O'Neill. "The Girl from the West," in which appears Fred Keenan - who though appearing in the minor role of a frontier sheriff, won bright laurelshas as much right to appear on the White List as has "Shameen Dhu," in which Chauncey Olcott starred with great success. To make plain the object and scope of the Catholic Theatre Movement, it may be well to quote from the latest forms of public amusement, in order that he may be saved from exposing those near and dear to him to the danger of contamination. Of the many shrewd press comments inade on the idea of a White List, this may be quoted here: "It is accident fully as often as design that takes people to performances of a degrading character." If the conditions as stated here are clearly understood and the purpose of the White List borne in mind, the conclusion need not be drawn that all plays absent from the list, and which do not come under its conditions, ELIZA O'B. LUMMIS, PRESIDENT OF THE THEATRE MOVEMENT Bulletin, because in it the entire situation is presented in a clear, concise fashion: This action may indeed prove the beginning of a course of self-education for the Catholic playgoer, upon whom the very existence of a White List will enforce the necessity of personal investigation into all are therefore without exception to be condemned. Those of mature judgment and experience must determine as a question of personal responsibility and conscience their individual attitude towards plays which, whatever the real or avowed purpose, would be manifestly out of place on a list intended for young and old, for people of all grades of intelligence and education. It is only too true that there are hideous social sores, unutterable depths of sin and degradation the existence of which cannot be ignored. Whether the stage is the place to deal with these awful problems of life is in itself a problem to be solved. But every thoughtful man and woman must deplore the untold evil wrought by the dilettante and the sensation seeker who, in alliance with speculative managers, do not hesitate under one pretext or another to force upon our young men and women a premature knowledge of and familiarity with the most hideous phases of human degradation. The appearance of a play on the list indicates that from the standpoint of the general Catholic theatregoer the play has been adjudged reasonably free from objectionable features. But this must be understood: In making a selection for the White List no obligation is incurred of vouching for the author of the play so chosen, the producing manager or the theatre in which the play is presented. An author may write down to his market and follow a worthy play with an unworthy one. A clean play in the same theatre and during the same season may be sandwiched between two vicious ones. Better there should never be a White List than any Catholic should find in it an excuse to relax his vigilance or silence his conscience. It is distinctly stated and must be clearly understood that unqualified acceptance of every play on the list is not expected, since many of them may be found unsuitable. The White List is not put forward as an inducement for people to go to the theatre. It is designed for Catholics who are already theatre-goers, and who may find it useful. If the Bulletin did nothing more than instil into the minds of the young the necessity of a standard, and the realization of their power to uphold that standard, it would accomplish a worthy end. It is gratifying to know that the movement for the purification of the stage is not confined to Catholics, but has spread to other creeds throughout the country. Ministers and others interested in reform, recognizing the Church as the natural leader in such a con tingency, have assured the committee of their earnest desire to cooperate, and have asked to be included in the growing circulation of the White List. The Christian Intelligencer, in its issue of May 6, commenting on the action taken. by the Catholics in the matter says: If theatres are with us to stay, some such censorship seems to be of the utmost importance to the public moral welfare. Theatres have multiplied with amazing rapidity and many of them are financial failures. None of them go down, however, without desperate struggles to attain success. Hence appeals are introduced in these plays to the sensual and beastly in man in the hope of enticing the morbidly curious. A correspondent in a daily paper, who has made the rounds of the theatres in this city, speaks as follows: "In the plays of some years back an oath was used at rare intervals to indicate some tense state of mind in a trying situation. To-day it is introduced simply for its uproarious humor, its laugh-producing power. And particularly the blasphemy of the vulgar, common, illiterate stage character appears to be welcome." It is noteworthy that the tendency of the stage is downward. It goes to show that evil cannot be controlled by specific limitations. Its multiplying power is so great that when we think it is under restraint it suddenly leaps over all barriers and reveals its own hideousness. The only course to pursue with reference to evil is to destroy it. Only Christ is able to wash out "the damned spot" and to create the clean heart which will abhor the vulgarities and indecency of the modern stage. All who are interested in the work feel immensely encouraged by the progress thus far made. Letters of com mendation, as well as inquiries for further information, pour in upon the committee in charge. With the advent of the theatre season it is hoped that the list of plays may keep abreast with the production, rapid as it is in New York, and that thus the desired influence may be present from the very outset of a play's run. T HE literature and art of his age not only entice man to scale the heights or drag him with them down into the abyss; they are also an echo of the spirit of that age. They lead the way to high and holy things or broaden the road to low ones, but the initiative is given by the life from which they spring. So surely as the lively faith of the Middle Ages is echoed by the "Divine Comedy" and reflected from Giotto's canvases, so surely as the evils that followed in the train of the Renaissance are mirrored in the stories of Boccaccio, and the harm done by the Reformation in the work of Milton, does the spirit of this weary age find expression in what is to be our legacy to unborn generations. The materialism which is one of the kings of the age, the rationalism that runs riot, the skepticism that smiles and sneers-each tends to produce an art which dreams of no beauty fairer than that grasped by the senses, and lends its voice to swell the boisterous chorus that sings the praises of things seen, things heard. They have no tenderness for loveliness seen with the eyes of faith, heard in the silence of the heart. We hear and read much about Nature, her marvels, her moods, her power, her beauties; she is studied the world over by all classes of people; she is the idol of the hour. We hear and we read little- almost nothing-about the saints; even less about the angels, for they are not fashionable. The many who go into raptures over the song of a bird, the mere flutter of its wings, forget to listen across the ages to the song of the heavenly voices, forget to strain their eyes through the darkness of centuries to see the flutter of angel wings. They have forgotten Bethlehem. But strong as are the evil tendencies of the day, the Pantheism, the gross materialism and the indifference, the thirst for God is not dead, nor can ever die. Much as He has lavished upon her, Nature is a poor, unsatisfying substitute for the Infinite. And one of the evidences of this thirst is that there is still some literature and some art that keep in mind those close friends of His, wholly spiritual in nature-the angels. They greet us, sometimes almost shyly, and from little hidden corners; oftentimes where we least expect to find their sweet and radiant faces. Were literature and art all we dream they might be, the angels would figure more prominently; they would feel more at home. It is strange how small a part they play in the life about us; or, rather, how little even we Catholics realize that they do play a great part. They are and have ever been the friends of man. From the beginning they have been his guardians, his constant companions, "and all for love and nothing for reward," as Spencer sang. It would seem that the man of genius, sincere in his quest of the ideal, must find them on his way to the Holy One; that in his pondering of what is noblest and best, in his glimpses of things beyond the ken of the average man, he must learn some sion. What, then, must be their holi- they have their friends in this, as they ness, their love? It is because modern life, sordid and hurried, forgets them that modern literature and art are seldom conscious of have had in every age-more of them than a casual glance will reveal. We are prepared to find that Mother Barat and Eugenie Smet, for instance, It has But had lively devotion to them. always been so with the saints. there must be many in the rank and file who love them, for among the men of genius, who represent the masses, some are singing their praises and imploring their assistance. To say that Father Faber's "Tales of the Angels" glows with tender love of them, that in the "Dream of Gerontius" Newman enshrined his homage in such language as he alone knew, that in their honor Ernest Hello took up the cudgels he so loved, is still what we should expect to find. These men fall into a class not far below the saints. But they are not alone. Poe loved them. In "Robert of Sicily" Longfellow gave to an angel a merciful part; made him "cruel only to be kind," and painted him with radiant face and gracious mien, and all the heaven-born majesty he could put into impotent words. That Mrs. Browning meditated deeply upon them "The Seraphim" gives proof. She grasped a little of the meaning of their sinlessness; across the barrier of flesh and sense she caught strains of their ceaseless songs of praise; she probed an inch into the soundless depths of their love of God. Though "The Seraphim" is one of her ambitious efforts and Robert Browning's little poem written before Guercino's "Guardian Angel" is among his minor ones, placed side by side they illustrate strikingly the difference of temperament between the husband and wife. His verses are more human, if less exalted; there is less of agony, if less depth; a certain cheeriness instead. of strained intensity. She dares, though with trembling, Shape images of unincarnate spirits He offers himself to the angel Another child for tending, |