Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-03-24


resoundlng. heaven echoIng drama
Now, II God implanted this dramati
- element in our natures, and II he hal
- cultivated and developed 1t In tn,
'" Scriptures. ] demand that you recog
nize It.
le Expression of Feeling.
n. Because the drama has again and
10 again been degraded and employed fol
: destructive purposes Is nothing against
the drama any more than music ought
to be pecursed because II has been TAX
8 en- again and again into the saturnalan
l. wassails OF 1000 years. VIII you re-
!, fuse ynthrone music on the church
t orgar$ Ncause the art has been tram
Piled losin and again under the feet Of
the : AG'ious dance?
II N nothing against painting and
sculpts what In Corinth and Hercula.
neura w 81 were -dcmonstrative of vul-
gar' nd b,l turpitude. The dreadful
mus,,, Ponpeii shall throw no dis
cretill be T,owers' "C;reek slaren or
ChurFiDu"Hcart of the Andes" or Ru-
bens';et i>'cent From the Cross" or An.
gelo'' -Balist Judgment" The very fact
that lin and again the drama has
been "a gged through the sewers of in
iquit.s ( the reason why we should
snatct II up and start 1t out OH a
grandshnd holy and magnificent
MISSION, Let me say at this point In
my sdUnon that the drama will never
be lif.id to It's rlghtful sphere by those
people who have not sense enough to |
distinguish between the drama and the |
playhouse. The drama Is no more the
theater than hymnbook Is a church.
am not speaking In regard to the the
ater at all The drama is literary ex-
preston Of that feeling which God i'm.
planted In the human soul. Neither
Will the drama ever be lifted to Its
proper sphere by Wholesale denuncla-
ton OF all dramatists. II you have not
known men and women connected with
the drama who are pure In heart and
pure In speech and pure In life, 1t is be-
cause you have not had very wide ac-
quaintance.
wholesale denunciation OF all dram
atists will never elevate the drama.
fonder stand church and theater
on opposite sides of the street The {
church shouts over to the theater, "You |
are all scoundrels!' The theater shouts I
back, You are all hypocritesv' And I
they both falslfy. Dropping all lndis- 1
eriminate jeremiads against dramatists [
and realizing that the drama Is not '
necessarily connected with this instl- n
tuition or with that. want to show v
you how the dramatic element In our v
natures may be harnessed to the chari- [,
OF or civilization and Christianity. l.
An Everyday Drama. n
Fifty essays about the sorrows of \
the poor could not affect me as a little c!
drama Of accident and suffering | saw 81
one slippery morning Ia ti}pa i}pa rtr-Htas~S II
'au,' NsfdttTieu 4" apparel, his limb am u
Dutated at the knee; from the pallor of
the boys cheek. the amputation not AZ
ong before. He had package of bro u
zen food under his arm-food he had Ut
begged, suppose at the doors AS he a
passed on over the slippery pavement,
cautiously and carefully. | steaded IN
him until his crutch slipped and he fell. u
help ] him up as we'll as | could, co
,athe. ed up the fragments of the pack ne
Ige as well as | could. put them under ~
me arm and the crutch under the 9TH III
r arm. but when saw the blood run Wv
own his pale cheek burst into tears. oe
fifty essays about the sufferings Of w
he poor could not touch one like that i''
title drama Of accident and suffering. se
Oh, we want in all our different de- Ut
of usefulness more of the vi
ramatic element and less Of the d. al
actic. The tendency In this day Is to eh
rome religion, to whine religion. to Wa
ant religion, to moan religion. to croak ~
eligiOn. to sepulcharize religion, when
re ought to present II in animated and
pectacular manner ca
What we want. ministers and lay lo'
len, is to get our sermons and our ex- lni
ortations and our prayers out of the 10
Id rut. The old hackneyed religious en-
hrases that come snoring down WI
trough the centuries will never arrest LOT
lie masses. What we want today, you na
your sphere and In my sphere. is to 'n
eshen up. People do not want in neS
leir sermons the sham flowers bought lhe
the millinery shop, but the japonicas .aI
ct with the morning dew not the ia'
eavy bones of extinct megatherium OF III
,st aoes but the LIVING roipdoar the
night last August ot tho odao ~ ste
,hroon lake. We want to drive out vi
e drowsy and the prosaic and the te- wo
GUS and the humdrum and introduce TIE
e brightness and the vivacity and the owe
,ly sarcasm and the sanctitied wit On'
Id the epigrammatic power and the nieI
ood red earnestness and the fire of =
ligiOus zeal. and | do not know of cai
~ way of doing ii as well as through ma
e dramatic. Fra
yes
What Is Needed.
But now let us turn to the drama as 80,
amusement and entertainment. Con
Rev. DR.. Bellows Of New York many tho,
ars age In very brilliant but much ron,
ticised sermon took the position that nIis
e theater might be renovated and zion
ide auxiliary to the church. Many GRO
ristian people are Of the same Opln t,r,
/. | do not agree with them. have nor,
Idea that success Is In that direc- moo,
H. Ia. n"Ne 'a'o nere'oiore Oh pear
Is subject. as far as | remember, is
: sentiment now. But today take s,c,
p in advance Of my former theory. a "
ristianity is going to take full pos nv
sion of this world and control its of t
xims, its laws, its literature, its SCI to 8
,e and its amusements. Shut out time
m the realm of Christianity any brin
ng and you give 1t up to sin and out
th. whe
Christianity Is mighty enough to Pres