Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-11-26
THE STAGE PURIFIED.

Written for the Register.
To elevate the stage from level that
accomphshes no more than amuse, en-
I terrain, and relieve the tedinm Of COM
monplace life, to that height Of instruc-
ton that enlightens and produces
! circulation of higher, nobler thoughts,
4 is, it appears. a condition left to the cul-
/ ture-loving world to bring about.
To place upon the stage only that
which is pure, devoid of that extrava-
CANT display that tends to bewilder the
/ capacities to grasp the moral. TO por-
tray that which shows justice triumph
! ing over wrong; that which teaches
love of rightful liberty, where morality
towers over vice, where truth reigns
supreme: where the historical condi-
tons of nations and times are put forth
in realistic form, tending to educate and
enlighten in laws and arts not confined
to narrow sphere; to teach broader
view Of laws divine no matter in what
creed they find their source; to culti-
1 vate a taste for the classic arts to get
1 to the depths Of purest emotion and
/ reach TO the heights of that emotions
I initial tins IN a common word Is
the stage purified purified to such a
/ state that II will take its place on a
! level with the Hottest mediums of cd
ucation and civilization.
Not those scenes that excite the cru
/ der passions, nor those that induce us
! to applaud the sentiments that arouses
nothing deeper than to tickle our tri-
vial fancy; not that which is immor-
ality cloaked with misleading speech
and artful guile, nor that which pene-
I trates to depths no deeper than our
! sentimental fancy. Not these eonsti-
| tute the stage as it should be, but alas,
/ as it is; they should be such scenes as
school us to grasp with firmer grip, re-
/ ceive with patience, fortitude and JUS
! tice all the conditions that tend TO rem
der life the object that it was in the
/ beginning intended we were to make
| it. This Is what the stage should and
will, in the distant future reach.
| There is no medium of amusement 50
| worldwide spread as the play it seems
to be an Unborn desire Of man to
( mimic; to act happiness, love, pain,
I passion, truth, deceit and pathos; to
| amuse, to play the hero and adventure:
/ to, in other words appear anything
\ which he is really not Throughout
y
| is recognized and patronized; from the
! ancient cities of the Old World on to
those of the New; on, step by step,
until it captivates the town and hamlet;
and even not tarrying here, but pene-
! trating to the little school house nestled
| in the rural districts all over the land:
| and, in deed, its bounds do not end
/ here; for. though it be in a more tangle I
state than ours, even the heather and
| the savage practices his peculiar mode
| of drama; and though perhaps unin-
telligible to q race better schOoled in
! art than he, it is to him, sufficient to
amuse and entertain.
Aud thus it will be seen that the stage
has come to stay. And, IL its tendeu-
cies could but be kept within the bounds
Of a less deplorable safe, II would be
well that it has. We need diversion;
and not only need, but are bound to
| have it. II is q responsibility thrust
upon the public whether that diversion
! is to be Of a gross or finer character. II
is lamentable to witness how the pass
ing years casts indignities upon the old
time stage; how the higher arts Of the
olden days are blurred and disgraced.
by the coarsness Of the new style Of
| production we can see in our theatres
any night in the year; 1t is fitting and
is natural for mankind to admire grace
beauty, mould Of form and nature; but
not when such gifts are displayed for
hIstfll results, nor when their charms
become mere bill of sale by which
| sustenance Is kept revived. There is
| to be sure, many standpoints from
| which such charms should be admired;
but certainly the stage IS not one Of
them. When the charms with which
/ Nature has invested its subjects Is dis
played with the brazen effrontery it
ia common To see coming from the
stage, when the charms Of his gifts are
abused to an extent that 1t belittles and
| snames man and womanhoOd, Il IL
proper times to attempt steps to cul-
tivate a reverence for something OF a
higher nature. And this, when brought
about. viii elevate the stage 70 a level
that will never produce the blush Of
| shame.
To elucidate IN detail what the stage
OF to-day requires, demands a deeper
research than the author has At hand:
/ but the rudiments Of stage improve
ment. will. we believe, be found with
/ in the prosthetic. It Is not our purpose
to act as an emendator to the defects.
but to state how retrogressfve instead
| Of progressive we are becoming in an