s to never hear a
masterpiece of music or behold a masterpiece of painting or statuary. I
have met people who declared they would never again set foot inside the
walls of the Louvre and of the British Museum. And if the Anglo-Saxon
fanatics, those arch-enemies of art, make a little more progress, the
future of that great institution is not safe.

As everybody knows, there exist in Great Britain and in America
thousands of people who declare the stage to be a most wicked and
immoral institution. For them a theatre is so contaminated a place that
they would not go inside one even to hear a Bishop preach a sermon from
the stage. For instance, in several colonial cities I appeared in the
principal theatre; but my manager, on a return visit, always made me
appear in the town-hall, or some other place of the kind, to attract
the portion of the population who would not have come to hear me
lecture inside a theatre.

All these movements, headed by women, are in the wrong direction. They
interfere with the liberties of a great people, and punish thousands
and thousands of good, orderly, well-behaved people to reach a score or
two of bad ones, whom they often fail to reach, and oftener still fail
to cure. I repeat it: There are many thousands of good people in this
world for a very few thousands of bad ones. The laws should aim at
reaching the former and protecting them. This world is considerably
better than the fanatics of all denominations and superstitions would
make us believe. For seventeen years I have travelled all over the
world, and I have never met any but honourable people to deal with. For
instance, I have given 2,300 lectures in my life, and only once did I
come across a man who behaved dishonestly towards me. He ran away with
the cash while I was speaking; but then it was on Sunday, and some good
pious people said to me that Providence, in its wisdom, had punished me
for my wickedness. I must say that I never could see very clearly why
Providence, in its wisdom, should have allowed the thief to safely run
away with the money; but the ways of Providence are inscrutable, and
its decrees should not be discussed. I might add that the lecture was
more of a harmless address--almost a little sermon--on the duty of
cheerfulness; but two or three times it caused the audience to smile,
and this is simply too awful to think of.

Yes, the world is good, very good, in spite of the calumnies that are
constantly hurled at its