The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-03-04

The Stage and the People.
Those who are familiar with the quail
ity OF dramatic performances in the
East during the past few years. and
especially the plays that have ruled in
New York city. are pardonable IL they
at first conceived the hubbub over the
performance OF Miss Nethersole in
''Sapho" to be only variation OF the
methods OF advertising which ingenious
press agents have devised. After all
that the New York public has tolerated
and seemed to approve for several sea-
sons past. the arrest OF the actress and
an apparently genuine attempt to pre-
vent the exhibition OF the play seemed
an excess Of moral scrupuiousness II 1t
were not all a preconcerted affair.
Whether sincere or affected. however.
the incident will be helpful II II serves
to bring an effective public sentiment
TO bear upon the influences that have
sought to transform the educating and
eievatins power Of the stage into mere
opportunities for indecent suggestion
and aids to moral debauchery.
The play In question, as the dramatic
critics describe 1t, and by the intrisic
test of its origin. 10 absolutely UNIT for
public representation. IT Is possible to
contend that the wonderfully artistic
story told by Daudet carries with 1t
moral SO powerful as to be the sufficient
antidote for it's minute portrayal OF for
ain IL death is the conclusion which It
drives homo to the healthy mind and
the sound heart. Just as true Is II that
the aliurIng picture which 1t presents
OF the ecstatic entrancements OF vice in
its earlier stages. when the whirlwind
has not yet been reaped. may he
the bane of temperaments where
reason and the moral nature
are not strong enough to with
stand the stormy sweep of the emotions.
There are many who linger In these
luxurious antechsmbers, amidst the en-
auisite surroundings of refined and
delicate Pompeian art. for every one
who raises the curtain which screens
the final portal. to behold at the end OF
the sensuous vista only the grinning
deaths head and the clutohng skeleton
fingers which claim their own.
II this is true of the book. "Sapho."
where the mind is kept alert by a
wholesome necessary activity. IL Is still
truer Of the play ''sapho," where the
appeal is through the eve and the ear,
and Judgment may rest dormant The
diotum of the extreme realists that
everything which exists IN life Is "a
proper subject for portraiture. was long
ago dismissed. The race rises or falls
BY its Ideals. To keep them high and
pure Ia TO realize all that mankind has
struggled for through the INFINITE ages.
The how. the coarse. the vile may not
be- destroyed, but neither need u be set
Ia the marketplaee for daily eontem-
plation. In the last analysis Art aud
| Truth and Beauty are one as Keats told
US IN immortal words. Moral agiiness Is
no more TO be revealed. even as a warn
ms. than physicsi deformity To nll
the eye with beauty. the mind with
truth and to live through art In the
company Of the best and nohlsst. 20
breathe purity and heaFken 10 the notes
| Of the choir invisible this Is human
progress. To submit, the aesthetic side
| OF natnr. TO coarser Influences. In thu
name OF knowledge or arr or eulture. Is
to degrade ideals, u Is 20 lean back
ward 10 the beast"
| The protest, then. against publt,
/ rendition 81 ''s&pho' Is Justified on the
higher plane and on the lower. Society
has as much right 60 protect itself
asains, this as Il has to insist that men
and women shah wear clothing in the
/ pnhlic streets. The curious. the iogred-
shle. the humnistlng and Disappointing
thing Is that the revolt has tsrriesi So
hons, 'sRpho" rs no worse is not half
as eva as a score % plays which Ia
been not tolerated but welcomed and
approved by the substantial test OF the
box office In New York and ia other
great centers OF refinement and culture.
IL has seemed OF late as If there was
no limit to prurience on the stage Not
oniy have disrobing acts drawn curious
thousands to theatrical performances
that had no other claim upon attention.