The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-01-29

make their salt Wrong again, Mr..
Sunday. The life of the average
musical show is but a fleeting one
and the few that survive owe their
longer existence to the real merit
OF the musical numbers and the wit
of the text, while the greatest money
makers have been found in the
stronger and deeper plays that live
for years and are always welcomed
by intelligent audiences.
Il do not claim that all plays are
moral. That would be a foolish
statement, but shall we weepingIy
condemn the stage because some OBJ
jectionable works have found hear
ing there? AS we'll wipe out litera-
ture because there have been oh
scene and immoral books published
at various times, or destroy the
church because it has sanctioned
many crimes-countless murders
during its career. You say: The
only way to purify the theatre is to
turn it into something else Wake
up. Mr.. Sunday, you are not living
in the dark ages now, but in the
goth century We have happily
passed the period when we could
cheerfully burn at the stake any one
who did not happen to believe as we
did and then justify our crime under
the mysterious work, 'witchcraft,'
and delude ourselves unto the belief
that long face and tiresome Puri-
tan Sabbath had squared our crimes
with the Almighty.
| at is our glorious privilege to be
living today and reapIng the bene-
fits of 10th century progress. You
might just as well talk of abOlish1ng
music, literature or any of the arts
as to talk of abolishing the stage.
1t has too firm a hold on the hearts
and minds of those who appreciate
it's beauties and realize its tremen-
dous power for good
"You say Booth and Garrick never
allowed their children to witness
play. l hate to spoil your fatherly
little story, Mr. Sunday, but the truth
is that Garrick never had any child
rem, though happily married to
French danseuse, by the way.
Booths wife was hts leading wo-
man, while it Is generally understood
that his daughter was his severest
critic and he highly esteemed her
Judgment.
you say that a certain actress.
whose name you can not reveal, con-
fided to you that the stage was cor
rupt in all it's branches. | can not
imagine what sort of a company she
had been connected with, but she was
undoubtedly unfortunate in choosing
her engagements. / have been on the
stage nearly fifteen years, yet / have
always been associated with ladies
and gentlemen of honest and upright
principles. Many of them are devout
followers of different creeds. and of
all the scores of actresses l know l
can not now recall more than one or
two of whose morality there was the
slightest question.
Columns could be written on the
subject of The Stage both its moral
and intellectual aspects. The fact
that the stage has not only survived
the struggles and vicissitudes of its
earlier career, its prosecutions by
narrow-minded bigots. its discour-
agements and hard knocks, but has
risen steadily obove them to become
what it is today-the greatest lnstl-
tuition Of modern times. patronized
by brilliant and refined men and wO-
men and constantly progressing to-
ward a higher standard, seems the
best proof of the fitness of its sur
yival. ~
"Mr Sunday. you repeatedly say
the Bible is good enough for you. 1t
is; it is good enough for anyone.
What does it say about bearing false
witness against your neighbor? What
does 1t say about Judge not lest ye
be judged?' What does it say about
calling your brother fool? What
does it say about Though I speak
with the tongues of men and of an
gels and have not charity am be-
come as sounding brass or tinkling
cymbal?'
"You profess to be follower OF
the gentle Christ, who said 'Suher
little children to come unto me and
forbid them not yet you Danish the
little tots from your services. You
wheedle $50 out of Jimmie Durkin,
liquor dealer, and then with the cool
est nerve you openly say, would
MT horo thu acknowledgements 6irfv