Let me tell you how I had my eyes opened about the theater question. I
had an assistant superintendent of a Sabbath school, a very promising
young man, who seemed to be very happy in the work. A star actor came
to the city, and he went to see him. I knew nothing of it, but the
next Sunday when he came into the Sunday-school all over the building
the boys cried out:
"Hypocrite! Hypocrite!"
The perspiration started out of every pore of my body; I thought they
were looking at me. I said to the little newsboys:
"Who are you calling a hypocrite?"
They mentioned the assistant's name. I asked the reason, and they
said:
"We saw him going into the theater."
I had never said anything about the theater to those children, but
they saw that man going in, and called him a hypocrite. They seemed to
know it was no place for a Christian to go. He lost his influence
entirely, withdrew from the school, and after a while gave up
Christian work altogether. He was just swept along with the tide in
Chicago and his influence was lost.