138 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb 1 



wealthy missionary lady mig^ht have g^iven 

 this poor famil}' — shall I say it? — a '"good 

 old time" by giving- them some beer or 

 whisky, or, to be more high toned, say a 

 bottle or two of champaene. If judiciously 

 administered 1 do not know but she might 

 have made even the children happy in one 

 sense of the word, for the time being, b}' the 

 use of alcoholic stimulants; but would it 

 have been a Christian act? David Harum 

 did this very thing-, and rejoiced over it. 

 He got some old ladies, who were strict 

 orthodox members of the church, to drinking 

 champagne till they became " merry." 



No doubt, friends, you thnk I am putting 

 the matter altogether too strongly. But 

 consider for a moment the boys and girls of 

 our nation who are working hard and striv- 

 ing for an education, or for advancement in 

 life. These boj's and girls have, most of 

 them, a longing to see a real theatrical 

 play. Many of them spend their hard earn- 

 ings to go once in awhile to a city theater, or, 

 say, just once in a lifetime. Here in Medi- 

 na we are thirty miles away from the city 

 of Cleveland. An electric car during the 

 season runs once a week to carry theater- 

 goers and bring them back home. The pu- 

 pils of our high school, and, if I am correct, 

 many of the teachers, go to Cleveland to at- 

 tend the theater. Some of them, as I hap- 

 pen to know, are overworked and in poor 

 health. It is not only the money they can 

 hardly spare, but the strength and endur- 

 ance to take a trip of thirty miles, long past 

 midnight, to get home. Would you expect 

 a member of the Endeavor Society, for in- 

 stance, and an earnest worker for the Lord 

 Jesus Christ, to attend one of these thea- 

 ters? If such a person did attend, would it 

 add to or deiract from his spirituality? I 

 have tried it. Not only does my spirituali- 

 ty suffer when I go to a theater, but even 

 the memory of it dims my love to God for a 

 long time to come * NLy nearnes-s to my 

 Maker, and my close relationship to him 

 and daily communion with him, or, in other 

 vs^ords, my spirituality, is worth more to 

 me than any thing else this whole world 

 has to offer. I am afraid to go to theaters 

 and circuses; I am afi aid to drink beer; 

 and I am afraid to join in with sabbath- 

 breakers, because I know by experience 

 that these things interfere with my com- 

 munion with God, and mar my happiness 

 and peace of mind.f 



fes.sion of an actor stands all by itself, in demanding 

 of its pursuer that his main purpose and endeavor 

 shall bf to seem what he is not ; to appear something 

 else than his real self; and herein lit-s the essential 

 and irremediable evil of this pioftssion." 



And, again "A man who i~. perh ps, at heart a 

 good and a true man and who has excentional c^pa- 

 bilities of good, devotes himse f to seeming a bad 

 mn. and to 'xhibiting the semblance of the vilest 

 passions or of the mo^t abhonent crimes. How can 

 such a course tail of injuiy to a noble naiure? Even if 

 it in no degree lowered the tone of that nature, it in- 

 evital)lv restrains it within limitations all unworthy 

 of its powers and destiny. " 



* A converted actor, after spending ten years of his 

 life on the stage, writes to the Sunday School Times as 

 - follows : ■■ The life isdemoraliziug and immor-alizing. 

 It sends spirituality glimmering." 



Some years ago while visiting a brother 

 of mine in a distant State, Mrs. Root and I 

 consented to go with him and his wife to a 

 the-iter, because his wife was acquainted 

 with one of the principal actors. The play 

 was above reproach. There was not an in- 

 decent thing in it from begining to end. It 

 was like a beautiful stor_\ , but there was 

 no particular moral to it. The whole ob- 

 ject and aim of that play was to amuse and 

 entertain, and the tickets cost us $1.25 

 apiece. I shall have to confes-s I do not 

 know now what it costs to attend a modern 

 theater; but my feeling then and now in re- 

 gard to it is, in the language of our text, 

 "Wherefore do ye spend money for that 

 which is not bread, and your labor for that 

 which satisfieth not?" We were all pro- 

 fessing Christians. Not only the admission 

 fee, but the money it cost to put up at a 

 hotel made it expensive for people of our 

 means. Perhaps people do not figure the 

 expense all around. Here is a clipping 

 from one of our daily papers in regard to 

 the present closing of the theaters in Chica- 

 go: 



The clos'ng of the theaters in that ci'y, and the een- 

 er^I scare of the people ha-; been disastrous to busi- 

 ness in that line. The railroads carrie^l any number 

 of th< a!ei-goers into Chicago. Hnd in addition carried 

 several thiiusatd theatrical folks there in a season. 

 No vv all of this businirss has stopped, and the railroads 

 are feeling the loss rather severely. 



If our young peop'e could be induced to 

 forego the pleasures of the theater they 

 would have just so much more mone}' for 

 something else — sa}' getting an education. 

 Soine of you may tell me th it our best thea- 

 ters are, in the best sense, educational. 

 Even if this is true I think it is an expen- 

 sive kind of education. Better take the 

 money and get your education in broad day- 

 light, or, say, at an evening school that 

 does not keep you up when the average boy 

 and girl should be sound asleep. If you 

 have read the papers you know something 

 of the vast sums of money that are put into 

 theaters and opera houses. 



The recent developments in regard to the 

 tragedy at the Iroquois theater show us 

 that different officials were paid good sal- 

 aries for looking after the machinery of the 

 theater in case of fire. There were police 

 inspectors belonging to the city and that 

 belonged to the theater, w ho received ample 

 pay, but that was all. Investigation re- 

 vealed an awful state of criminal neglect; 

 and then the investigating committee found 

 that Ihat theater was not the only danger- 

 ous one. The ordinances of the city were 

 not complied with in any respect; and this 

 state of affairs not only confronts us in the 

 management of theaters, but in the man- 

 agement of the entire affairs of city govern- 

 ment. Men draw their pay and do 7iothing. 



t Dear old Dr Watts beautifully describes the point 

 I wish to make in one of his old hymn.s. wheu he says: 



Is thi« vilp world a friend to grace 



To draw me on to God? 

 ■" Now, in'tea 1 of the word "vile" in the above place, 

 supply " theatrical" and then you have it. Will at- 

 tendance at theaters lead the young Christain onto 

 God, or the contrary? 



