unished with them.

PERIL OF STAGE-STRUCK GIRLS.

The corruption of the present day theatre is generally admitted.
Archbishop Farley, in a sermon at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, on
Sunday, February 7, 1909, said that "the stage is worse today then it
was in the days of paganism." He added: "We see today men and women--old
men and old women--who ought to know better bringing the young to these
orgies of obscenity. Instead of that they should be exercising a
supervision over the young and should look carefully after their
companionship."

Actresses of character are among the foremost to warn young women of the
perils of the modern stage. Shakespeare and the older dramatists taught
virtue, often with the spirit and energy of a prophet. Multitudes of
present day plays are of such moral character and tendency that no one
can defend or excuse them. President Taft recently walked out of a
theatre to express his disapproval of the play.

Low theatres exist merely to inflame those who visit them. They go to
the awful length of naming the vice district as part of the merriment of
the performances. Other so-called theatres are a part of the combined
saloon and den of shame. I have conversed personally many times with
girls who were deceived into going to such places, thinking they were
going on the reputable stage.

Mr. Arthur Burrage Farwell, Chicago's well-known reformer, here tells
briefly the story of two young girls, whom I have often met in his
office, who were lured by a false theatrical agency to go to a vile
resort. The agency of a wicked woman, or two of them, will be noted in
this case, along with the base deeds of an unscrupulous man. The keen
eyes and wise head of a good hearted Scotch woman saved the girls from a
terrible doom. Mr. Farwell writes as follows:

"About December 1, 1907, I received a special delivery letter from the
managing editor of one of the oldest daily papers in Springfield,
Illinois, informing me that two girls had been sent back to Chicago and
suggesting that the police department be informed of the facts. I
immediately communicated with the assistant general superintendent of
police, Hon. Herman F. Schuettler, and the girls were located. The
theatrical agent who had sent them from Chicago was arrested and work
was started against some of the evil practices of false theatrical
agents.

Taking the story from the girls and from their testimony in court, it is
as follows: These two