Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-10-03

before many an alluring group OF
actresses and chorus girls, such as was
seen in the wealthy capital Of Samaria
on the night when a disreputable dane
1g girl, Salome by name, danced
among the licentous guests Of her step
father, Herod, and by sinuous move
ments of limb and suggestive look OF
sin so captivated the drunken king that
'he promised her anything that she
might ask of him, even to the half Of
his kingdom.
Dance Cost Life of q Saint.
John the Baptist lost his life on &C
count Of that dance. But many a man,
not, like John, In prison, but in orches
ira chair. has lost his head, both moral
ly and spiritually, as the result of an
immoral show on the theater boards.
There may be good theaters. know
that some people whom l respect at
tend the theater. But l know there
are also vile theaters. l also know
some of these vile theaters are attend
ed regularly by some so called good
people. And l also know that these
vile showS are the haunts Of spiritual
and physical death
When l wrote this sermon there lay
upon my study desk powerful edl-
torial upon Stage denominations" 1t
lately appeared in one of the greatest
secular newspapers of the present day
This editorial was not written by
minister, but by a layman who per
haps never enters a church. 1t said:
at does not seem possible that the
public will much longer tolerate the
denominations that are constantly be-
ing inflicted upon it from behind the
footlights Of the theaters Of the pres
ent day. Surely the Vulgarities and
indecencies of actors and actresses of
the present day who substitute filth
and vile insinuations for wit and hui
NOR are not so licensed that they can
be allowed to go on forever without re-
buke. The nasty and offensive jokes,
the immoral action and the language
of the slums and the vile resort are all
too frequently forced upon the ear and
seen in the streets and public places
Of the town without being Haunted in
q seat in the theater. If the stage has
become SO Impoverished that it must
resort to dirtiness and suggestive vice
to maintain itself 1t were better to
abolish 1t entirely as an institution"
Then this editorial goes more into de-
tail to denounce the trend Of the mod
ern theater which blasts the lives Of
its audiences by what they see as well
as hear. Does any man in the face Of
such q powerful philippe declare that
thousands and tens Of thousands Of
men and women every year are not
morally contaminated by the filthy
streams Of conversation which play
wrights and actors and actresses roll
over them In the tAeaters In the long
winter nights? The streams of boiling
lava and the showers of burning ashes
which fell on Pompeii and Hercu-
laneum on that terrible night in 70
A. D., overwhelming the pleasure seek
ing people, were not 80 much to be
dreaded as this torrent of moral filth
which Is descending almost every
night on the audiences In the theaters
Of our great cities and is bringing them
to spiritual destruction.
what the Waterman Sees.
| But as a Waterman l must not al
| low my eyes to follow only one class
| Of people While the theater audi
ences are moving through the streets
| to witness these distorted and often
impossible plays, through the open
doors Of the saloons can see the
stages on which are being enacted
scores and hundreds and thousands Of
tragedies in real life. Each one Of
these tragedies is as pathetic as that
Of a Hamlet, an Othello, a Merchant
Of Venice. Each one has more of pa
thos within 1t than could ever be found
in the misery and woe Of Dickens
tale Of Two Cities" or a Seton
Thompson's Autobiography Of a Griz-
ely Bear" In these tragedies of real
life enacted upon the stage of the
saloon we do not always find the
young men and women led as lambs to
the slaughter. But we sometimes find
them as wild tigers fighting for their
lives when their fore feet have been
caught in the street traps, or as stays
at bay, for little while holding of
. the hounds, yet, like mad dogs at the
sight of water. they become absolutely
helpless at the sight and smell of rum
Oh, the tragedies of the saloons AS
a Waterman on Gods watchtower who
can ever refrain from pathizing
with them and shedding tears of deep
est sorrow for them? "Oh. no." ex-
claims some cynical man, Il have no
sympathy for the drunkard If a man
wants to stop drinking he can stop.
The only reason why the drunkards do
not stop is because they do not want
to stop" All. my cynical friend, you
are wrong. | have no sympathy for
that egotistic and self inflated young
man who to be smart loafs about sa-
loon and deliberately cultivates a taste
for drink. But there are thousands Of
men who do not want to drink. They
do not know how TO stop drinking
They have never yet heard Of the