The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-31
THEATtR As A PROBLEM
It's Influence the Subject of Rev.
I. @. Clark's Sermon.
1T GIVES DIGNITY TO VICE
The stage II 0ilded Sin Which Fascinates
and Decoys-Country Youths Led
to Destruction-A Degrading
Institution.

M~issoula. Oct. so.-Rev. o. c. Clark
to-day delivered the second OF his SER
mons upon social questions. The theme
was The Theater." and the text was
from Proverbs vi, %. Can a man take
fire into his bosom and his clothes and
not be burned" Mr.. Clark spoke as fol-
lows:
rs the influence OF the theater help
full or %enervating? This surely is a fair
question to consider In this curse Of
sermons. That II Is one OF the popular
amusements of the day is universally
admitted. That 1t has been thus
through the centuries from n very early
date is a fact OF history.
That it's hold upon the masses was
never as strong as II Is to-day and It's
patronage as universal Is beyond a
question. An institution thus rooted in
the very texture OF our civilization n
upheld By h sanction of the ages is
deserving of careful analysis at u
hand In our search for moral influences
pressed. As in the case Of the card
table 80 Of the theater. we speak from
a Christian standpoint and are In search
Of influences hat will be helpful or de-
pressing In Christian life. We will not
presume. however. to settle this ques-
ton. whether I'm individual cases II Is
right or wrong to attend the theater.
This Is a matter OF conscience between
the soul and God. II Is not In the power
of ono human being to tell what an
others duty is. II Is to be settled. not by
laws. nor by church authorities. nor by
critics. but by each for himself. The
most that we can do is to indicate GER
tain great principles which must be ap-
plicable to the whole complicated prob
lem of amusements. What may he
right for one may be absolutely wrong
for another. Circumstances. educational
environment. the influence of conduct
upon others. and upon posterity. all of
these have TO be taken into account in
determining the matter of individual
duty.
ION personal principles. however. we
can say that anything that gives us
lower ideals. lower aims. lower desires
anything that creates lust. that arouses
passion, that suggests impurity. that
makes us morally weaker and
that dissipates our energies, must be
m eternally wrong. This
Is admitted and. accepting II. we
a basis OF judgment in the light of
we may consider the theater and
It's influence. We must draw a careful
distinction between the drama and the
stage The drama is a department OF
literature and valuable as such. Shake
speare and the great masters of Grecian
no scholar would care to dis
pense with. But the classic drama and
the stage of to-day are W different
things. II the theater could be sepa-
rated from every immoral faint; if It's
doors were barred against immoral cos
tunes and licientious temptations. we
cheerfully admit that IL might be a
moral power for good. 1t certainly has
the elements of tremendous influence
over the human mind.
But this IL purely an ideal theater.
Every observing man knows that the
actual American theater Is no
more like this than the average poll
tician is like Abraham Lincoln. We
discuss the heater as II II n
not the ideal theater.
THE drama IL a fine art and under
proper conditions could be made the
means OF instruction and of ~edihcation
to the people. But the pure. helpful
drama and the playhouse of to-day are
synonymous. Let us then consider
Il In the light of its history. The thea
ter had it's vice in Athens in the buffoon
in honor OF Bacchus N from
time down the evidence of history
shows that IL has been a fruitful SEM
mary OF sin. The testimony of history
is abundant and unanimous upon this
point. Such Greek and Roman writers
as Plutarch. Xenophon, Plato. Socrates
and Seneca regarded the theater as an
~tagonistic to morals. Some of them de-
II as exerting a %corrupting In
upon the Greek and Roman
mind. At Athens the theater was sup
pressed by law. The Lacedemonians
would not tolerate n. Ii was condemned
by the best minds OF the age. Rollins
q firms the theater to have been the
chief cause of the decadence of Greece.
The Emperor Augustus was urged by
Ovid to suppress IL for N sake OF the
safety. In Rome the arena and
g~ladiatorial combats supplanted the
tragedies and dramas Of the Greeks.
Gross exhibitions and female indecen-
cies became the common rule Of the
play. DR.. Schaff says: The Roman
theater became more n more the nur-
sery OF vice and deserved to be abhorred
all men OF decent feelings and re-
tastes The Roman emperor.
wishing to disgrace a Roman
knight, could think of nothing more hui
initiating than to compel him TO appear
the stage and make a recitation.
Smarting under the disgrace. the knight
Sald. AFTER ndNlne uNtu oo years WIN
honor. I left my HON this morning a
Roman knight. but shall return to IL
this evening an Infamous stage player
Such was the Roman theater in the
opinion of those who knew IL thorough
ly. The early Christians I'm own
loyalty to the Caesars. pledge
themselves as ready to appear in their
in any place but the heather
temples and the theaters. Even the
apostate. Julian. says: The priests OF
the gods should never be seen in the
theater OF in the taverns.'
In the middle ages the Roman
tried TO utilize the stage I'm the
OF the church. but IL proved a
most absolute failure. Lecky says: 1T
became one of the most powerful agents
in bringing the church and. indeed. re-
Ilgion. into disrepute.' The history OF
the early English theater II compare
lively well understood. Some OF the
FIRST dramatic writers OF note. such as
and NARROW. were utterly disso-
lutte men. OF Greene the historian
says: He was a drunkard and a hber-