The evening times., 1899-12-05

willing to patronize plays founded upon
strong religious themes and that the same
public has made them profitable to those
who have given their art, thought, and
money for the productions, thus paving the
way for more dramatic enterprises Of like
character?
But a strong demurrer Is filed BECAUSE
the stage is said to be false, as mirror Of
life, to reflect a mere imitation Of the
things that happen in the complex rela-
tions of society. There are those, how
ever, who will beg to differ from this opin-
ion. Perhaps the stage has not even yet,
with its marvelously long strides toward
perfection, reached Its best development;
but as to Its fidelity in depicting the joys
and the sorrows and the emotions of hu-
manity. there might be called to testify
the thousands Of good men and women
who have viewed certain scenes from the
homespun dramas that have been for q
long time popular through a mist Of tears.
The multitude have entered SO heartily
into the stories told behind the footlights
that they have temporarily lost themselves
at the rustic wit and grieved over the pa
thetic chapters just as they would have
done had the characters been genuine and
the auditors in old New England instead
of in the cushioned chairs Of city theatre.
Religion and morality were strong ingre-
dients Of these dramas, and the pulpit was
sufficiently liberal to credit them with the
reformative influence, candidly admitting
that in many respects they were stronger
than sermons or church forms in their
touching and homely appeals to the way
ward. How many were actually turned
into the paths of rectitude by such plays
will never be known, but there Is every
reason to believe that the influence Of such
plays for good was not without its fruits.
further veto is entered by the pulpit
critic against the portrayal on theatrical
boards Of a religious hypocrite. the natural
inference from his words being that he
fears the result and influence even upon
the orthodox; on similar grounds he might
offer opposition to the introduction OF any
character with disreputable motives and
evil ways; IL the good cannot survive the
competition and contrast with the bad. it
must perish. To carry the objection to its
extreme and absurd limits would exclude
from all except sacred literature any refer
ence to the evil genius or immoral hospi-
tality of Beelzebub himself: the exploitation
Of the words or actions of any individual
whose words or actions failed to conform
strictly to the Decalogue. Again, 1t re-
sembles Inconsistency to attack the stage
because it does not hold the mirror up to
nature and then insist that public sentiment
shall place an embargo on the theatrical
use of, to quote the learned critic, lone Of
the loftiest sentiments of the human souP'
the sentiment of religion. And there is
a shade of absurdfty in the censure Of the
theatre because it makes commercial traf-
fc. Even the church must have revenue to
continue its ministrations, to perpetuate its
creeds, and to extend its work in all the
earth; without moRsy,-the- church Is as
powerless as any secular enterprise.
The broad minded, whether they be de-
or not, will scarcely accept
the somewhat detached reasoning of the
worthy metropolitan preacher as a cogent
argument on the merits of the case. 1t is
difficult TO discover where there has been
any sacrilege committed or intended in
weaving religious ceremonies and theologi-
cal threads into the woof of great plays
that teach a vivid moral lesson to those OF
sufficient comprehension to grasp the sig
nificance of the story.