Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1905-07-20
ligion. The goddess Coney Island craze
creates q morbid desire for Sunday

creates q morbid desire for Sunday
amusement that as a vampire feeds tat
on the vitals of our holy religion.
I know there is danger Of being mis-
understood when / speak in detail. Tle
man with a Grabbed religion will think
me too lax, while the man without
conviction will think me too strict.
With a zeal worthy Of a better cause
the church in the past has picked out
a few amusements upon which it has
placed the ban and left others with
no censure. It has decreed that dane
ing and card playing and the theatres
were Of themselves sinful and deyilish
and Were worse than are "Jacob and
Ruth" or "Blind Mans Buff" or the
more widely practfced game of miser-
liness or covetousness or "fbbing."' 1t
is a hopeful sign that the present
tendency of the church seems to be to
give more attention to the affirmative
side Of life rather than to act as Pharl-
saical judges on the negative. .'Thou
shalt not" IS like a prop to keep a
dying tree from falling, but it takes
more than a prop to make a live tree
grow. While the prop may have a
place It is not nearly so important as
some think.
/ am not a theatregoer nor ballroom
frequenter, neither do I know even the
names of the different playing cards."
I feel that I have much better use for
my time and money. From my OBJ
servation I have no hesitancy, however,
in agreeing with those who replied to
my question that the theatre and dance
and progressive euchre and cards are
menaces to the development Of the
Christian life. While Of themselves
they may not be more harmful than the
other forms Of amusement named, their
influence seems to be against them.
To the question: "Do you personally
know people who frequent the theatres
and ballroom and euchre parties who
at the same time are also leaders in
prayer meeting and the Sunday-school
as soul winners, with a good, healthful
influence? only two answered in the
affirmative. Why? Does j. not indi-
cate that there is something out Of
harmony with these particular nus
ments and the healthful influence of
the Christian life? Is it right to go
counter to the testimony Of people
scattered over such a wide territory
and from SO many different denomina-
tons SO long as We prize Ouc religious
influence?
If we say the theatre as a whole is Of
good influence and a necessity for the
men who are carrying the great bur-
dens in the commercial and Industrial
world, then it falls short of its purpose,
for the theatre is supported not by the
Cargenies and Rockefellers, but mostly
by those who cannot afford it and at
the same time do what they ought to
in nh11on fhrnnu ATocf >f thu c1rrnonf
comes from the younger class, who as
yet have no great burdens to bear. AS
to why those who frequent them are
not real forces in Christian work, read
the following: President Eliot, of Har-
ward, says: 1.-THE influence of amuse-
ments may be drawn from the quality
of the popular theatre. The taste is for
the trivial spectacies, burlesques, vul-
| gar vaudeville, extravaganzas, and the
stage often presents to unmoved audi
wholesome sort"
One Of the leading dramatic critics
| Of the English press, Mr.. Clement
Scott, says it is NEARLY impossible for
a woman to remain pure who adopts
the stage as a profession and that the
stage has a tendency to disorder the
| finer sensibilities and to substitute hol-
lowness for sincerity" and adds: II
speak from my intimate experience
with the stage running over a period of
over thirty years." Is it right to de-
mand amusement at the enormous
price suggested by these men in the
ruin Of the virtue Of WOmanhood whose
profession is to amuSe us and thus
like ROme's vestals let their virtue pay
the awful price for our mere entertain
ment? If it is NEARLY impossible to
adopt the stage and remain pure, her
it is not Christian to demand that form
Of amusement on whose affairs woman
hood is sacrificed. If the sacrifice was
that OF Jul WI sons and daughters
would we be willing to make it simply
to amuse people?
The stage cannot be kept up without
using somebody's daughters on the al
tar. Now the question becomes a dou-
BILE one-not only can I have Christian
motives by %frequenting the theatre,
but is it right to ask that somebody's
daughter I'll the risk of such an awful
temptation as that to which the stage
subjects them for my mere amuse-
ment, granting that the stage has many
Of the most noble as it's adornment and
that many of.pur best people patronize
it? Yet if the flame Of the theatre pas.
sion demands such fuel, can I afford to
be a party to the transaction? I would
not appeal to prejudice nor act as judge
over other mems consciences nor pass
hard ecclesiastical laws Of disbarmen1
against those who might differ with
me. I make my appeal to the hearts
sense of justice to make man or woman
who may have enough Of the Christly
! q N hifin-A IN ma 10 tho nnocf IF lifn 1x
| stunning that form of amusement O.
, any Kind which runs such tremendou.
l risky.
: Are you asking me # a man is to b.
deprived Of his rights just because b
), is a Christian? This is a good question
= owe which to pause and ask for til
! sake of others not what are m,
rights" but what are my duties an,
: ! obligations?
K A Robert Louis S~tevenson's Prayer.
"a