River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-02-18

SSsSI world of darkness.
The "Tartarus" of
Chicago came to the surface recently.
For five or six hours there was an eX-
hibition of hell on earth. Every phase
of wickedness was there. The city Off
cial, who represents the vice of his
ward and gives it his protection, was
in the glory of his supremacy. The
woman whose feet go down to DEATH"
whose steps take hold on hell" was
there with her silly victims. Men and
women whose excess in vice and crime
is their boast We'd with each other in
acts of drunken debauchery and
shameless lust. 1t was cavern in the
bottomless pit, miniature hell as we
shall see from study of hell as re-
vealed in the Bible.
Started at the Dance.
Take a census of the lost women
who attended and you will fird that
not less than Is per cent. began their
downward course in the dance and
that the theater has accelerated their
descent into the pit This statement
as to the theater is confirmed by re-
Baptist paper, the Boston Waterman,
| which says:
1--WE have printed two striking arti-
| cles giving practical and personal eX-
| periences with the theater and with
| actors and actresses. One was by
| Christian who had never been to
| theater until about fifty years old. Be-
| ing a fair-minded man he then conclud-
| ed he would act on the advice of those
who recommended Christians to attend
the best plays, and SO form their own
| opinion of the theater. We never
| happened to hear of another who made
| going to the theater a subject Of
| prayer; but this gentleman did. And
| he and his wife went to some of the
best plays, and after a long and fair
| trial came to the conclusion that on
the whole the influence of the theater
| is hopelessly bad, and they resolved
| that they would never go again. We
submit that this fair and remarkable
experiment in social ethics is worthy
of great consideration.
| A Clerqyman's Opinion.
| 'The other article is by a clergyman
who by the place of his residence has
been thrown into long and intimate as
| ISOLATION with actors and actresses. He
has performed their midnight mar"
riages, attended their funerals, com.
forted them when sick and in trouble,
and by his manly fairness and Chris
| tian courtesy he has gained and kept
| their confidence and regard. Few men
are so competent from experience and
observation to give correct Judgment
on the theater. And his opinion is thHt
the theater is inevitably immoral ard
degrading, both to players and attend
ants, and that even the best plays afe
demoralizing to the players.
"a play is necessarily an over-stimu-
liant. Every play must crowd into IN
hour the events and emotions of per
haps years and perhaps a lifetime. The
course of commonplace, ordinary life
for an hour or two would not draw I'M
| audience to a theater A play is there.
| fore an intoxicant in it's nature, and all
excessive emotion, even though worthy
in character, is demoralizing by reason
of it's excess
| A Spacious Plea.
The plea that Christians should ally
themselves with the good on the stage
| is more specious than convincing. You
| cannot ally yourself with the good
| without also being allied with the evil,
| for on the stage the good and the evil
are in close alliance. A drop of pure
water will not make much impression
upon goblet of ink, but drop of ink
will ruin a goblet of pure water. I'm
less pure water wants to be converted
into ink, it had better keep separate
| from the ink.
! (. The moral quality of theater-going
does not depend upon the play. That
| play is a part of a great institution. II
you go to the theater you will very
properly be judged, not by the play
you see, but by the institution that you
patronize. The plays which are better
than the institution do not lift it up,
but rather the institution drags down
the play to it's level. The whole is
stronger than any part and the whole
gives moral quality to every part. For
| a person who desires both safety and
usefulness the wise course is to refrain
from theater-going. If you care not for
safety, you have not that stamina of
character which has a wholesome fear
| of evil. If you care not for usefulness,
you certainly have not the spirit of
him who went about doing good and
who said through his servant Paul, IF
meat make my brother to offend I will
| eat no flesh while the world standeth."
| HERALD BLASTS.