daila Eeusehrf gouraal.
City and County.
THE THEATRE AND DANCE.
ayl. c. Ross Makes Statement Regarding
his Recent Sermon.

ovnlain a report Of the mseting previous
~ taken from the Press.
10 the Editor Of the Press:
Tn view of the misinformation con.
,o;ned in Yesterday s issue Ct the Press and
in late issues OF somc other local Eapers,
in relation to some Of my recent pulpit
,,tterances, | am prompted to ask the
favor of space to sreak fer myself to those
of your readers who may be interested
to know the truth about the reputcd sex
citement' at South Portland.
If is fact presumably well known that
the published rules of. the Methodist
Eniscopal church contain explicit declara-
tions against certain forms of popular
amusement which the representative voice
of the denomination, ana for that matter
the maior portion Of the entire Christian
church, have agreed in characterizing as
of questionable, or positively harmful
moral nature or tendency. With the pur-
nose of explaining and justifying the posi-
tion CT the church ard of furnishing to
candid inqurers data from which to form
an intelligent opinion with reference to
the matters in question, the discourses
that have made something Of local
"stir" were prepared and delivered.
The first one Of the series was very fully
and fairly reported, representative oi
the Press having been present on that
OCCASION. The only reference made in
local papers to the second lecture upon
"Some Evils Of the Modern Dance, "
was in the form Of few lines in the Ar
gus. which were for the most part but
the echo of the sneers of those who had
pcrsonal or pecuniary motives for at
tempting to weaken the force Of my re
marks. On that occasion the history OF
the dance and its degcncracy from an an
cient religious exercise, in which there
was 10 promiscuOus association of the
sexes, to its present d0y form as a popular
amusement, was given in q manner de
signed to interest and instruct, and the
physical. mental, moral and spiritual
evils, directly associated WITH or result
ing from patronage of the ball room, were
faithfully set forth and as substantiated
by testimony Of unpreiudiced men and
women of high rcpute, In the after meet
ing which followed the lecture, the posi-
ton and views therein taken and ad
vanced were warmly supported by these
present some of whom had had exception
ally favorable opportunities for obtaining
full knowlCdgo OF the facts W lere Of they
spoke.
Last Sunday evening in discussing
"Thcatres and Theatre Goers, pursued
method similar to that followed in the
discourse above referred to. / recognized
the dramatic instinct and commended it
when it was developed and utilized on
proper lines. / noted the fact that the
stage and the play were used among
pagan nations of antiquity for the pur-
pose Of imparting religious instruction
to the masses, and that the Christian
church even, during many of the earlier
centuries, employed this medium with the
sanction of its highest councils, as an
evangelizing agency, the Passion Play OF
0berammcgau, being cited as present
day relic of those old time methods.
My contention, however, was, that
whatever might be said theoretically or
historically, favorable to the drama, the
modern theatre as an institution lad SO
far icgcncrated as to warrant its being
placed under the ban of the church and
the dsapproval of the highest moral sense
of the public at large. The principal
ground upon which this claim was urged
was that in popular plays almost with
out exception, wickcdnoSs, and that, too,
in its grosscst forms, is made to furnish
amusement In support of this statement
brought forward expert testimony OF
men of national reputation who have
written against the theatre, and also sub
mittcd as evidence the analyses and reports
of f,Io Il,
ably written up by those favorable TO them
and published in the leading metropolitan
dailcs.
In conclusion, by way of illustration,
and to show that the principles and ar.
guments against the theatre in general
were fairly applicable to the average plays
given by the Union Dramatic Club OF
South Portland, l give u brief analysis OF
play recently produced there by the
club, the text of which was courteously
loaned me for the purpose by one CT the
members. The members of the CLUB were
present in fun forco and gave respectful
attention to the discussion. In conversa-
tion with two of them at the conclusion
of the address, they frankly admitted that
had treated the whole subject fairly from
uit TellSlOuS StitnupOlub
With regard to the dcfirition OF the
word, the giving Of which nccdlessly
caused u sensation. / may say that the
word in question was not brood oa'
"hroadncss " The circumstances were
as follows: 1 was reading clipping
from one of the leading Boston daiilcs'
giving a report of popular opera that Is
said last week, to have packed one oil the
largest theatres at the Hub, with an au
dience thoroughly representative ol the
cty's culture - OF one Cf the chief per
formers in this opera the report SAID
His jokes We're mostly good, his manner
torcible, his expression and gestures eN
tremely expressive, in spite OF the aange'-
Gus proximity to hrcainess, 'etc. Know
ing fun well that there were many per
sons in my audience who were net iamli,
lar with the technical use Of "broadness,
IN the sense in which ii was employed III
the clipping in question, paused IN IN!
reading long enough to substitute an
exact and familiar synonym NASTY.
There was no occasion for tic repetition
OF the word and it was only used once
though If ii had been ii was entiTeiy pro
per. Tho bissiDgG referred to IN your
published report originated, and SO iitr
as could judge was confined to tew
rowd!es in the rear of the large audience
one of whom had plainly been drinking
Il I'd who came To the church With the