Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-21
LIKE NoRTH's EPIsTLE
TO REV. DIR. BRoUGHER

obout the wicked play, ana 50 VI 'ouiee
want IN see il. A good many others
must have read your sermon ior
,o,,nd the Auditorium crowded even
hovond IFS great capacity. II was
splendid evidence that people oo ie''
sermons.
60 far as could judge from external
appearances, doctor. | think you "eio
wrong when you characterlZeo WIN
all the positiveness of your pelIiS
o,e,,vbodv who should attend TINS play
as Indecent You, having the en-
lishtenment of a revealed eroeu' arc
doubtless prepared to say VINO IS III
decent and who is not, but loohHlb "'
the faces of the people who cro"ueu III
to witness the play which you hao ao-
,,ertised as sinful | couldn't be sure that
tbev wore all indecent l saw great
many wealthy and prominent peop'o
there. and | am unwilling to thlhk lhae
Won meant to characterize them aS III
decent There were quite hu'hpoi
who didn't come in automobiles oF
COSTLY apparel and these-wel' per-
hans these were indecent; l couldn't
say; but their eyes seemed TO DC III
with the same light. 1 find 1t dllilcu't
To iudge between men and like to Iall
hack on the surer ground of him who
said Judge not
am as much concerned as you are
doctor. that everybody should be righte-
ous and sinless, and have preached to as
large audiences as you have, perhaps
The preacher instinct is strong IN US
both and probably neither OF us coulo
change if we wanted to. Naturaly
YOU want the people to be righteous
and sinless in your way, and l want
them to be good in my way But I've
been thinking perhaps it would be 10
the advantage of both of us if we were
to eliminate a whole lot of sln-1usI
cut it out entirely and throw 1t away
on the garbage heap of dead blue laws
1t would give people more time to READ
our sermons. You remember, doctor,
how once it was sinful to kiss one )
own wife on Sunday, and how their
own husbands kissed them that day
if never on a weekday; and how, SINCE
it is no longer sinful to kiss ones own
wife on any day, she mostly goes with
out kisses from her own husband. L
am not particularly advocating KISSES
for the doctors tell us there are germs
in them, but sec how human nature
is constructed and l wonder If 1t
wouldn't be a good idea for us preach
ers to take advantage of that construc-
ton. Since Ewes day sin has been the
most attractive thing in the world
and sermons the least. Now If we
could cut out a good part of the sin
that would give the sermons better
show. What do you think? or course
wouldn't eliminate all the sin, for
then we would have nothing to preach
about. But if we could eliminate the
entire mating instinct from the sin
category and just admit it to be
natural and its indulgence or abstl-
nence a private and personal matter
into which it were indelcate and inn
pertinent for the law, the church or
Mrs. Jezebel Grundy to inquire-that
would still leave us the rich male
factors" to punish, the railroads to
regulate and the grafters to investi-
gate. 1t would also rob all such shows
as the Queen of the Moulin Rouge"
of positively the only allurement or
virtue they possess.
Did you see the play. doctor? Prob
ably not. Well, you didn't miss much.
It's not nearly as sinful as 1 hoped it
would be, and / heard a good many
people express the same sentiment.
Your sermon raised our expectations
probably beyond the power of any
merely human play to realize At very
worst the human female figure was
shown, and why should that be ad-
vertsed as sinful? There isn't any
thing essentially sinful in the whole
mating impulse, is there, doctor-unless
thinking makes it So? At all events
it's a very natural and seemingly nee
essary impulse. In that way are the
species saved from extinction. In that
way the flowers bloom, the tides rise
and fall and the plants swing in their
orbits 1t is merely the seeking of the
negative for the positive and vice
versa. We dub it sin to make it allur-
ing and artificially exciting, but per-
haps the fault is ours instead of ma
lures.
However, l agree with you, doctor,
that this play were better not. played.
1t sets a mean standard for the stage.
1t has neither wit nor art to commend
it. 1t incites but the simple impulse
of sex which were better not artificial
ly stimulated-not because it is sinful
or immoral when thus stimulated, but
because it falls under the same law as
all other artificial stimulation of nat
ural physical impulses, the result Of
which is invariably to exhaust and
disease. Moreover to unduly excite the
mating impulse when it cannot be ac-
companied by affection and a deeper
and keener sympathy than that OF
mere brute attraction is to cheat hu-
man life of its best joys. One should
get the most out of life, and only
sweethearts know how to do that. Real
lovers wouldn't care much for such
tawdry plays, were the alluring force
Of sin omitted from its advertising
They would rather wander off alone in
the moonlight and explore the mys-
teries of the universe beyond the touch