Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1922-07-06

t.itatfSS. returning one hl8nt ttQi4l
The theatre ii the quiet Of her own
roosa, Elizabeth thought out a few
things and wrote them on paper.
'Fhis is what was written in her
diary, ] have soon sickened Of this
kind of society. / do not like the
tho atre, in it | find little that ele-
.atcs and much that caters to coarse
minds and low instincts. Life is
presented as sham. am deter
mined to turn away from these
things and give my heart to the
lord She was only a young girl.
Mas her decision worth while? Ask
the thousands o. women who were
saved from the honor of prison life.
Was it worth wlE!e9 Ask hundreds
OF thousands WHO were led from
darkness to the light of Christ'a
gospel Was it worth while? The
answer comes ,ck like the sound
OF many waters--it was worth while.
And thousands rise up and call her
Llasscd.
People of Rockingham, the habit
ual theatre-goer is as much like an
earnest consecrated follower of the
lowly Nazerene as rag weed is
like an American beauty rose. If
we are to judge the theatre by the
bill boards we are safe in saying
they are nothing but lust breeding
institutions. Not all of them are
bad, but the majority of them are,
and if you have any sense you know
how few of them are good, and so do
/. l am not against the theatre as
an institution, but I am against the
way it is run. Where did Mary
lose Jesus? Not playing cards. And
when l say cards / am not talking
about the fellow who is up yonder
playing stud or table stakes, because
he does not profess to be anything.
But it is you would-be society
DANES, you miserable social climbers
who are turning your homes into
kindergartens to manufacture gam
blers. Cards are the universal pas
time of intellectual weaklings. They
were introduced into China in the
year 100 to amuse a weak-minded
king and naturally all weak-minded
people have been attracted to them
ever since" Here the evangelist
told how the gambler started and
how he ended. He started up here
in your mas parlor and he ended
down there in the quagmires of
filth and the cesspools of sin and
iniquity. The majority of gamblers
matriculated in their mothers par
lors and graduated in the gambling
halls, where they were on the mat
and ready to take the count and
they were nothing more than dan
ger signals hung up TO warn the
coming generations. He gave here
statistics of thirty one gamblers ar
rested some time ago in Chicago
and 20 of them had learned to play
cards in their mothers home.
The evangelist told of Chinaman
who was hired to work in an Amer
lean home, evening came and the
people came to be entertained at
cards. Later the Chinaman was
called in to serve supper. When he
saw the table and the cards, his
eyes opened wide and his face was
a study. Then he cried out, mo, no,
me Christian man. Me no work for
Mclean heathens.' And I'll tell you
Mary did not lose Jesus on a ball
room floor, dancing in the arms Of
a spindle-legged, bullet headed Gig.
arctic. sucking, whiskey-guzzling
mutt, while he squeezes the life out
Of her physically, spiritually, and ]
started to say mentally, but they
are not bothered along that line. I
will tell you the dance does not ap-
peal to the intellectual or moral
natures, it appeals to the carnal ma
lures always. And it brings vice
and virtue into close contact, and
virtue loses. No wonder that Eliza
beth Stuart Ward says, ANY fash
ion or amusement that gives a man
a right to clasp pure woman in
his arms and hold her there the
length of an intoxicating piece of
music is below moral defense, and
absolutely proves the dance is de-