The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-03

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just, whatsoever things are pure. what
soever things are lovely Wn9lsosR ~
things are Of good report. u -, mes <sIsis 9e
any virtue, and if there pc any pt ~
! think on these things--Phihpp1an 40
Bishop Scanned. who is at the head
of the Roman Catholic diocese OF
| Omaha, sounds a note Of warning,
which, while not altogether new, com
ing from the source it does, strongly
emphasizes a matter which ought TO
receive more attention. It is the Inn
moral influence Of many of the plays
that are produced on the American
stage.
''The knowledge Of evil acquired
from the stage says Bishop scan
nell, has hurried down to his or her
ruin many young person. who, but
for 1T. would be a good Christian ana
/ a useful member of society
Altogether too little is said aboss<
the banefm influence of bad plays.
! We talk of the evil done by bad books
and not infrequently can the down
! fall of some boy be traced to that
/ source. Yet the influence of a GER
tain class of plays is Just as bad-or
worse; for it is more insidious in some
ways Many people go to see plays in
which evil is portrayed in a way that,
/ if it were written in a book, they
would scorn to read.
There doubtless are plays-too few
of them-that leave with one
wholesome impression the same as is
! produced by good book. There is
good, clean comedy on the stage that
one can see and hear and still go
away without a bad taste in ones
mouth. But there are other plays
that are distinctly bad; while still 9TH
ers, perhaps the majority, are like
many books, neither good nor bad but
simply worthless.
The distinctly bad plays are the
most difficult to deal with If the
newspa pers denounce them it only
I serves to advertise them and increase
their financial success and also pro
portionately widen their bad in
f1uence
Foremost among this class of plays
are those that make vice attractive.
Under the guise of art" even life in
the house of dishonor is portrayed It's
habitues are arrayed in silks and fine
raiment, and they are surrounded by
every luxury. To be sure an attempt
is usually made to show that this sort
of life is not always satisfactory, but
the lesson is frequently lost. and no
impressionable young girl can witness
such play and have quite as lofty and
sane Ideas of life as she had before.
And the boy or young man beside her
is allured by the suggestiveness Of the
play and imagines that he can escape
the harvest.
There are other plays which, while
they may not be 90 openly bad, cast
slurs at everything that is pure and en-
nobling. They give an impression of
the lure of vice and make out that vir-
tue is commonplace and dull. Possibly
this class of plays create more havoc
than those that are downright bad. for
they are more common, and they under
mine the respect of inpressionable peo-
pie for virtue and truth-and impress
sionable people are the class from which
the stage gets most Of its patronage
Bishop Scanned was assuredly right
in his denunciation of evil plays be-
cause of the decentralization they pro-
duce. Some churches forbid their
members from attending plays what
ever, because so many of them are bad
and because it is so difficult to distin-
guish between the good and the bad.
There are those who believe the stage
may be elevated the same as is litera-
ture. There was once a time when
novels were regarded by many people as
most plays are today-useless If not
positively bad. Yet today the mission of
the good novel is recognized. If a
larger percentage OF good and whole
some plays obtained upon the stage. it
might exert a power for good. for a
good play undoubtedly can be made to
teach a great and wholesome lesson as
we'll as a good book-and that, too
without mixing in much that is vile
and degrading.
But thoughtful people must admit
along with Bishop Scanned that many
present day plays have a vicious inf1u-
ence on the young and inpressionable;
and if we wish to think on those things
that are true, that are just, that are
pure. that are lovely, that are Of good
report. the pernicious play cannot be
too widely Stunned.