Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-05-23
OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW

In recent article in one of the mag
azines writer put forth well estap-
lished argument to prove that oratory
was fast becoming "a lost art and thai
eloquence was on the decline both ~
substance and appreciation. What fo.-
lows is to agree with him not only
along the lack of eloquence and ora :
tory, but in kindred accomplishments
this referring to the receptive power OF
the public. Today said public demands
to be amused not instructed. What is
left of the lecture course, once tho
great intellectual feast of educated
people, now demands u wit for the hign
priced attraction. the drawing card
No better proof Of this statement than
to glance over the daily programs OF a
chautauqua course. III further proof Is
needed listen TO the announcement oil
the attraction next Sunday at the Y.
NJ. c. A. meeting. If lie was alive,
Henry Ward Beecher would need to MI
the house this announcements: Mr..
Beecher will speak next Sunday after
noon at the mems Y. Nj. c. a. meet
ing on the opportunity of young Chris
tans The mandolin club VIII fur
nish the music"
country over The stock companies
playing the School for Scandal formerly
amused our fathers and mothers.
Shakespeare's plays were capable OF
filling the house IN their time. Now no
successful opera house manager risks
more than one or two solid plays dur
ing the season. Tragedy no longer
draws High comedy is risky low
comedy stands better chance of hll-
ing the house, but an extravaganza, 4
roaring farce fills the treasurer's cash
box It's just as true of the musical
part of public entertainments. one
Grafton a season satisfies a town the
size OF Marshalltown. One English
opera company Is enough each winter.
Once it may do to offer Faust or
like opera, but we pay our dollars as
often as asked to go to the Land of
Nod to see the WIZARD. of OF, to see
the Mikado in original, and its twen-
ty limitations.
There's nothing strange in all this.
Formerly the American citizen fed his
bodily appetites along solid lines.
Roast beef and vegetables, and brown
bread, with plum pudding, mince pie
and hard cider. made square meal
Today we don't fill our stomachs with
such heavy stuff. We amuse even our
digestive organs with fruit thin soups,
French cooked dishes, fish, game, light
buildings. confectionery and wine. Pie
is disappearing with the lecturer.
Boiled dinners" are an unknown dish
to os many today as have failed to see
Macbeth. It's the same too, in our
daily walk and conversation. Society
people have not changed. Their gath
erings always consisted of talking OF
nothing and knowing less OF 1t, as Pat
would remark. But Intelligent men
and women today only dare chance
remark on great questions that should
interest the public. Solid conversation
is out Of style. Be entertaining. is the
motto. And entertainment consists OF
ten words on the San Francisco horror
and a page of base ball talk. We're
no longer to take ourselves seriously
Life is too short. We shall be dead a
long time. Therefore, have fun. Have
1t in the pulpit, on the lecture platform
at the chatauqua, in the theater, in
society, at home. Once a week in the
Sunday papers, the comic supplements
is not enough. We must have funny
cartoons every day in our daily pa
pers. Eat, drink and be merry, fol
tomorrow We die" Live in "the House
of Mirth"