Page:Orange Grove.djvu/84

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ively recoil from the gross sensuality masked under such gorgeous colors as the reflection of the perverted moral sentiment of that period, instead of being attracted, as weak minds are, by the sickly sentimentalism which a vulgar taste assimilates to itself in the lower order of theatrical entertainments, sanctioned neither by the general refinement of the present age, nor our own individual convictions of what should constitute a healthy, refined taste. Good and evil are so closely intertwined in this world that it is impossible to define clearly the exact dividing line between them. Our first care must be to build up a genuine, virtuous character, strong enough to be proof against the follies and seductions of the clap-trap of alluring sensations which please, while they fail to exalt, or serve only to debase in whatever guise they come. I received one of the highest impressions ever made upon me at a theatre. In the midst of a battle scene the curtain rose upon six young maidens dressed in white, with olive branches in their hands. Instantly all discord was hushed, every weapon dropped, and all eyes were fixed upon them as if entranced by an angel vision. Even now I seem to feel the inspiration of that hour."

"Do you think it is ever right for men to fight and kill each other?"

This was a hard question for him to answer. He who had dwelt with such enthusiasm upon the heroic details of the Revolutionary war, leaving his native laud to enjoy the blessings of the free institutions which were its glorious fruits; he who had followed Washington, in imagination, through the pains and