ONE VIEW OF THEATRES. The chief reason why no Christian should attend the theatre is the character of a large majority of plays put on the stage. Listen to what the play-writers and actors themselves say: M. Dumas, a French writer of plays, wrote: "Never take your daughter to the theatre; it is not merely the work that is immoral, it is the place." W. C. Macready, the great actor, said: "None of my children shall ever, with my consent, enter a theatre, or have any visiting connection with actors or actresses." Edwin Booth, the great tragedian, wrote: "My knowledge of the modern theatre is so very meagre that I never permit my wife or daughter to witness a play without previously ascertaining its character. The theatre is permitted to be a mere shop for gain, open to every huckster of immoral adventures,--jimcracks." Fanny Kemble, the actress, confessed that life on the stage was unhealthy to morals, and said: "I never presented myself before an audience without a shirking feeling of reluctance, or without thinking the excitement I had undergone unhealthy, and the personal exhibition odious." --_Southern Churchman._ 1902 An ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory. 1903 Everything that has a beginning comes to an end. 1904 Do little things now; so shall big things come to thee by and by asking to be done. --_Persian Proverb._ 1905 Don't despise a slight wound, or a poor relative. 1906 Never despise small things, for we were all infants before we became men, and pupils, ere we became teachers. 1907 _Thought._--How often must we repeat it?--rules the world. --_Carlyle._ 1908 At a dinner when Daniel Webster was Secretary of State, after a period of silence which fell upon the company of some twenty gentlemen who were present, one of the guests said, "Mr. Webster, will you tell us what was the most important thought that ever occupied your mind?" Webster slowly passed his hand over his forehead, and in a low tone enquired of one near him, "Is there any one here who does not know me?" "No; all are your friends." "The most important thought that ever occupied my mind," said Webster, "was that of my individual responsibility to God." And after speaking on this subject in the most solemn strain for fully ten minutes, he silently rose from the table and retired to his room. This incident serves to illustrate the attitude of great minds towards eternal things. Great men are not scoffers. The men of flippant jeers and godless jests are invariably men of small calibre and shallow intellect. 1909 First thoughts are not always the best. --_Alfieri._ 1910 In matters of conscience, first thoughts are best; in matters of prudence last thoughts are the best. --_Rev. Robert Hall._ 1911