Page:Dr Stiggins, His Views and Principles.pdf/115

 recesses of the human mind, since there are innocent and engrossing subjects all around them. What should we say of a man who, not content with plucking fruit and flowers from the orchard and the garden, should reject the wholesome and delicious pear, the dewy roses exhaling their odours under the bright sun, and explore the evil-smelling depths of the dustbin and the rubbish-heap?

Well; I often wonder when I shall see my vision realised, when the theatre will be as innocent and as helpful as the Revival Meeting, and the actors will rank with Church Workers in the public estimation. The time is not yet; but after what I have said I do not think you will require any further proof of my intense interest in the English Drama. True, I, and those who think with me, would see the Stage reformed, we would banish from the boards themes which suggest the Pentitentiary or the Lunatic Asylum. Nothing would give me greater pain than to witness the murder or madness of my best friends, and I fail to see that such