The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-03-30

a Il eT- u Only T-lulItS one HAL
somewhere between here and San
Francisco or between Bangor and Gal
weston to see Il an appreciate it-one
man of large individual means and
great heart, and with 100000 he cou.S
do more good than all the Lenox and
Lawrences and the Peabodys ever ac-
cornplished. He woul settle for all ma
lions and for all times the ~stupendous
question Of amusement which for CEN
turtles has been under angry and vitu-
perative discussion and which Is no
nearer being settled today, by all ap-
-pearances, than ii was at the start.
Such an institution would have TO be
supported at the start by a donation of
capital, but very soon, in a year or
two, ii would become self supporting,
and the board OF trustees would find
that the idea paid not only in morals
and the elevation of the people, but in
dividends and hard cash.
l would go to such an institution,
such a spectator. / should go once a
week the rest of my life and take my
family with me, and the majority of
the families of the earth would go to
such a. institution. / expect the time
will come hen | can, without bring
ing upon myself criticism, without be-
ing an inconsistent Christian, when /,
as minister of the good old Presbyterian
church, will be able to go 10 some new
institution like this, the spectacular,
and see Hamlet and King Lear
and the Merchant OF Venice" and the
"Hunchback" and Joshua Whit
comb" Meanwhile many of us will
have this dramatic element unmet and
unregaled.
For my love of pictures 1 can go to
the art gallery, for my love of music
1 can go to the concert, for my love of
literature l can go to the lyceum lee
ture, but for this dramatic element in
my nature, as strong as any other pas
sion of the SOul, there is nothing but
injunction and prohibition. Until, sirs,
o can establish a spectacular or a
similar institution, with as much puri-
ty and with as much entertainment as
this n of which l speak-until you
can establish some such institution you
may thunder away against evil
amusements until the last minute of
the last hour of the last day of the
worlds existence and without avail.
We want this institution Independent
of the church and Independent of the
theater. The church tries to compro-
mise this matter, and in many chur-
ches there are dramatic exhibitions.
Sometimes they call them charades,
sometimes they call them magic an
tern exhibitions-entertainmentS for
which you pay SO cents, the so cents
to go for the support of some chart
table institution. An extemporized
stage is put up in the church or in the
lecture room, but there you go and see
David and the giant and Joseph sold
into Egypt and little Samuel awoke,
the chief difference between the eXhi-
bition in the church and the exhibit
ton in the theater being that the ex-
Eibition in the t}?eGter is more Skillful.
Now let US have a new institution,
with eXpurgated drama and with the
surroundings ] have spoken of-an in
stitution which we can without SophiS-
try and without self deception support
and patroniZe-an institution so I'M
compromisingly good that we can at
tend it without any shock to our relig-
ious sensibilities, though the Sabbath
before we sat at the holy sacrament.
The amusements of life are beauti-
full and they are valuable, but hey
cannot pay you for the loss of your
soul. 1 could not tell your character,
I could not tell your prospects for this
world or the next by the particular
church you attend, but if you will tell
me where you were last night and
where o were the night before and
where you have been the nights Of the
last month, 1 think I could guess
where o will spend eternity.
AS to the drama of your life and
mine, it will soon end. There will be
no encore to bring us back. At the
a cradle, at the end of it will stand
a grave. The first act, welcome. The
last act, farewell. The intermediate
acts, banquet and battle, professions
bridal and funeral, n and tears,
laughter and groans.
1t was not original with Shakes
peare when he said, "All the worlds a
merely players" He got it from St.
Paul, who Is centuries before that had
written, I'VE are made a spectacle I'M
to the world and to angels and TO
men" A spectacle in a coliseum
fighting with wild beasts in an amphi-
theater, the galleries full, looking
down. Here we destroy a lion. Here
we grapple with a gladiator. When
We fall, devils shout. When we rise,
angels sing. A spectacle before gall
lery above gallery, gallery above gal
lery. Gallery of our departed kindred
looking down to see if we are faithful
and worthy of our Christian ancestry,
hoping for our victory, wanting to
throw US a garland, glori1ed children
and parents, with cheer on cheer urg-
looking down-the Polycarps and the
Ridleys and the McKails and the The
ban legion and the Scotch Covenanters
and they of the Brussels market place
and Of Piedmont-crying down from
the galleries, God gave US the vic
of angels looking down-cherubic,
seraphic. acknowledgements their
wings at every advantage we gain.
Gallery of the King from which there
waves a SCARED hand and from which
there ONE a sympathetic voice say
ing, BE h faithful unto death, and
1 will give thee a crown of life" Oh,
the spectacle in which you and 1 are
the actors! Oh, the piled up galleries
looking down!
Scene {: The last day. Stage: The
rocking earth Enter: Dukes. lords,
kings, beggars, clowns. No sword. No
tinsel. No crown, for footlights: The
kindling flames of a world. For orches-
ira: The trumpets that wake the dead.
For applause: The clapping floods of
h sea For curtain: The heavens
rolled together as a scroll. For TRACE
dy: The Doom of the Profigate."
For the last scene of the fifth act: The
tramp OF nations across the stage,
some to the right. theirs to the left.
Then the bell of the last thunder viii
ring, and the curtain will drop,
Copyright, 1900, by Louis Klopsch.)