The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1903-02-07
1T IS AN AID TO MORALITY
Sir Henry Irving and Madame Sarah
i Bernhardt, Both Give Express
sion to their Opinion. 80.

Or denFy irving ana Madame
Sarah Bernhard. The former con-
tributes paper on "The Mission of
the Stage and the Actor" to Col
lier's Weekly December 13); the
latter has written what is said to be
the first article she has ever had
published, for the Cornhill Maya
zine january, on The Moral In
fluence of the Theater." Both
writers endeavor to establish the
essential worth and dignity of the
stage, and both articles are charac-
terized by a glowing enthusiasm
for the actors career.
Sir Henry Irving maintains that
the drama furnishes ''the most in
tellectual recreation the mind of
man has yet conceived" To those
critics Of the stage who insist that
the efforts of the actor are but MINI
etc and ephemeral and pass away
'as tale that is told," he replies:
"All art is mimetic, and even life
itself, the highest and last gift of
God to His people, is heeting. Mar
Bile crumbles, and the very names
of great cities become buried in the
dust of ages. Who then would
dare to arrogate to any art an un-
changing place from the scheme Of
the worlds development, or would
condemn it because its efforts fade
and pass? Nay, more, has even the
tale that is told no significance in
after-years? Can such not stir,
when it is worth the telling, the
hearts of men, to whom it comes as
an echo from the past? Have not
more tales remained vital and most
widely known. which are. told and
told again and again, face to face,
and heart to heart, when the teller
and the listener are adding, coming
down the ages, strength to one cur.
rent, of a mighty thought or a
mighty deed, and its record?
Surely the record that lives in
the minds of men is still record,
tho it be not craven on brass or
wrought in marble. And it were
poor conception of the value of any
art if, in considering it, we were to
keep Our eyes fixed on some dark
spot, some imperfection, and shut
our eyes to its aim, its power, its
beauty. Poetry, painting, sculpt-
ure, music, architecture, all have
bearing on their time-ay-beyond
it. The actor, tho his knowledge
may be and must be limited by the
knowledge of his age, so long as he
sounds the note of human passion
has something which is common to
all the ages, and if he can smite wa
ter from the rock of one hardened
human heart-if he can bring light
to the eye or wholesome color to the
faded cheek-it he can bring or
restore in ever so slight degree
the sunshine of hope, of pleasure,
of gayety, surely he can not have
worked in vain"
Sir Henry Irving comedies that
the theater is primarily a place of
amusement, but he thinks that this
fact does not lessen the serious re-
sponsibilities that lie on the should
ers of playwrights, managers, and
actors alike. We quote again:
"For the consideration of the art
of acting, it must never be forgotten
that its ultimate aim is beauty.
Truth itself is only an element OF
beauty, and merely to reproduce
things vile and squalid and mean is
debasement of art. There is apt
to be such tendency in an age of
peace, and men should carefully
watch its manifestations. A mo-
rose and hopeless dissatisfaction is
not part of a true national life.
This is hopeful and earnest, and, if
need be, militant. 1t is bad sign
for any nation to yearn for or even
to tolerate pessimism in their en-.
Joyment, and how eau pessimism be |
otherwise than antagonistic toI
beauty. .34s ..... |