securing the audience from the contamination of the "frail sisterhood," erect a range of boxes for their especial accommodation. This operates as an inducement for these wretched creatures to visit the theatre in search of prey; and by this one act, the corporation insure to the establishment, with almost the certainty of a mathematical demonstration, the attendance of a large body of young men, and old men too, whose principles — if fixed at all are fixed upon the side of vice and immorality. The audience is thus enlarged, and the monied receipts consequently enhanced.

This and other glaring evils that have long clustered around the theatre, have had the effect of depriving the establishment of the attendance of the more intellectual and refined classes of society in this more enlightened season of its existence. Scarcely a person of a sedate disposition attends there, or one who cares a straw for the moral welfare of the community. And some of the better sort of the theatre-going community "regret this exceedingly." For the withdrawal of so large a portion of the audiences, and the continuation of the highly intellectual exhibitions that were formerly presented, came very nigh upsetting the whole establishment. The almost vacant boxes in the lower ranges, and the finely turned and intellectual passages of sterling dramatic compositions, presented but small attractions to the occupants of

the "third row," who found the theatre somewhat uninteresting, excepting in the particular branch in which they were indeed more deeply concerned, but which could be enjoyed at a cheaper rate elsewhere.

In consequence of the threatened desertion of the theatre, the character of the exhibitions hast been much reduced, and at the present day it presents, (I speak on the authority of those who occasionally attend-and at the best theatres in our country, too) it presents, I say, a pitiful array of tinsel and vulgarism of every sort. "Jim Crow " and "Zip Coon" are favorites-have "long runs" to crowded houses. Professed recitations from Shakspeare even, (vulgar as he sometimes is in his works) would scarcely be recognised by the renowned bard, were he to be present at a modern exhibition of the drama. An unmutilated sentence from an old dramatic author, is a rara avis among a mass of illiterate corruption and double entendre. Everything intellectual or instructive has been cut down and hacked, to suit a lower order of visitants, In this way, and this alone, the proprietors have not only secured the establishment from bankruptcy, but have yielded to their avarice such an income as encourages them to maintain it in all its hypocritical profligacy and soul-destroying fascination. Shame on every man who willingly holds stock in such a vile institution. Verily, it is like

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unto a whitened sepulchre of the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem, fair indeed without, but within full of corruption and dead men's bones. The cause of public morals gained a great deal, when the proprietors of many of the theatres, in obedience to the glaring light of public opinion, abolished the sale of ardent spirits within their precincts it would gain much more, were the vicious allurements of a "third row" to be dispensed with. Ay, it requires no prophetic vision to see that the gain in such a case would be the abolition of scenic exhibitions, and the substitution of the lyceum and the scientific lecture for the blandishments of the drama within the walls of the theatre. Would that these devout moralists would but try the experiment truly it is a "consummation devoutly to be wished."

LETTERS

ON

SABBATH

SCHOOLS.*

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me.

Feed my lambs.

JESUS CHRIST.

LETTER I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

DOUBTLESS most of my readers are, to a greater or less degree, conversant with those precious institutions which are rising up in such numbers in our land and throughout Christendom, and gathering within their pale the early blossoms of intellect and immortality from the rising generation, like moral stars, whose hitherto dispersed rays of light are rapidly becoming concentrated, to dissipate the darkness which hangs over and to beautify the moral creation of God. And it may seem superfluous, at first view, that their attention should be solicited to any remarks which may be offered at this late day touching the importance and claims of Sabbath schools. But when we consider the various avo̟

[NOTE. The following letters on the subject of Sabbath schools, originally constituted a series of contributions to the columns of the 'Christian Watchman.' They were afterwards gathered into a thin volume and published anonymously, for distribution among the friends of Sabbath schools, with the hope that through them, their principles would obtain favor with others, and that an increased friendly feeling would be manifested toward the institution. They are published in the present volume for a similar purpose that of eliciting interest in Sabbath schools throughout the length and breadth of the land.]

cations in life of even Sabbath school teachers themselves, and the thousand items of labor and care which go to make up those avocations; when we reflect upon the tendencies of our nature, our proneness to become lax in respect to things. which have become familiar by continuous assocition and use, and our liability to lose sight of the advantages of our several stations and the opportunities which are open to us to do greater good, by suffering our minds to become blinded by some little success or an absence of palpable retrograde motion, (any or all of which calamities, our experience and observation teach us may befall us) – surely it does not appear improbable that any friend of Sabbath schools may be benefitted by a careful examination or review of the advantages of these institutions.

But should there, perchance, be one among my readers who is a stranger to Sabbath schools, or who is but partially acquainted with the operation of the Sabbath school system; or should there be one, who, awed by the depth and grandeur of their design, has suffered the risings of his nature to generate a prejudice against them;-surely, to such, a few remarks cannot be out of place. And it is trusted that the importance of these institutions, important from the fact that they are calculated to exert a most powerful influence upon the destinies of our country and the world, by pre