1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



137 



Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not 

 brtad ? and your labor for that which satisfitth not ?— 

 ISA. 55 : 2. 



As I dictate this, almost every man, wo- 

 man, and child in the United States, and a 

 preat part of them, for that matter, in the 

 whole wide world, knows about the Chica- 

 go horror where almost six hundred people, 

 larg^ely women and children, suffered a 

 horrible death in something like ten min- 

 utes' time, and that, too, in the day time, 

 right in that crowded city. It has been 

 written up so fully in all its aspects that I 

 need not go into details; and more prompt 

 and vigorous measures are being taken now 

 than perhaps the world ever saw before to 

 prevent a repetition of such a disaster. It 

 was a terrible lesson — perhaps the most 

 terrible this country has ever known. Hun- 

 dreds of vigorous editorials, not only in our 

 dailies but even in our weekly periodicals, 

 are coming up on every hand. But I have felt 

 troubled and pained, in going over a great 

 number of our home papers, to see how few 

 even intimate that theaters and theater-go- 

 ing are anv thing out of the way, even for 

 professing Christians and followers of the 

 Lord Jesus Christ. I am not sure that my 

 own children would think it exactly right 

 for me to make objection in public print to, 

 saj-, our best class of theaters. The Chi- 

 cago Advance, however, has ventured to 

 suggest that " fire is not the only danger to 

 be feared from our American theaters." It 

 ventures to say in an editorial, " Some of 

 them would be safer if they were burned 

 up and burned down, and never rebuilt. A 

 moral infection has been eating into them 

 that is worse than fire. " On another page, 

 under the heading " We are Moved to Re- 

 mark," they suggest that "the closing of 

 some theaters makes it easier for some peo- 

 ple to pay their rent and grocery bills." 

 This latter expression alludes to the fact 

 that the theaters of Chicago are at present 

 closed until they can make changes in their 

 construction so as to conform to the city or- 

 dinances. 



Doubtless many of my readers will sa}', 

 " Mr. Root, if you do not like theaters, and 

 honestly disapprove of them, why not drop 

 the matter and stay away, but at the same 

 time let others who do not feel as you do ex- 

 ercise their own conscience in the matter, 

 and go?" 



Well, in view of the above I /lave kept 

 still for H good many 3eirs. But I fear 

 people misjudge me. I do like theaters — 

 yes, and circuses - in one sense of the word. 

 I am inclined to think there is hardly one 

 among you who enjoys a first class play 

 with the keen relish that I do. A good 

 many may sa}', " Why, if this is true, go 

 by all means, and have a good time with 

 the rest of us." But, my dear friends, I 



can honestly add, "I not only enjoy thea- 

 ters, but I should enjoy with a huge relish 

 a. j^/ass of beer also" It is a lo ■'g time 

 since I tasted any, it is true. The last 

 time I had a good taste, partly by mistake, 

 of real first class beer (that was not what 

 they called it, but that was its right name 

 nevertheless) I almost groaned in spirit be- 

 cause my conscience told me it was abso- 

 lutely ivicked iox me to drink anything that 

 "hit the spot" as exactly as that did. 

 Oh, yes! it is true that I am a sinner, like 

 the rest of mankind, and a good deal of the 

 time I constantly crave the things I know 

 from past experience, as well as present, 

 would do me harm. 



I can not tell you in this short Home talk 

 all the harm that theaters do, but I think I 

 can give you some suggestions. A short 

 time ago a book called David Harum made 

 a big sensation. I am glad, however, it 

 dropped out of sight about as quickly as it 

 came into prominence. The book defended 

 not only tobacco and beer, and theaters and 

 circuses, but it suggested a new and better 

 kind of religion (?) than that found in the 

 old orthodox creeds. It brought the tears 

 to the eye of the reader, almost if not quite, 

 in telling what a humane act it was to take 

 a boy to the circus for the first time in 

 his life — a boy who had a hard and cruel 

 guardian. Perhaps I may as well grant 

 that it was a kind act in some senses of the 

 word; but if that boy, during that day, got 

 a glimpse and a craze for circuses, and, 

 later on, theaters, until he became unsatis- 

 fied with the regular duties of life, perhaps 

 we may say such a life as had fallen to his 

 lot, the act of taking him to a circus may 

 no have been such a kind one after all. 



Later on there was something of a stir 

 about a little book called " Miss Wiggins' 

 Cabbage patch ; " and some of my friends 

 told me I would greatly enjoy reading it. 

 I picked it up thinking it would have some- 

 thing to do with market-gardening. I threw 

 it down in disgust; but when my youngest 

 daughter urged me to read it clear through, 

 saying it was a religious book, I finished 

 it. I do not know but the majority of the 

 world would consider it a missionary storj'. 

 The writer tells how a womin of wealth 

 took a poor family out of the slums and 

 lifted them for a brief period from humdrum 

 earth to the glitter of heaven by giving 

 them as a treat a glimpse of an up-to-date 

 theater for the first time in their lives. It 

 It is true, she gave them an "outing " that 

 was the event of their life, and something 

 to talk about and think of perhaps ever aft- 

 erward, even if they never attended another 

 theater. But the main point before us is, 

 did this glimpse into wealth among the 

 high classes fit them any better for the ev- 

 ery-day duties of life? Did it make them 

 any happier about their daily tasks?* This 



* The glimpse our ^ounpr people get of life as por- 

 traved on the ."-tfige is not that of real life. It is a 

 make believe sort of life. It costs a great deal of 

 ni'-'nev. Rtid it gives no a ^equate returns. The Sunday _ 

 School Times, in commenting on the objections to the- ' 

 ater going says this : " On the very face of it, the pro- 



