St. Paul daily globe., 1896-02-03
REV. w. r.. LORD DISTINGUISHES
BETWEEN THE WORTHY
AND UNWORTHY.
TITS MORE THAN ACTUALISM,
AND SHOULD BE MORE THAN THE
PORTRAYAL OF MORBID HU-
MAN CONDUCT.
FRENCH DRAMAS ARE NARROW.
Shakespeare Had the Spirit of Truth,
While Wagner Reached the
NObIest Emotions.


Not all modern dramas are bad, ac-
cording to the discourse of Rev. w. r.
Lord at Unity church yesterday morn
ing but the "Frenchy" ones are, be-
cause narrow in their view, while many
other so-called dramatic productions
are bad negatively, in that they serve
no real good end.
Mr.. Lord took for his text two pas
sages: First, Keep thy heart above all
that thou guardest, for out Of it are
the issues Of life" also, Whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are
lovely think on these things" Mr..
Lord spoke substantially as follows:
In Introduction, he said that the
profoundly interesting thing to hu-
manity is human life itself. Whatso-
ever is apart from human life cannot
have permanent interest If men live
In abstra ctions, they are abnormal. The
wholesome soul lives consciously in
vital relations to the organism Of which
he is a part. Human life is seen and
felt in two ways; first, through presen-
tation, that is life in actual movement
about him, the world of men and affairs
which he directly experiences But
there are two difficulties in looking
upon life in this immediate way. Few
men are able to see human life in
anything of it's Wilderness and proper
ton, while it SO swiftly and tran
silently moves on. Most people lack
the vision and the comprehension nee
essary to take in the large part Of
that they see, or to relate that which
fhnV in their saUlra1
A very few men do see human life in
the large, while yet it moves swiftly
on. But not even these few can see
enough of life Immediately to get
the true proportion. And, as have
said, to most men life appears in frag-
ments, without relation, without Unity.
Somehow life must be gathered up in
the universal Out of the fragmentary
experiences must be brought unity and
proportion. Hence the need of life in
representation, as portrayed in art and
literature
Human life in it's Wilderness has
three elements, or better, aspects-the
actual, the ideal and the real. The
actual is the sum total of human con-
duct, false and true, good and bad
The ideal is that which lies in the mind
q type of that dim splendor ever on
before In this eternal circle run by
life" as Browning says; while the real
is so much of the ideal as men have
appropriated in the actual. Let us
mark this distinction in all literature
and art, and refuse to call that realism
which is only actualisrn, morbid, unreal
human conduct Now, art and Iitera-
ture, to be true, must have all of these
elements. If jS the Wnrlx Of IF i,,
Ing with humanity, to represent to
humanity actual life, realizing the
ideal. This is true of all of the arts.
Let US see it today, especially in that
art which we are to discuss-the
drama. How does it differ from the
other arts? Primarily, in that it has
action. All the other arts suggest ac-
ton, but the action is not seen. More
than this, the drama gathers the whole
of human life by means of all the arts
into complete representation
ing, sculpture, poetry and music-an
these plus action. It is the mistress
of the arts because it not only employs
all the. other arts, but represents hu-
man1ty by them. 1t sets forth human
life as it IS, and suggestively as it
ought to be and is going to be.
1t presents the most effective appeal
to humanity, because it leaves less to
the imagination. In the picture or
statue, or in music, very much is left
TO the imagination, but in the drama.
the implied relations of the other arts
are expressed. Therefore, people with
out cultivation and refinement may un-
derstand the drama when they cannot
understand high art as expressed in
either of its other forms. 1t is, there
fore, the most universal of the arts
we may say 1t appeals powerfully to
nearly all men,
You see at once what a great preju-
dice we already get for the drama.
what enormous Importance it really
has in human life. At the same time.
we see the folly and blindness of those
people who would set the drama aside
as bad In itself and unnecessary. On
the contrary, SO far as art itself is a
teacher, and a refiner of humanity. the
drama is the greatestsof- all.
What is the purpose of the drama /?
NOT amusement merely. Amusement
is not only permitted to men, but the
appreciation of it is the sign of a.
wholesome nature. 1t is necessarily
the sign of great artist that the ludi-
cfeas, the amusing things in life, ap-
peal to him. And you will always find
as an essential part of a sane mind this
susceptibility, both to the ludicrous
and the serious in life Comedy there
must therefore be, but. true comedy is
not frivolous.
Neither is the purpose of the drama
mere entertainment. Entertain it must
and ought, but there is something
more One may be entertained by that
Which is altogether unworthy ones
time or attention. The testimony of
those who seek recreation after siren
uous physical or mental labor is thev
are most refreshed when their whole
soul is involved in some new exercise.
Underlying the cause of laughter and
our intense interest must be some deep
er meaning more or less explicit, as
in Wagners "Meistersinger.'
Historically, the drama was seriously
conceived. In the theater of Greece
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and
Aristophanes@ preached through their
immortal dramas. Out of the plays