Show THE STAGE swage AND ITS iny INFLUENCE V rz C E A wiell prope properly aly managed theatre is an agency that can be used very effectively for the education and improvement of the people un the stage the manners styles modes of living etc of those of past generations ang anu and of other other nations can be portrayed BO so historically true that all clas elas classes sek sei but especially the young may derive much information it is an excellent and interesting method of teaching history of inculcating fine moral sentiments and imparting lessons that must have a permanent eft elt upon those who hear them the representation of a drama that gives truthful delineations of historical incidents and scenes cannot fail fall to afford instruction even to the niost niest most careful student of history and to give a better vetter the times and people among whom the events are supposed to have happened this is especially the case if the surroundings the costumes scenery etc are in historical keeping with the the incidents in london a few years ago charles kean got up a series of representation representations s we believe he called them revivals in all of which the appointments point ments costumes scenery ac were cop eop copi copl ledwith edwith strict fidelity after the fashions which prevailed in the times and places represented the thousands who thronged thron ged his theatre received impressions press pres lons blons concerning those people and periods which they never could have obtained by any amount of reading readi hg bg in fact the more familiar a person was with the history of the events represented the greater was his delight at witnessing the plays we had the pleasure of visiting london at the time and baw saw the performance of henry the eighth eighth he playing cardinal wolsey an and mrs kean taking the part of queen Kather katherine ine lne we shall shail probably never forget the effect the tile performance had bad upon us it conveyed to our mind a more vivid impression of the scenes depicted than ali all our reading had done the gentleman who personated persona ted the kingway King was so true to life ilfe that any person familiar with his likeness would without the aid of handbill or pro gramme have instantly recognized henry the vinith the other characters were equally distinctive the representations of historical plays upon our stage in this city have been attended with one excellent effect which we have had bad occasion to notice young people not familiar with the history of the period in which the laid have been stimulated to ask questions and to read history to obtain a more thorough knowledge of the personages and scenes beenes in which they had bad become interested at the theatre in this respect they have done much good and though in such dramas anachronisms may occasionally occur a further familiarity with the histories soon correct these but while weare wears convinced that information has been diffused and 9 gen en eral intelligence promoted promote a among on us through the agency of the theatre datre yet et it is in the enlarged knowledge of language in the correct and d various methods of giving expression to thought which it has g given iv that we perceive the greatest improvement slang are still too common but there phrases as been a great change in this among the rising generation Thesta gt has had a refining influence and in the conversation of the young people we are of the opinion that the language used is more comprehensive and select than it would have been had the theatre not been made an n institution among ue us when we concede this influence to to the stage it at follows as a matter of course that it should be jealously jealous ly watched and no play be put upon the boards respecting the tendency of which h there can be any doubt if there is room for doubt about the plot the moral the language or the efel effect act its re presentation resen tati will ni N i ll 11 have upon the in au leire leike should abia uin tin hesitatingly bejec rejected ed the elders eiders who wiio are in the habit of speaking to the public aie ale are held to strict accountability for the character of their teachings no man who uses an improper influence and whose teachings are not healthy and sound is permitted to labor in a public capacity among the people after his character is known and if the elders are thu responsible for the influence they wield the managers of our stage with BO so potent 0 tent an agency under their control 0 1 0 phobia should at least feel an equal responsibility I 1 neither the theatre nor any other institution among us can ever accomplish com much good if it have to depend upon the charity or philanthropy of the people or of an individual for its support the theatre should there afore be self sustaining but while this is admitted the question whether the putting of a drama upon the boards will pay or not should always be held subordinate to the question of primary importance is ite its influence pure healthy and elevating I 1 the stage stager being a school where lessons on deportment manners language gestures ac are given kt Is of the first importance that that performers should nev nevi 1 er sink beneath the dignity of their profession fes sion the use of the name of the deity should always be avoided it shocks the mature and breeds a familiarity in the minds of the young which is not desirable the same also with oaths vulgarity and double entendre the mouthing the contortions of countenance and the rolling and blinking of the eyes which some performers fall into are bad habits which make a disagreeable impression upon the audience and detract from the interest felt in the artist and the performance A performer who places a proper estimate upon the power of the eye in attracting and en chaining an audience will correct these faults such will also be attentive to gestures that they be modest and expressive the obsolete and antiquated pronunciation of words such as persever per sev er instead of persevere though probably defensible fen sible on critical grounds in blank verse has a tendency to mislead but we sometimes hear pronunciation that is indefensible on such grounds for instance formidable for mid able instead of for mi dable da ble inci inel in elpant pant for incipient dia theis for diathesis grammatical blunders are not made when the performer neglecting the text takes the authors idea and attempts to clothe itin it in his own language a species of gagging that requires both education and skill to make successful this causes such expressions as between you and I 1 lif 11 let you and anardy I 1 1 agi I done 1 and others equally incorrect at to be dard heard ills a spirit of captious criticism that we allude to these things we fully recognize the difficulties which managers and performers have haye had and still have lave to contend with they deserve credit for what tr ey have accomplished shed we desire to see them perfect in their professions and the theatre a school which old and young may attend with profit and delight borders might be subjected if the governor and the officials of the state chose to trample upon law and lead mobs to murder plunder and exterminate a large body of its citizens as they did in the case of the latter day saints the federal government could not interfere the state had to redress these evils or they must go 0 with suet buch such views it was an easy step to acknowledge and defend the right of a state to secede from the union and though calhoun die dle died d before beford see sec secession e assion wag wao was attempted he bequeathed in the doctrines which th he propagated a legacy of blood anda and a heritage of woe to his unhappy state and action ec tion it is interesting after the lapse of A a quarter of a century to review in the light lighton of sA subsequent sequent events the predie predictions and ana views which joseph josaph expressed in his famous reply to calhoun he so thorough thoroughly ohly exposed calhound Cal houns eo ry in this letter that wherever I 1 it t was read and it was vely very widely circulated men were struck oy by the contrast between the narrow sectional doctrines which calhoun advanced respecting the p powers awers of the federal government and the broad patriotic and truly national views which joseph advocated joseph was waa aroused and the noble nobie scorn which he felt for the politicians tricks is breathed in every line of his reply space will not permit us to give this reply in full but he took a high statesmanlike position he reau repudiated the states rights eights dc doctrine trine as taught by calhoun and his scho oland claimed claim ed for the general government paramount jurisdiction if citizens of the united states were deprived of their rights by mob violence in iii the state where they resided and their cause was just an and aud the state would not protect them thein the parent government had the nde necessary essarY authority to reinstate them in their rights even if it required the whole power of the union to do so to use his own expressive language if the general government has no power to reinstate expelled citizens to their thein rights there is a monstrous hypocrite fed and and fostered from the hard earnings of the people A real bull beggar upheld by sycophants he predicta clearly that trouble would come if such views as calhoun enunciated were to prevail for their spread would destroy the government ern ment looking back today to day al at ahe sentiments expressed by politicians years ago it does not seem strange that the power of the general government should have fallen into disrepute or that war should have broken out at its attempt to maintain its supremacy when calhoun as a candidate for the presidency could make public such sentiments and martin van buren the president of the united states could bay eay in relation to the same subject when appealed to by joseph and his friends gentlemen your cause is just but I 1 can do nothing jor for you it is evident that tion was widespread wide spread and politicians and not statesmen occupied the chief places in the land if joseph smiths views could have prevailed and being constitutional they ought to have met with instant reco recognition mobs would have been broken broke n up robbers have been punished and the citizens of each of tha the states would have been protected in all their rights as citizens of the united states throughout the broad domain of the union if they had prevailed the late t terrible civil war mi might t lit have been averted for the supremacy of the law and of the general government would have been vindicated and missouri sour been taught a lesson that would have had a salutary effect on every states rights bights man in the union rut but ut the weakness vacillation and dishonesty is hon of men in high places i prevented this and what have nee bee neen been n the consequences quen ces it was not imagined when joseph smith thus expressed his views that they would be vindicated in so terrible and costly a manner within so brief a pe period r od and nd yet it is true that the w whole ho le 13 power ow er of this his nation and its rich heart blood have been expended to maintain the principle which he urged upon the chief executive and congress upwards of twenty five years ago I 1 the mill of the gods may grind slowly but it grinds mighty fine |