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diff --git a/old/jmjdy10.txt b/old/jmjdy10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..870c6ba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jmjdy10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3526 @@ +Project Gutenberg Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes +by J.M. Judy + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + +*It must legally be the first thing seen when opening the book.* +In fact, our legal advisors said we can't even change margins. + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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The manuscript of +This book was not submitted to any publisher, but was put in its +present form by JENNINGS & PYE, for a friend of the author. +Address. Chicago: Western Methodist Book Concern, 1904. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +BY GEORGE H. TREVER, PH.D., D.D. +Author of Comparative Theology, etc. + + +A BOOK on "Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes" +is timely to-day. Such a grouping of subject matter is in itself a +commendation. Possibly we have been saying "Don't" quite enough +without offering the positive substitute. The "expulsive power of a +new affection" is, after all, the mightiest agency in reform. "Thou +shalt not" is quite easy to say; but though the house be emptied, swept, +and garnished, unless pure angels hasten to occupy the vacated +chambers, other spirits worse than the first will soon rush in to befoul +them again. + +The author of these papers, the Rev. J.M. Judy, writes out of a full, +warm heart. We know him to be a correct, able preacher of the gospel, +and an efficient fisher of men. Having thoroughly prepared himself +for his work by courses in Northwestern University and Garrett Biblical +Institute, by travel in the South and West of our own country, and by a +visitation of the Old World, he has served on the rugged frontier of his +Conference, and among foreign populations grappling successfully with +some of the most difficult problems in modern Church work. + +The following articles aroused much interest when delivered to his own +people, and must do good wherever read. In style they are clear and +vivid; in logical arrangement excellent; glow with sacred fervor, and +pulse with honest, eager conviction. We bespeak for them a wide +reading, and would especially commend them to the young people of +our Epworth Leagues. + +WHITEWATER, WIS., March 2, 1904. + + +PREFACE. + +"QUESTIONABLE Amusements and Worthy Substitutes" is a +consideration of the "so-called questionable amusements," and an +outlook for those forms of social, domestic, and personal practices +which charm the life, secure the present, and build for the future. To +take away the bad is good; to give the good is better; but to take away +the bad and to give the good in its stead is best of all. This we have +tried to do, not in our own strength, but with the conscious presence +of the Spirit of God. + +The spiritual indifference of Christendom to-day as one meets with it +in all forms of Christian work has led us to send out this message. +"Questionable Amusements," form both a cause and a result of this +widespread indifference. An underlying cause of this indifference +among those who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ, is lack of +conviction for sin, want of positive faith in the fundamental truths of +the Scriptures, too little and superficial prayer, and lack of personal, +soul-saving work. Is the class-meeting becoming extinct? Is the +prayer-meeting lifeless? Is the revival spirit decaying? Is family +worship formal, or has it ceased? However some may answer these +questions, still we believe that the Church has a warm heart, and that +signs of her vigorous life are expressed in her tenacious hold for high +moral standards, and in her generous GIVING of money and of men. + +Our point of view has been that of the person, old or young, regardless +of sect, race, party, occupation, or circumstances, who has a life to live, +and who wants to make the most out of it for himself and for his fellow- +men, and who believes that he will find this life disclosed in nature, in +history, and in the Word of God. J.M.J. + +ORFORDVILLE, WIS., March, 1904. + + +CONTENTS + +PART I. +QUESTIONABLE AMUSEMENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE +I. TOBACCO,.................13 +II. DRUNKENNESS,................26 +III. GAMBLING, CARDS,...............53 +IV. DANCING,...................70 +V. THEATER-GOING,..............84 + +PART II +WORTHY SUBSTITUTES + +VI. BOOKS AND READING,.............99 +VII. SOCIAL RECREATION,............118 +VIII. FRIENDSHIP,.................130 +IX. TRAVEL,...................147 +X. HOME AND THE HOME-MAKER,.........170 + + + +PART I. +QUESTIONABLE AMUSEMENTS. + +"The excesses of our youth are drafts on our old age, payable about +one hundred years after date without interest."--JOHN RUSKIN. + + +I. +TOBACCO. + +Tobacco wastes the body. It is used for the nicotine that is in it. +This peculiar ingredient is a poisonous, oily, colorless liquid, and +gives to tobacco its odor. This odor and the flavor of tobacco are +developed by fermentation in the process of preparation for use. +"Poison" is commonly defined as "any substance that when taken +into the system acts in an injurious manner, tending to cause death +or serious detriment to health." And different poisons are defined +as those which act differently upon the human organism. For example, +one class, such as nicotine in tobacco, is defined as that which acts as +a stimulant or an irritant; while another class, such as opium, acts with +a quieting, soothing influence. But the fact is that poison does not act +at all upon the human system, but the human system acts upon the +poison. In one class of poisons, such as opium, the reason why the +system does not arouse itself and try to cast off the poison, is that the +nerves become paralyzed so that it can not. And in the case of nicotine +in tobacco the nerves are not thus paralyzed, so that they try in every +way to cast off the poison. Let the human body represent the house, +and the sensitive nerves and the delicate blood vessels the sleeping +inmates of that house. Let the Foe Opium come to invade that house +and to destroy the inmates, for every poison is a deadly Foe. At the +first appearance of this subtle Foe terror is struck into the heart of the +inmates, so that they fall back helpless, paralyzed with fear. When +the Intruder Tobacco comes, he comes boisterously, rattling the +windows and jostling the furniture, so that the inmates of the house +set up a life-and-death conflict against him. + +This is just what happens when tobacco is taken into the human system. +Every nerve cries out against it, and every effort is made to resist it. +You ask, Will one's body be healthier and live longer without tobacco +than with it? We answer, by asking, Will one's home be happier and +more prosperous without some deadly Foe continually invading it, or +with such a Foe? When the membranes and tissues of the body, with +their host of nerves and blood vessels, have to be fighting against some +deadly poison in connection with their ordinary work, will they not +wear out sooner than if they could be left to do their ordinary work +quietly? To illustrate: A particle of tobacco dust no sooner comes +into contact with the lining membrane of the nose, than violent +sneezing is produced. This is the effort of the besieged nerves and +blood vessels to protect themselves. A bit of tobacco taken into the +mouth causes salivation because the salivary glands recognize the +enemy and yield an increased flow of their precious fluid to wash him +away. Taken into the stomach unaccustomed to its presence, and it +produces violent vomiting. The whole lining membrane of that much- +abused organ rebels against such an Intruder, and tries to eject him. +Tobacco dust and smoke taken into the lungs at once excretes a mucous- +like fluid in the mouth, throat, windpipe, bronchial tubes, and in the +lungs themselves. Excretions such as this mean a violent wasting away +of vitality and power. Taken in large quantities into the stomach, +tobacco not only causes an excretion of mucus from the mouth, throat, +and breathing organs, but it produces an overtaxing of the liver; that is, +this organ overworks in order to counteract the presence of the poison. +But one asks, If tobacco is so injurious, why is it used with such +apparent pleasure? A small quantity of tobacco received into the +system by smoking, chewing, or snuffing is carried through the +circulation to the skin, lungs, liver, kidneys, and to all the organs of +the body, by which it is moderately resisted. The result is a gentle +excitement of all these organs. They are in a state of morbid activity. +And as sensibility depends upon vital action of the bodily organisms, +there is necessarily produced a degree of sense gratification or pleasure. +The reason why these sensations are pleasurable instead of painful is, +in this state of moderate excitement the circulation is materially increased +without being materially unbalanced. But as with every sense indulgence, +when the craving for increased doses becomes satisfied, when larger doses +are taken the circulation becomes unbalanced, vital resistance centers in +one point, congestion occurs, then the sensation becomes one of pain +instead of one of pleasure. This disturbance or excitement caused by +tobacco is nothing more nor less than disease. For it is abnormal action, +and abnormal action is fever, and fever is disease. It is state on good +authority, "that no one who smokes tobacco before the bodily powers +are developed ever makes a strong, vigorous man." Dr. H. Gibbons +says: "Tobacco impairs digestion, poisons the blood, depresses the +vital powers, causes the limbs to tremble, and weakens and otherwise +disorders the heart." It is conceded by the medical profession that +tobacco causes cancer of the tongue and lips, dimness of vision, +deafness, dyspepsia, bronchitis, consumption, heart palpitation, spinal +weakness, chronic tonsilitis, paralysis, impotency, apoplexy, and +insanity. It is held by some men that tobacco aids digestion. Dr. +McAllister, of Utica, New York, says that it "weakens the organs of +Digestion and assimilation, and at length plunges one into all the +horrors of dyspepsia." + +*Tobacco dulls the mind.* It does this not only by wasting the body, the +physical basis of the mind, but it does it through habits of intellectual +idleness, which the user of tobacco naturally forms. Whoever heard of +a first-class loafer who did not e-a-t the weed or burn it, or both? On +the rail train recently we were compelled to ride for an hour in the +smoking-car, which Dr. Talmage has called "the nastiest place in +Christendom." In front of me sat a young man, drawing and puffing +away at a cigar, polluting the entire region about him. In the short +hour enough time was lost by that young man to have carefully read ten +pages of the best standard literature. All this we observed by an +occasional glance from the delightful volume in our own hands. The +ordinary user of tobacco has little taste for reading, little passion for +knowledge, and superficial habits of continued reasoning. His leisure +moments are absorbed in the sense-gratification of the weed. But if as +much attention had been given in acquiring the habit of reading as had +been given in learning the use of tobacco, the most valuable of all +habits would take the place of one of the most useless of all habits. +When we see a person trying to read with a cigar or a pipe in his mouth, +Knowing that nine-tenths of his real consciousness is given to his +smoking, and one-tenth to what he is reading, we are reminded of the +commercial traveler who "wanted to make the show of a library at +home, so he wrote to a book merchant in London, saying: "Send me +six feet of theology, and about as much metaphysics, and near a yard +of civil law in old folio." Not a sentimentalist, a reformer, nor a crank, +but Dr. James Copeland says: "Tobacco weakens the nervous powers, +favors a dreamy, imaginative, and imbecile state of mind, produces +indolence and incapacity for manly or continuous exertion, and sinks +its votary into a state of careless inactivity and selfish enjoyment of vice." +Professor L. H. Gause writes: "The intellect becomes duller and duller, +until at last it is painful to make any intellectual effort, and we sink into +a sensuous or sensual animal. Any one who would retain a clear mind, +sound lungs, undisturbed heart, or healthy stomach, must not smoke or +chew the poisonous plant." It is commonly known that in a number of +American and foreign colleges, by actual testing, the non-user of +tobacco is superior in mental vigor and scholarship to the user of it. In +view of this fact, our Government will not allow the use of tobacco at +West Point or at Annapolis. And in the examinations in the naval +academy a large percentage of those who fail to pass, fail because of the +evil effects of smoking. + +Tobacco drains the pocketbook. "Will you please look through my +mouth and nose?" asked a young man once of a New York physician. +The man of medicine did so, and reported nothing there. "Strange! Look +again. Why, sir, I have blown ten thousand dollars--a great tobacco +plantation and a score of slaves--through that nose." The Partido cigar +regularly retails at from twenty-five to thirty cents each. An ordinary +smoker will smoke four cigars a day. Three hundred and sixty-five +dollars a year, besides his treating. A small fortune every ten years! A +neighbor of ours on the farm used to go to town in the spring and buy +enough chewing tobacco to last him until after harvest, and flour to last +the family for two weeks. Among all classes of people this useless drain +of the pocketbook is increasing. In our country last year more money was +spent for tobacco than was spent for foreign missions, for the Churches, +and for public education, all combined. Our tobacco bill in one year +costs our Nation more than our furniture and our boots and shoes; more +than our flour and our silk goods; one hundred and forty-five million +dollars more than all our printing and publishing; one hundred and +thirty-five million dollars more than the sawed lumber of the Nation. +Each year France buys of us twenty-nine million pounds of tobacco, +Great Britain fifty millions, and Germany sixty-nine million pounds, to +say nothing of how much these nations import from other countries. +Never before has the use of tobacco been so widespread as to-day. "The +Turks and Persians are the greatest smokers in the world. In India all +classes and both sexes smoke; in China the practice--perhaps there more +ancient--is universal, and girls from the age of eight or nine wear as an +appendage to their dress a small silken pocket to hold tobacco and a +pipe." Nor can the expense and widespread use of tobacco be defended on +the ground that it is a luxury, for the abstainer from tobacco counts it the +greater luxury not to use it. The only explanation for its use is, that it is a +habit which binds one hand and foot, and from which no person with +ordinary will power in his own strength can free himself. + +Tobacco blunts the moral nature. It is not certain how long tobacco has +been used as a narcotic. Some authorities hold that the smoking of tobacco +was an ancient custom among the Chinese. But if this is true, we know +that it did not spread among the neighboring nations. When Columbus +came to America he found the natives of the West Indies and the American +Indian smoking the weed. With the Indian its use has always had a +religious and legal significance. Early in the sixteenth century tobacco +was introduced into England, later into Spain, and still later, in 1560, into +Italy. Used for its medicinal properties at first, soon it came to be used +as a luxury. The popes of Italy saw its harm and thundered against it. +The priests and sultans of Turkey declared smoking a crime. One sultan +made it punishable with death. The pipes of smokers were thrust through +their noses in Turkey, and in Russia the noses of smokers were cut off in +the earlier part of the seventeenth century. "King James I of England +issued a counterblast to tobacco, in which he described its use as a +'custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, +dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fumes thereof nearest +resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.'" As +one contrasts this sentiment with the practice of the present sovereign of +England, his breath is almost taken away in his great fall from the +sublime to the ridiculous! + +While we do not believe a moderate use of tobacco for a mature person +is necessarily a sin, yet we do believe that it does blunt the moral sense, +and soon leads to spiritual weakness and indifference, which are sins. +To love God with all one's heart, mind, soul, and strength, and one's +neighbor as himself, means not only a denial of that which is questionable +in morals, but a practice of that which is positively good. However noble +or worthy in character may be some who use tobacco, yet by common +consent it is a "tool of the devil." Every den of gamblers, every low-down +grogshop, every smoking-car, every public resort and waiting-room +departments for men, every rendezvous of rogues, loafers, villains, and +tramps is thoroughly saturated with the vile stench of the cuspidor and +the poisonous odors of the pipe and cigar. "Rev. Dr. Cox abandoned +tobacco after a drunken loafer asked him for a light." Not until then had +he seen and felt the disreputable fraternity that existed between the users +of tobacco. + +Owen Meredith gives us a standard of strength and freedom, which is +an inspiration to every lover of rounded, perfected manhood and +womanhood: + + "Strong is that man, he only strong, + To whose well-ordered will belong, + For service and delight, + All powers that in the face of wrong + Establish right. + + And free is he, and only he, + Who, from his tyrant passions free, + By fortune undismayed, + Has power within himself to be, + By self obeyed. + + If such a man there be, where'er + Beneath the sun and moon he fare, + He can not fare amiss; + Great nature hath him in her care. + Her cause is his." + +Only let the "will," the "powers," the "freedom," and the "self" +of which the writer speaks become the "Christ will," the "Christ +powers," the "Christ freedom," and the "Christ self." Then the +strongest chains of bondage must fly into flinters. For "if the +Son make you free, ye are free indeed." (John viii, 36.) + + + + +II. +DRUNKENNESS. + +I. A TEMPERANCE PLATFORM. + + +WE bring to you three words of counsel with respect to this subject. +First, Beware of the Social Glass; second, Study the Drink Evil; third, +Openly oppose it. This is a Temperance Platform upon which every +sober, informed, and conscientious person may stand. Would it be +narrow or uncharitable to assert that not to stand upon this platform +argues that one is not sober, or not informed, or not conscientious? +The crying need of to-day is, that men and women shall be urged into +positions of conviction and activity against this most colossal evil of +our time. In our country the responsibility for drunkenness rests not +with the illiterate, blasphemous, ex-prison convicts who operate the +250,000 saloons of our Nation, nor yet with the 250,000 finished +products of the saloon who go down into drunkards' graves every +year, but with the sober, respectable, hard-working, voting citizens +of our country. Nor does this exempt women, whose opportunity to +shape the moral and political convictions of the home is far greater +than that of the men. When the women of America say to the saloon, +You go! the saloon will have to go. The moral and political measures +of any people are easily traceable to the sisters and wives and mothers +of that people. You and I and every ordinary citizen of our country had +as well try to escape our own shadow, as to try to escape the responsibility +that rests upon us for the drunkenness of our people. To help us to do our +whole duty in our day and generation in this matter is the purpose of our +message. + +II. BEWARE OF THE SOCIAL GLASS. + +The first and least thing that one can do to destroy drunkenness, is to be +a total abstainer. Beware of the social glass! But quickly one replies, +"Why should there be any social glass?" "Why allow sparkling, attractive +springs of refreshing poison to issue forth in all of our social centers, and +then cry to our sons and daughters, to our brothers and sisters, Beware?" +My friend, we must deal with facts as they are. There should not be a +social glass; but what has that to do with the fact that the social glass is +here? You answer, "Why allow these fountains of death to exist?" while +we cry to our loved ones, "Beware!" We do not advocate the presence +of these fountains; but while we seek to destroy them beseechingly we +cry, "Beware!" The social factor in the liquor traffic is its Gibraltar of +defense. Rare is the young man who has the intellectual stamina and +moral courage to resist the invitations to take a social drink. And in our +frontier and foreign towns many of our bright and respected girls use the +social glass. But in its use is the beginning of a fateful end. The subtlest +thing in this world is sin. Listen! + + "Sin is a monster of so frightful mien; + To be hated needs but to be seen; + But seen too oft, familiar with the face, + We first endure, then pity, then embrace." + +The subtle thing about it is, that the first embracing of any sin seems to be +but a trifling, an occasional affair. For one who lives in an ordinary city +of a thousand inhabitants or upwards, unless he is an "out-and-out" +Christian and selects only associates like himself, it becomes a real +Embarrassment not to indulge in a social drink. It seems polite, clever, +the kindly thing to do. And the sad fact is, that the majority of unchristian +young people and many older ones do not decline. To prove this we have +but to look at the human wrecks along the shore. Two young men lived +near our home. Their parents were well-to-do. The family grew tired of +the farm and moved to town. The boys fell in with bad company. They +did not decline the social glass. Soon they furnished other young men with +drink from their own pocket. This was fifteen years ago. To-day one of +them is a hardened sinner, violent in his passions and blasphemous against +God. The other one, having spent a term in our Illinois State University at +Champaign, married a beautiful neighbor girl and moved to Missouri. Here +he lived off the money of his father's estate, practicing his early-learned +habits of drinking, gambling, and loafing. He moved from State to State +until, finally left in poverty, he tended bar in a saloon. While visiting with +relatives in his old neighborhood a few years ago he stole a watch and some +money from his own nephew, and was tried in the courts, and sentenced to +the penitentiary for one year. His wife, having carried the burden of +disgrace and want through all these years, with the seven unfortunate +children were released from him to struggle alone. All this we have seen +with our own eyes as the years have come and gone. The downfall and +ruin of this young man, and the unsaved fate of his brother, easily may be +traceable to the "social glass" and the boon companions of the social +glass--tobacco and playing-cards. Last year I met a man who had prided +himself in the fact that he could drink or let it alone, and thought that it +was all right to take a "social glass" occasionally. Election time came +around; he fell in with his friends, and, as one always will do sooner or +later who tampers with it at all, went too far. Before he knew it he was as +low in the gutter as a beast. It was three days before he was a sober man +again. He work had ceased, he had disgusted his fellow-workmen, +disgraced his Christian family, and had humiliated himself so that he was +ashamed to look any man in the face until he had repented of his sins +before God, and had promised Him, by His help, that he would never +drink another glass. What a pleasure it was to hear that old man, as he +is close to sixty years of age, to hear him tell in a spirited religious +service of how he had strayed from his path and had got lost in the woods, +but thanked God that he was out of the woods, and by His help would +remain out. When we become undone in Christ He lifts us up and starts +us on our new way rejoicing in His love. If Christ Himself were here in +body, do you know what He would advise on this point? He would say: +"As it is written;" "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it +giveth its color in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly: at the last it +biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder." Beware of the social +glass, my friend, for though it promises pleasure, it gives but pain; it +promises joy, it gives but sorrow; it promises deliverance, it gives but +eternal death! + +III. STUDY THE DRINK EVIL. + +We hear it said, "No use to picture the horrors of the drink evil; +every one knows them already." In part, this is true. All of us +know more than we wish it were possible to be true; and yet no +one can ever realize its horrors until caught, and torn, and mangled +in its pinching, jagged, griping meshes. It is one thing to know by +a distant glance, it is another thing to know by the pangs of a +broken heart and of a wrecked life. For those who are not thus +caught in its meshes to realize its horrors so as to seek its destruction +but one course is possible; namely, To study the evil. Let the +teacher tell of its ravages; let the minister proclaim its curses; let +the poet sing it; the painter paint it; the editor report it; the novelist +portray it; the scientist describe it; the philosopher decry it; the +sisters and wives and mothers denounce it--until all shall unite in +smiting it to its death! + +We should study the drink evil in its relation to disease. That strong +drink tends to produce disease is no longer questioned. "During the +cholera in New York City in 1832, of two hundred and four cases +in the Park Hospital only six were temperate, and all of these +recovered; while one hundred and twenty-two of the others died. +In Great Britain in the same year five-sixths of all who perished +were intemperate. In one or two villages every drunkard died, while +not a single member of a temperance society lost his life." "In Paisley, +England, in 1848, there were three hundred and thirty-seven cases of +cholera, and every case except one was a dram-drinker. The cases +of cholera were one for every one hundred and eighty-one inhabitants; +but among the temperate portion there was only one case to each two +thousand." "Of three hundred and eighty-six persons connected with +the total abstinence societies only one died, and he was a reformed +drunkard" of three months' standing. "In New Orleans during the last +epidemic the order of the Sons of Temperance appointed a committee +to ascertain the number of deaths from cholera among their members. +It was found that there were twelve hundred and forty-three members +in the city and suburbs, and among these only three deaths had +occurred, being only one-sixth the average death-rate." "In New York, +in 1832, only two out of five thousand members of temperance +societies died." The Northwestern Life Insurance Company of +Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of the oldest and most successful +Companies in the Northwest, has lived for nearly forty years next +neighbor to lager beer interests. The shrewd men of this company +have studied the influence of the beer industry upon those who engage +in it. The result is, that they will no longer grant an insurance policy +to a beer-brewer, nor to any one in any way engaged in the business. +In their own words their reason is this: "Our statistics show that our +business has been injured by the short lives of those men who drink +lager beer." + +Then, we need to study the drink evil in its relation to society. "A +recent report of the chaplain of the Madalen Society of New York +shows that of eight-nine fallen women in the asylum at one time, +all but two ascribed their fall to the effect of the drink habit." "A +lady missionary makes the statement that of two thousand sinful +women known personally to her, there were only ten cases in which +intoxicating liquors were not largely responsible for their fall." "A +leading worker for reform in New York says that the suppression of +the curse of strong drink would include the destruction of ninety-nine +of every one hundred of the houses of ill-fame." "A missionary on +going at the written request of one of these lost women to rescue her +from a den of infamy remonstrated with her for being even then +slightly under the influence of drink." "Why," was her indignant +reply as tears filled her eyes, "do you suppose we girls are so dead +that we have lost our memories of mother, home, and everything +good? No, indeed; and if it were not for liquor and opium, we +would all have to run away from our present life or go mad by +pleadings of our own hearts and home memories." + +Only by a study of the drink evil shall we know its ravages in the +home. Those of us who have lived in the pure air of free, country +home-life can not easily realize the moral plague of drunkenness +as it blights the home in the crowded districts of city slum life. +Nor is the home of the city alone cursed by the drink evil. Three +years ago this last holiday season we were doing some evangelistic +work in a neighboring town, a mere village of a couple hundred +inhabitants. I shall never forget how the mother of a dejected home +cried and pleaded for help from the ravages of her drunken husband. +She said that he had spent all of his wages, and had made no +provision for the home, in furniture, in books for the children, nor +in clothing for them nor for her. She had come almost to despair, +and was blaming God for allowing her little ones to suffer because +of a worthless man. O, the world is full of this sort of thing to-day, +if we only knew the sighs and heartaches and blasted hopes of those +who suffer! In a smoking-car one day a commercial traveler refused +to drink with his old comrades, by saying: "No, I won't drink with +you to-day, boys. The fact is, boys, I have sworn off." He was +taunted and laughed at, and urged to tell what had happened to him. +They said: "If you've quit drinking, something's up; tell us what it +is." "Well, boys," he said, "I will, though I know you will laugh at +me; but I will tell you all the same. I have been a drinking man all +my life, and have kept it up since I was married, as you all know. I +love whisky; it's as sweet in my mouth as sugar, and God only knows +how I'll quit it. For seven years not a day has passed over my head +that I didn't have at least one drink. But I am done. Yesterday I was +in Chicago. Down on South Clark Street a customer of mine keeps +a pawnshop in connection with his business. I called on him, and +while I was there a young man of not more than twenty-five, wearing +thread-bare clothes, and looking as hard as if he had not seen a sober +day for a month, came in with a little package in his hand. Tremblingly +he unwrapped it, and handed the articles to the pawnbroker, saying, +'Give me ten cents.' And, boys, what do you suppose that package was? +A pair of baby's shoes; little things with the buttons only a trifle soiled, +as if they had been worn once or twice. 'Where did you get them?' +asked the pawnbroker. 'Got 'em at home,' replied the man, who had +an intelligent face and the manner of a gentleman, despite his sad +condition. 'My wife bought 'em for our baby. Give me ten cents for +'em. I want a drink.' 'You had better take those back to your wife; the +baby will need them,' said the pawnbroker. 'No, she won't..She's +lying at home now; she died last night.' As he said this the poor +fellow broke down, bowed his head on the showcase, and cried +like a child. 'Boys,' said the drummer, 'you can laugh if you want +to, but I have a baby of my own at home, and by the help of God +I'll never drink another drop.'" The man went into another car, the +bottle had disappeared, and the boys pretended to read some papers +that lay scattered about the car. Ah, this is only one out of hundreds +of such scenes that are being enacted every day in our saloon-cursed +cities. + +We should study the drink evil to see how it makes people poor and +keeps them poor. A story is told of a drinking man who related to +his family a dream that he had had the night before. He dreamed +that he saw three cats, a fat one, a lean one, and a blind one; and he +was anxious to know what it meant that he should have such a +strange dream. Quickly his little boy answered, "I can tell what it +means. The fat cat is the saloon-keeper who sells you drink, the +lean cat is mother and me, and the blind cat is yourself." "In one +of our large cities," one day, "a laboring man, leaving a saloon, +saw a costly carriage and pair of horses standing in front, occupied +by two ladies elegantly dressed, conversing with the proprietor. +'Whose establishment is that?' he said to the saloon-keeper, as the +carriage rolled away. 'It is mine,' replied the dealer, proudly. 'It +cost thirty-five hundred dollars. My wife and daughter couldn't do +without that.' The mechanic bowed his head a moment in deep +thought; then, looking up, said with the energy of a man suddenly +aroused by some startling flash, 'I see it!' 'I see it!' 'See what?" +asked the saloonkeeper. 'See where for years my wages have gone. +I helped to pay for that carriage, for those horses and gold-mounted +harnesses, and for the silks and laces for your family. The money I +have earned, that should have given my wife and children a home of +their own and good clothing, I have spent at your bar. By the help +of God I will never spend another dime for drink.'" South Milwaukee +has five thousand inhabitants. Three large mills operate there. A +reliable business man, foreman in one of the mills, told me that the +laboring people of South Milwaukee put $25,000 each month into +the tills of the saloons. Dr. J.O. Peck, one of the most successful +pastor evangelists of recent years, tells of a man "who crossed Chelsea +Ferry to Boston one morning, and turned into Commercial Street for +his usual glass. As he poured out the poison, the saloonkeeper's wife +came in, and confidently asked for $500 to purchase an elegant shawl +she had seen at the store of Jordan, March & Co.. He drew from his +pocket a well-filled pocketbook, and counted out the money. The man +outside the counter pushed aside his glass untouched, and laying down +ten cents departed in silence. That very morning his devoted Christian +wife had asked him for ten dollars to buy a cloak, so that she might +look presentable at church. He had crossly told her he had not the +money. As he left the saloon he thought, 'Here I am helping to pay +for five-hundred-dollar cashmeres for that man's wife, but my wife +asks in vain for a ten-dollar cloak. I can't stand this. I have spent my +last dime for drink.' When the next pay-day came that meek, loving +wife was surprised with a beautiful cloak from her reformed husband. +She could scarcely believe her own eyes as he laid it on the table. +'There, Emma, is a present for you. I have been a fool long enough; +forgive me for the past, and I will never touch liquor again.' She +threw her arms around his neck, and the hot tears told her heartfelt +joy as she sobbed out: 'Charley, I thank you a thousand times. I +never expected so nice a cloak. This seems like other days. You are +so good, and I am so happy.'" The drink bill of our Nation for last +year was over a billion of dollars, more money than was spent for +missions--home and foreign--for all of our Churches, for public +education, for all the operations of courts of justice and of public +officers, and at least for two of the staple products of use in our +country, such as furniture and flour. More than for all these was the +money that our Nation paid for drink last year. When the people of +our country get their eyes open to the cost and degradation of the +drink evil, something definite will be done by every one against it. + +The drink evil in its relation to lawlessness and crime, and to political +corruption, reveal still more ghastly aspects of it than we have yet +mentioned. The saloon strikes at the very heart, not only of law and +order, but at personal liberty and justice in securing law and order. It +was in a police court in Cincinnati on Monday morning. Before the +judge stood two stalwart policeman and a woman. She was charged +with disorderly conduct on the street and with disturbing the peace. +The policemen were sworn, and one of them told this story, to which +the other one agreed. He said: "I arrested the woman in front of a +saloon on Broadway on Saturday night. She had raised a great +disturbance, was fighting and brawling with men in the saloon, and +the saloonkeeper put her out. She used the foulest language, and with +an awful threat struck at the saloonkeeper with all her force. I then +arrested her, took her to the detention house, and locked her up." The +saloonkeeper was called to the witness stand, and said: "I know dis +voman's vas making disturbance by my saloon. She comes and she +makes troubles, und she fights mit me, und I put her de door oud. I +know her all along. She vas pad vomans." The judge turned to the +trembling woman and said: "This is a pretty clear case, madam; have +you anything to say in your defense?" "Yes, Judge," she answered, +in a strangely calm, though trembling, voice: "I am not guilty of the +charge, and these men standing before you have perjured their souls +to prevent me from telling the truth. It was they, not I, who violated +the law. I was in the saloon last Saturday night, and I will tell you +how it happened. My husband did not come home from work that +evening, and I feared he had gone to the saloon. I knew he must +have drawn his week's wages, and we needed it all so badly. I put +the little ones to bed, and then waited all alone through the weary +hours until after the city clock struck twelve. Then I thought the +saloons will be closed, and he will be put out on to the street. +Probably he will not be able to get home, and the police will arrest +him and lock him up. I must go and find him, and bring him home. +I wrapped a shawl about me and started out, leaving the little ones +asleep in bed. And, Judge, I have not seen them since." She did +not give way to tears, for the worst grief can not weep. She +continued: "I went to the saloon, where I thought most like he would +be. It was about twenty minutes after twelve; but the saloon, that +man's saloon"--pointing to the saloonkeeper, who now wanted to +crouch out of sight--"was still open, and my husband and these two +policemen were standing at the bar drinking together. I stepped up +to my husband and asked him to go home with me; but the men laughed +at him, and the saloonkeeper ordered me out. I said, 'No, I want my +husband to go home with me.' Then I tried to tell him how badly we +were needing the money that he was spending; and then the saloon- +keeper cursed me, and told me to leave. Then I confess I could stand +no more, and said, 'You ought to be prosecuted for violating the +midnight closing law.' At this the saloonkeeper and policemen rushed +upon me and put me into the street; and one of the policemen, grasping +my arm like a vice, hissed in my ear, 'I'll get you a thirty days' sentence +in the workhouse, and then we'll see what you think about suing people.' +He called a patrol wagon, pushed me in, and drove to jail; and, Judge, +you know the rest. All day yesterday I was locked up, my children at +home alone, with no fire, no food, no mother." The judge dismissed +the woman; but the saloonkeeper, the perjured policemen, nor the +corrupt judge were ever prosecuted for their unlawfulness. The whole +affair was dropped because the saloon power in Cincinnati reigns +supreme. "This case is a matter of record in the Cincinnati courts." +It is a disgraceful fact that the liquor-traffic rules in politics to-day. A +saloonkeeper in Richmond, Virginia, overheard some one talking of +reform in municipal politics, when he scornfully said: "Any bar-room +in Richmond is a bigger man in politics than all the Churches in Richmond +put together." + +IV. THE PRACTICAL QUESTION FOR US HERE AND NOW IS, +How may we openly oppose this drink evil? + +The Churches need not expect a widespread revival of religion until +professing Christians do their duty with respect to the saloon. Mothers +and fathers need not expect their sons to remain sober while the saloon +opens to them day and night. Wives need not expect their husbands to +remain devoted and loyal until the saloon is abolished. What is our +duty? How shall we oppose the evil? How do the American people +deal with evils when they deal with them at all? When Great Britain +went a little too far in "taxation without representation," what course +did the American Colonies adopt in remedying the evil? Their chief +men said, "These Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and +independent States." The popular voice of the people decided it. +When the British Government unduly impressed American seamen, +how was the difficulty settled? The representatives of the people, +their lawmakers, declared war against the opposing nation, and +forced her to cease her oppression. The popular vote decided it. When +Negro slavery darkened the entire sky of our country, and caused our +leading men to realize that we could not long exist half-slave and +half-free, how was the dark cloud dispelled? The representatives of +our people, the lawmakers of the land, in letters of blood wrote the +immortal Thirteenth Amendment to the American Constitution: +"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment +for crime, whereof the person shall have been duly convicted, shall +exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." +When we wanted to increase our territory in 1803, and in 1845, and in +1867, how did we go about it? The representatives of the people, the +lawmakers of the land, voted to make the purchases, and they were +made. When a Territory is organized, or a State comes into the Union, +what is done? The representatives of the people, the lawmakers of the +land, vote upon it, and it is done. When treaties are to be made with +foreign countries; when immigration of foreigners is to be regulated; +when money is to be borrowed or coined; when post-offices and +post-roads are to be established; when counterfeiting is to be punished, +and public abuses are to be reformed, whose business is it? The +Constitution of the United States says the representatives of the people, +the lawmakers of the land, have this power. When will the drink evil +cease in our country? When our representatives in Congress, or +lawmakers, stand for the abolition of the American saloon, and vote +it out of existence; then, and not until then, will drunkenness cease. +When will we have representatives in Congress, lawmakers who will +stand for the abolition of the saloon, and who will vote it out of +existence? Not until you and I have select them, and place them there +with our vote. To expect Christian temperance in our country from +any other source is absolute folly. + +The abolition of drunkenness by local option is selfish, unpractical, +and unscriptural. You vote the liquor-traffic out of your town; we +vote it in ours. Remember every saloon exists only by vote of the +people. Your young people come over to our town for drink. We have +the curse of God upon us. "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor +drink." (Hab. Ii, 15.) It is unpractical, for so long as intoxicants are +made they will be sold. It is selfish, for to vote against the saloon in +your town election, and to vote for it in your State or National election, +is to drive the mad-dog on past your door to the door of your neighbor, +when you might have killed him. + +The abolition of drunkenness by regulating the traffic through license +is the most gigantic delusion that Satan ever worked upon an intelligent +people. It is a well-known truth that "limitation is the secret of power." +The best way to provoke an early marriage between devoted lovers is +bitterly to oppose them. The stream whose water spreads over its low +banks is without depth and current and power. But confine the waters +between high, narrow banks, the bed of the stream is deepened, and +its mighty current supports animal life and turns the wheels of mill +and factory. The regulation of the liquor-traffic by license makes it +a financial and political power second to none in America to-day. To +vote for any party or man who advocates liquor license, is to give a +loyal support to the American saloon. + +To expect the abolition of drunkenness solely through processes of +education is to preach one thing and to practice another. It is to +perpetuate an evil that costs two hundred and fifty thousand precious +lives every year. It is to leave to the next generation a work that God +expects us to do here and now. Dr. Banks relates an incident +witnessed by Major Hilton on the coast of Scotland. "Just at the break +of day the people of a little hamlet on the coast were awakened by the +boom of a cannon over the stormy waves. They knew what it meant, +for frequently they had heard before the same signal of distress. Some +poor souls were out beyond the breakers perishing on a wrecked vessel, +and in their last extremity calling wildly for help. The people hastened +from their houses to the shore. Out there in the distance was a dismantled +vessel pounding itself to pieces. Perishing fellow-beings were clinging +to the rigging, and every now and then some one was swept off into the +sea by the furious waves. The life-saving crew was soon gathered. "Man +the life-boat!" cried the man. "Where is Hardy?" But the foreman of +the crew was not there, and the danger was imminent. Aid must be +immediate, or all would be lost. The next in command sprang into the +frail boat, followed by the rest, all taking their lives in their hands in the +hope of saving others. O, how those on the shore watched their brave +loved ones as they dashed on, now over, now almost under the waves! +They reached the wreck. Like angels of deliverance they filled their +craft with almost dying men--men lost but for them. Back again they +toiled, pulling for the shore, bearing their precious freight. The first man +to help them land was Hardy, whose words rang above the roar of the +breakers: "Are you all here? Did you save them all?" With saddened +faces the reply came: "All but one. He couldn't help himself at all. +We had all we could carry. We couldn't save the last one." "Man the +life-boat again!" shouted Hardy. "I will go. What! leave one there to die +alone? A fellow-creature there, and we on shore? Man the life-boat +now! We'll save him yet." But who is this aged woman with worn +garments and disheveled hair, with agonized entreaty falling upon her +knees beside this brave, strong man? It is his mother! "O, my son! +your father was drowned in a storm like this. Your brother Will left +me eight years ago, and I have never seen his face since the day he +sailed. No doubt he, too, has found a watery grave. And now you will +be lost, and I am old and poor. O, stay with me!" "Mother," cried the +man, "where one is in peril, there is my place. If I am lost, God surely +will care for you." The plea of earnest faith prevailed. With a "God +bless you, my boy!" she released him, and speeded him on his way. +Once more they watched and prayed and waited--those on the shore-- +while every muscle was strained toward the fast-sinking ship by those +in the life-saving boat. At last it reached the vessel. The clinging +figure was lifted and helped to its place. Back came the boat. How +eagerly they looked and called in encouragement, and cheered as it +came nearer! "Did you get him?" was the cry from the shore. Lifting +his hands to his mouth to trumpet the words on in advance of their +landing, Hardy called back above the roar of the storm, "Tell mother +it is brother Will!" + +My friend, simply talking and praying will not save our loved ones +from drunkards' graves. We must man the life-boat of municipal, State, +and National reform, and vote for principle and Christian temperance +until we save the last man. He may be "brother Will." + + + +III. +GAMBLING. + +CARD-PLAYING + +GAMBLING has become a moral plague of modern society. In one +form or another it has entered the rank and file of every department +of life--in private parlor over cards; in hotel drawing-room over +election reports; in college athletic grounds over brains and brawn; in +the counting-room over the price of stocks; in the racing tournament +over jockeying and speed; in the Board of Trade hall over future prices +of the necessaries of life; in the den of iniquity at dice; in the drinking +saloon at the slot-machine; in the people's fair at the wheel of fortune; +in the gambling den itself at every conceivable form of swindling trick +and game. Gambling has come to be almost an omnipresent evil. In +treating this subject, it is our purpose to point out something of the +nature of its evil, not only that we may be kept from it but that we may +save others whom it threatens to destroy. + +Gambling grows out of a misuse of the natural tendency to take risks. +A social vice is some social right misused. Men have the social right +to congregate to talk over measures of social and economic welfare. +But if they discuss measures which oppose the principles of free +Government, their meeting together becomes a crime against the +State. A personal vice is some personal right misused. As some one +has put it, "Vice is virtue gone mad." It is a personal right and a +personal virtue to be charitable, even beneficent. But since justice +comes before mercy, if one uses for charity that which should be +used in payment of debt, his virtue of beneficence becomes a vice +of theft. So it is with gambling. It is giving the natural tendency +to chance, to risk an illegitimate play. The person who is afraid to +risk anything accomplishes but little in any way, is seldom a +speculator, and never a gambler. Usually the gambler is the man +who is naturally full of hazard, who loves to run risks, to take chances. +Nor will one find a more practical and useful tendency in one's make- +up than this. See the discoverer of America and his brave crew for +days and days sailing across an unknown sea toward an unknown +land. But that was the price of a New World. Note the hazard and +risk of our Pilgrim Fathers. But they gave to the world a new +colonization. See the Second greatest American on his knees before +Almighty God, promising him that he would free four million of +slaves, providing General Lee should be driven back out of Maryland. +General Lee was driven back, and that immortal though most +hazardous of all documents, from man's point of view, was read to +his Cabinet and signed by Abraham Lincoln. All great men have +taken great risks. Not a section of the United States has been settled +without some risk. No business enterprise is launched without some +risk. To secure an education, to learn a trade, to marry a wife, all +involve some risk, much risk. The tendency to risk, to hazard, to +chance it is a practical and useful tendency. Only let this tendency +be governed always by wisdom and justice. No person ever became +a gambler until consciously or unconsciously he forfeited wisdom +and justice in his chances and risks. + +Gambling takes a variety of forms. First of all is the professional +gambler. He has no other business. His investment is a "pack of +cards" and a box of "dice. See him with his long, slender fingers; +with his shaggy, unkempt hair; with keen eyes, and a sordid +countenance. He is prepared to "rake in" a thousand dollars a night, +and would not hesitate to strip any man of his fortune. The professional +is found at county fairs, on railway trains, in gilded dens, and at public +resorts. Being a professional outlaw, and subject at any time to arrest +and imprisonment, usually he has an accomplice. Sometimes a gang +work together, so that it is with perfect ease they may relieve any +unwary novice of his money. They know human nature on its low, +mercenary side, and soon can find their man in a crowd. But few +persons have started out in life having it for their aim to get something +for nothing who, sooner or later, have not been "taken in" by this gang +of swindlers. They know their kind. The end of the professional +gambler is final loss and ruin. He will make $100, he will make $500, +he will make $1,000, he will make $2,000; then he will lose all. Then +he will borrow some money and start anew. And again he will make +$200, he will make $600, he will make $1,200, and he will lose all. +Like the winebibber and the professional murderer, the professional +gambler has his den. Not a large city in the world is without these +haunts of vice. Who is it that feeds and supports them? The novice +at cards and dice, husbands and sons of respectable families, just as +the occasional dram-taker supports the saloon. As one has asked: + + "Could fools to keep their own contrive, + On whom, on what could gamesters thrive?" + --GAY. + +The penny novice seeks the penny gambling den. The aristocratic +speculator seeks the gilded gambling den. The expert trickster of +large luck and large fortune makes his way to Monte Carlo, the +gambling Mecca of the world. Monte Carlo is a famous resort +situated in the northwest part of Italy. It is notorious for its gambling +saloon. This city of nearly four thousand inhabitants is located in +Monaco, the smallest independent country in the world. Monaco is +about eight miles square, and lies on a "barren, rocky ridge between +the sea and lofty, almost inaccessible rocks." The soil is barren, +except in small tracts which are used for fruit-gardens. For centuries +the inhabitants, the Monagasques, lived by marauding expeditions, +both by sea and land, and by slight commerce with Genoa, Marseilles, +and Nice. But in the last century the people have converted their +country and city into a world-wide resort. In 1860, M. Blanc, a famous +gambler and saloon proprietor of two German cities, went to Monaco, +and for an immense sum of money received sole privilege to convert +their province into a gambler's paradise. Soon immense marble +buildings arose in the midst of such beauty as to make it a modern +rival of the gardens of ancient Babylon. Costly statues, gorgeous vases, +graceful fountains, elegant basins, and beautiful terraces, all of which +are made alluring by blooming plants, by light illuminations, and by +free concerts of music day and night,--these are the attractions in this +gambler's paradise. Here fortunes are won and lost in a night. For, as +has been sung, + + "Dice will run the contrary way, + As well is known to all who play, + And cards will conspire as in treason." + --HOOD. + +Then we have the speculator in commerce. He is the denizen of +the Board of Trade hall. He speculates on the prices of next week's, +of next month's meat and breadstuffs. And still this sort of gambler +may be a book-keeper in a bank, a farm hand, or a clerk in a +grocery store. It ha become so simple and so common a practice +for persons to speculate on the markets that any person with ten +dollars, or twenty-five dollars, or a hundred dollars may take his +chances. Tens of thousands of dollars to-day are being swept into +this silent whirlpool, the gambler's commerce. + +Also we have the pool gambler. He is actuated by love of excitement. +He is found at the race course, at the baseball diamond, and at all +sorts of contests, where he may find opportunity to be on the outcome. +It is a common thing for young men to steal their employers' money, +for young girls to take their hard-earned wages to stake on games and +races. Recently $175,000 were paid for the exclusive gambling right +for one year at the Washington Park races in Chicago. + +Last of all, we have the society gambler. He is growing numerous +to-day. He is the same person, whether clad in full dress in the drawing- +room of the worldling, or in common dress around the fireside of the +unchristian Church member. Like the professional gambler his +instrument is "cards," and he can shake the "dice." His games are +whist, progressive euchre, and sometimes poker. The stakes now are +not money, but the gratification of excitement and the indulgence of +passion. One, two, four hours go by almost unnoticed. Prizes are +offered for the best player. As a Catholic priest told me after he had +won a small sum with cards. Said he: "We just put up a few dollars, +you know, to lend devotions to the game." So prizes are offered in +the social gambling "to lend devotions to the game." It is under such +circumstances as these that young men and young women receive their +first lessons in card-playing. A passion for card-playing is called forth, +developed, and must be satisfied, even though it takes one in low places +among vile associates. "A Christian gentleman came from England to +this country. He brought with him $70,000 in money. He proposed to +invest the money. Part of it was his own; part of it was his mother's. +He went into a Christian Church; was coldly received, and said to +himself: 'Well, if that is the kind of Christian people they have in +America, I don't want to associate with them much.' So he joined a +card-playing party. He went with them from time to time. He went a +little further on, and after a while he was in games of chance, and lost +all of the $70,000. Worse than that, he lost all of his good morals; and +on the night that he blew his brains out he wrote to the lady to whom he +was affianced an apology for the crime he was about to commit, and +saying in so many words, 'My first step to ruin was the joining of that +card party.'" + +In all of its forms gambling is loaded down with evil. In the first place +it destroys the incentive to honest work. Let the average young man +win a hundred dollars at the races, it will so turn his head against slow +and honorable ways of getting money that he will watch for every +opportunity to get it easily and abundantly. The young girl who risks +fifty cents and gets back fifty dollars will no longer be of service as a +quiet, contented worker. The spirit of speculation, the passion to get +something for nothing, is calculated to destroy the incentive to honest +toil and to honorable methods of gain. As one values his character, as +he values his peace of mind, so should he zealously guard himself +against overfascinating games of chance. Once we had a family in our +Church who played cards, and who taught their children to play cards. +Of course these families had no time for prayer-meeting, nor for +Christian work. Card-playing for amusement or for money will +create a passion that must be satisfied, although one must give up home +and business and pleasure. In a town where we once lived a young man +and his wife attended our Church. In every way the husband was kind, +and attentive to business. But he had fallen a victim to playing cards +for money. When that passion would seize him he would leave his +business, his hired help, his home and wife and little one, and would +lose himself for days at a time seeking to satisfy that passion. An +enviable husband, father, citizen, and neighbor but for that evil; but how +wretchedly that ruined all! Dr. Holland, of Springfield, Massachusetts, +says: "I have all my days had a card-playing community open to my +observation, and yet I am unable to believe that that which is the +universal resort of starved soul and intellect, which has never in any +way linked to itself tender, elevating, or beautiful associations, but, +the tendency of which is to unduly absorb the attention from more +weighty matters, can recommend itself to the favor of Christ's +disciples. I have this moment," says he, "ringing in my ears the dying +injunction of my father's early friend: 'Keep your son from cards. Over +them I have murdered time and lost heaven.'" + +Gambling is dishonest. It seeks something for nothing. Man possesses +no money, that he might risk giving it to some rogue to waste in sin. +All the property one possesses, he possesses it by stewardship to be +used wisely and honestly for good. Every age has needed a revival of +the Golden Rule in business. Much of the business of to-day is attended +to on the dishonest principle that characterizes gambling, "Get as much +as possible for as little as possible." This spirit is first cousin to the +spirit of gambling. The only difference is, one is called wrong and is +wrong; the other is wrong and is called right. Tell the gambler he is a +thief; he will acknowledge it, and will beat you, if he can, while he is +talking to you. Tell the other man he is a thief, and he will sue you at +court and win his case, although it is just as wrong to steal $100 from +an unbalanced mind, as it is to steal $100 from an unlocked safe or +off of an untrained football team. It will be an easy matter to produce +professional gamblers so long as society upholds dishonest dealers by +another name. What men need in this matter is moral and spiritual +vision, spiritual discernment. Some persons live by taking advantage +of those who are down. + +In all of its forms gambling leads to a long train of crimes. In addition +to his crime of theft the professional gambler, through passion or drink, +becomes a murderer. I knew a professional gambler who killed a man, +with whom he had been playing cards for money, for fifty cents. After +it was all over the man was sorry he had done it, for he had committed +the crime in a passion while he was intoxicated. The one who speculates +on the markets is not counted dishonest by the world, but how often and +how quickly it leads one into crime! In our neighboring town in Illinois +a man of a good family and of good standing in the community began to +speculate on the Chicago Board of Trade. He was as honest a person, +perhaps, as you or I. He thought he was. For years he had been a +trusted, Christian worker, and treasurer of the Sunday-school. But he +made just one venture too many. He had lost all; could not even +replace the Sunday-school fund that he had simply used, no doubt +expecting to replace it with usury; but the loss and disgrace were too +much for him to face, so he deserted home and friends and honor and +all, and secretly ran away. The speculating gambler became a deserting +embezzler. The person who has acquired a passion for betting on races +and games is on a fair way to professional gambling and to speculating +on the markets. And rarely does one ever escape these, if once he gets +a start in them. + +The evil of society gambling is most dangerous of all, because it is +most subtle of all. Ah first no one would suspect an innocent game of +cards, played just for fun. You may be the fourth one to make up a +game; you may not know how to play, but you are told you can quickly +learn. You brave it, and go in for a game. The next time a similar +circumstance arises, you can not easily decline, for you must confess +you have played, and so you go in as an old player. This may be as +far as the matter ever goes with you. But here is one who is more +impulsive than you; his surroundings are entirely different. He learns +to play, and comes to revel in it. A passion is created for the game. +He is shrewd; soon learns the tricks, and one evening--purely by +chance, as it seems to him--he wins his first five dollars. Strange +possibilities with cards lay hold upon him. He is consumed by that +passion. He plays for business, for keeps; he has become a professional +gambler. Ah! this is no finespun tale; it is being worked out every +year in our country, all over the world. Among many things for which +I have to thank my father and mother not the least is, that they would +allow no gamblers, nor gambling, nor the instruments of gambling +about our home. Better keep a pet rattlesnake for your child than a +deck of cards; for if he gets poisoned by the snake he may be cured; +but if the passion for card-playing should happen to seize him, there +is little chance of a cure. The inmates of our penitentiaries to-day, +almost to a man, testify that "card-playing threw them into bad company, +led them into sin, and was one of the causes of their downfall." Dr. +Talmage was asked if there could be any harm in a pack of cards. He +Said: "Instead of directly answering your question, I will give you as +My opinion that there are thousands of men with as strong a brain as +you have, who have gone through card-playing into games of chance, +and have dropped down into the gambler's life and into the gambler's +hell." A prisoner in a jail in Michigan wrote a letter to a temperance +paper, in which he gives this advice for young men: "Let cards and +liquor alone, and you will never be behind the gates." Friends, not +every one who touches liquor is a drunkard, but every drunkard +touches liquor; so not every one who plays cards is a professional +gambler, but every professional gambler plays cards. Is there nothing +significant about these facts. "A word to the wise is sufficient." "In +a railway train sat four men playing cards. One was a judge, and two +of the others were lawyers. Near them sat a poor mother, a widow in +black. The sight of the men at their game made her nervous. She +kept quiet as long as she could; but finally rising came to them, and +addressing the judge, asked: 'Do you know me?' 'No, madam, I do +not,' said he. 'Well, said the mother, 'you sentenced my son to State's +prison for life.' Turning to one of the lawyers, she said: 'And you, +sir, pleaded against him. He was all I had. He worked hard on the +farm, was a good boy, and took care of me until he began to play +cards, when he took to gambling and was lost.'" Dr. Guthrie writes: +"In regard to the lawfulness of certain pursuits, pleasures, and +amusements, it is impossible to lay down any fixed and general rule; +but we may confidently say that whatever is found to unfit you for +religious duties, or to interfere with the performance of them; whatever +dissipates your mind or cools the fervor of your devotions; whatever +indisposes you to read your Bibles or to engage in prayer, wherever +the thought of a bleeding Savior, or of a holy God, or of the day of +judgment falls like a cold shadow on your enjoyment, the pleasures +you can not thank God for, on which you can not ask His blessing, +whose recollections will haunt a dying bed and plant sharp thorns in +its uneasy pillow,--these are not for you..Never go where you can +not ask God to go with you; never be found where you would not like +death to find you. Never indulge in any pleasure that will not bear +the morning's reflection. Keep yourselves unspotted from the world, +not from its spots only, but even from its suspicions." + + + +IV. +DANCING. + + +DANCING is the expression of inward feelings by means of +rhythmical movements of the body. Usually these movements are +in measured step, and are accompanied by music. + +In some form or another dancing is as old as the world, and has been +practiced by rude as well as by civilized peoples. The passion for +amateur dancing always has been strongest among savage nations, +who have made equal use of it in religious rites and in war. With +the savages the dancers work themselves into a perfect frenzy, into +a kind of mental intoxication. But as civilization has advanced +dancing has modified its form, becoming more orderly and +rhythmical. The early Greeks made the art of dancing into a system, +expressive of all the different passions. For example, the dance of +the Furies, so represented, would create complete terror among +those who witnessed them. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, ranked +dancing with poetry, and said that certain dancers, with rhythm applied +to gesture, could express manners, passions, and actions. The most +eminent Greek sculptors studied the attitude of the dancers for their +art of imitating the passions. In a classical Greek song, Apollo, one +of the twelve greater gods, the son of Zeus the chief god, and the god +of medicine, music, and poetry, was called The Dancer. In a Greek +line Zeus himself is represented as dancing. In Sparta, a province of +ancient Greece, the law compelled parents to exercise their children +in dancing from the age of five years. They were led by grown men, +and sang hymns and songs as they danced. In very early times a +Greek chorus, consisting of the whole population of the city, would +meet in the market-place to offer up thanksgivings to the god of the +country. Their jubilees were always attended with hymn-singing and +dancing. The Jewish records make frequent mention of dancing, but +always "as a religious ceremony, or as an expression of gratitude and +praise." As a means of entertainment in private society, dancing was +practiced in ancient times, but by professional dancers, and not by the +company themselves. It is true that the Bible has sanctioned dancing, +but let us remember, first, that it was always a religious rite; second, +that it was practiced only on joyful occasions, at national feasts, and +after great victories; third, that usually it was "performed by maidens +in the daytime, in open air, in highways, fields, or groves;" fourth, +that "there are no instances of dancing sanctioned in the Bible, in +which both sexes united in the exercise, either as an act of worship +or as an amusement;" fifth, that any who perverted the dance from a +sacred use to purposes of amusement were called infamous. The only +records in Scripture of dancing as a social amusement were those of +the ungodly families described by Job xxi, 11-13, who spent their +time in luxury and gayety, and who came to a sudden destruction; +and the dancing of Herodias, Matt. Xiv, 6, which led to the rash vow +of King Herod and to the murder of John the Baptist. So much for +the history of dancing. + +The modern dance in which both sexes freely mingle, irrespective +of character, purely for amusement, at late hours, at which intoxicants, +in some form, are generally used, is, essentially, an institution of vice. +The modern dance is as different from the dancing of ancient times, +and from the dancing sanctioned in the Bible, as daylight is from dark, +as good is from bad. The modern dance imperils health, it poisons the +social nature; it destroys intellectual growth; and it robs men and women +of their virtue. Let us understand one another. To attend one dance may +not accomplish all of this in any person. One may attend many dances, +and he himself not see these results marked in his character, but some +one else will see them. For in the nature of the institution the modern +dance affects in all these particulars those whom it reaches. The +tendencies in a single dance are in these directions. In a way peculiar +to itself the modern dance imperils health. Though detestable and out +of date, as are the modern kissing games, yet no one ever heard of one +of those performances continuing until three and five o'clock in the +morning. Young people do not stay up all night, ride five, ten, and +twenty miles to play authors, or to snap caroms, or to play charades, as +interesting in a social way as these innocent amusements may be. The +fact that one will go to this extreme in keeping late hours to attend the +dance, and will not keep such late hours for any other form of amusement, +proves that the dance, as an institution, is at fault in producing such +irregularities. And then who ever heard of one having to dress in a +certain way to attend a purely social gathering. But let a young lady +attend a fashionable ball or a regular round dance of any note, whatever, +and if she wears the civil gown she will be thought tame and snubbed. +She must dress for this occasion, and thus, from a health point of view, +so expose her body that after the excitement and heat of a prolonged +round she takes her place in a slight draught of air, and a severe cold is +contracted. And this exposure is further increased by the sudden change +from a close, hot room to the damp, chilly air of the early morning, on her +journey home. It is possible to guard against all of this, but are those +persons who attend such exercises likely to be cautious in such practical +matters. At least, this risk of exposure for men and women is peculiar +to the dance, and it is certain that many are physically injured in this +way. The modern dance poisons the social nature. The chief exercise +at the modern dance is dancing. Those who have attended dances, as a +social recreation, have complained that they never have an opportunity +to get acquainted with one another. Such a luxury as a complete +conversation on any theme is out of the question. It is a form of +amusement that stultifies the communicative faculties, and fosters +social seclusion. Some one might say this may be a good thing, since +every grade in moral and social standing are represented. Yes, but this +only acknowledges the lack of opportunity for social fellowship. It is +not true that the dance, as an institution, is not patronized by the most +capable in conversation and companionship? Certainly this is true in +the so-called higher society, among those whose sole ambition is to +excel in formal manners and in personal appearance at the gay function, +and at the social ball. To be communicative one must have something +to communicate, and this means a cultivation of the mind and heart. +True social fellowship is one of the sweetest pleasures of life and always +has its source in the culture of the soul. Whatever may be said for or +against the modern dance, it is true that because of the mixed characters +of its attendants, and for want of opportunity to communicate, the social +nature becomes neglected and abused, and may be fatally poisoned. + +The modern dance destroys intellectual growth. The person who has +the dance-craze cares no more for mental improvement and growth than +a starving man cares for splendid recipes for fine cooking. The thought +of a problem to be solved, of a book to be read, of an organ exercise to +be practiced, of all things, are most tame to the one who is filled with +dreams of the last dance, and with visions of the one that is to come. To +grow, the mind must be free from excitement. The fault with the dance +in this respect is that it has in it a fascination that does not exist in the +ordinary social amusement. Some persons complain that they can not +get an evening to go off well without dancing. But this is only an open +confession to mental vacuity, to intellectual poverty. For one need know +but little to flourish at the dance. And always, where little is required, +intellectually, little is given. It is the rule that those who are in the +greatest need of mental cultivation and growth are those who make up +the dancing crowd. And the fact that the dance, as an institution, in no +way stimulates intellectual thought, destines those who dance to remain +on the lower intellectual plane. + +Last, and worst of all, the dance robs men and women of their virtue, +and this often at the first unconsciously. If it is not for health and +physical vigor that one follows up dancing; if it is not the peculiar +social tie that binds dancers together; if it is not the incentive to +intellectual growth and equipment, what is it? A secret lies hid away +somewhere in the institution of the modern dance, that makes it the +chiefest attraction of worldly-minded and often of base-hearted people. +What is that secret? Ah, my friend, it is the appeal to the most sacred +instincts and passions of a man and of a woman! This appeal is peculiar +to the modern dance by the accident of physical contact that men and +women assume in dancing, and also by the circumstances that attend it, +namely, mixed society, late hours, and the customary use of strong +drink. No honest, normally passionate person, who has made it a +practice of attending dances, will deny the truth of this charge. One +may never have thought of it in this way, but when he stops to think he +knows that it is true. It is through ignorance of these circumstances, and +of their bad effects, that many a well-meaning person, presumably to +have a good time, or to acquire heel-grace, goes into the dance, secures +a passion for dancing, and through its seductive influences are led into +sin and shame. The following is an incident out of his own experience +related by Professor T. A. Faulkner, an ex-dancing master. Professor +Faulkner is the author of the little book entitled "From the Ball Room to +Hell." A book which every person who sees no harm in dancing should +read. + +"Here is a girl.The one remaining child of wealthy parents, their idol +and joy. A dancing-school having opened near their home, the daughter, +for accomplishment, was sent to it. She came from her home, modest, +and her innate spirit of purity rebelled against the liberties taken by the +dancing-master, and the men he introduced to her. She became indignant +at the indecent attitudes she was called upon to assume, but noticing a +score of young women, many of them from the best homes in the town, +all yielding to the vulgar embrace, she cast aside that spirit of modesty +which had been the development of years of home-training, and setting +her face against nature's protective warnings, gave herself, as did the +others, to this prolonged embrace set to music. Having learned to dance, +its fascinations led her an enthusiastic captive. Modesty was crucified, +decency outraged, virtue lost its power over her soul, and she spent her +days dreaming of the delights of the sensual whirl of the evening. Hardly +conscious of the change she had now become as bold as any of the women, +and loved the embrace of the charmer. The graduation of the class was, +of course, the occasion of a waltzing reception. To that reception she went, +attended by her father, who looked with a proud heart on the fulsome +greeting his dear one received. After a little the father retired, leaving his +daughter to the care of the many handsome gallants who danced attendance +upon her. The reception did not close until the small hours of the morning. +Each waltz became more voluptuous; intoxicated by sensuality, the +dancers became more bold, and lust was aroused in every breast. How +many sins that reception occasioned, I do not know; this, at least, is sure, +that this girl who entered that dancing-hall three months before, as pure as +an angel, was that night.robbed of her honor and returned to her home +deprived forever of that most precious jewel of womanhood--virtue. Her +first impulse the next morning was self-destruction; then she deluded +herself with the thought of marriage with her dancing companion, but +he still further insulted her by declaring that he wanted a pure woman +for his wife. What was her end? Shunned by the very society which +egged her on to ruin, her self-respect was gone with her lost purity, she +went to her own kind, and in shame is closing her days." "Of two +hundred brothel inmates to whom Professor Faulkner talked, and who +were frank enough to answer his question as to the direct cause of their +shame, seven said poverty and abuse; ten, willful choice; twenty, drink +given them by their parents; and one hundred and sixty-three, dancing +and the ball-room." "A former chief of police of New York City says +that three-fourths of the abandoned girls of this city were ruined by +dancing." Of the dance, one says: "It lays its lecherous hand upon the +fair character of innocence, and converts it into a putrid corrupting +thing. It enters the domain of virtue, and with silent, steady blows takes +the foundation from underneath the pedestal on which it sits enthroned. +It lists the gate and lets in a flood of vice and impurity that sweeps away +modesty, chastity, and all sense of shame. It keeps company with the +low, the degraded, and the vile. It feeds upon the passion it inflames, +and fattens on the holiest sentiments, turned by its touch to filth and +rottenness. It loves the haunts of vice, and is at home in the company of +harlots and debauchees." George T. Lemon says: "No Church in +Christendom commends or even excuses the dance. All unite to condemn +it." The late Episcopal bishop of Vermont, writes: "Dancing is chargeable +with waste of time, interruption of useful study, the indulgence of personal +vanity and display, and the premature incitement of the passions. At the +age of maturity it adds to these no small danger to health by late hours, +flimsy dress, heated rooms, and exposed persons." Episcopal Bishop +Meade, of Virginia, declares: "Social dancing is not among the neutral +things which, within certain limits, we may do at pleasure, and it is not +among the things lawful, but not expedient, but it is in itself wrong, +improper, and of bad effect." Episcopal Bishop McIlvaine, of Ohio, +putting the dance and the theater together, writes: "The only line that I +would draw in regard to these is that of entire exclusion..The question +is not what we can imagine them to be, but what they always have been, +will be, and must be, in such a world as this, to render them pleasurable +to those who patronize them. Strip them bare until they stand in the +simple innocence to which their defenders' arguments would reduce them +and the world would not have them." A Roman Catholic priest testifies +that "the confessional revealed the fact that nineteen out of every twenty +women who fall can trace the beginning of their state to the modern dance." + + + +V. +THEATER-GOING. + +WITH drunkenness, gambling, and dancing, theater-going dates from +the beginning of history, and with these it is not only questionable in +morals, but it is positively bad. Every one who knows any thing about +the institution of the theater, as such, knows that it always has been +corrupting in its influence. Not only those who attend the theater +pronounce it bad, as a whole, but it is frowned upon by play-writers, +and by actors and actresses themselves. Five hundred years before +Christ, Jew, Pagan, and Christian spoke against the theater. It is +stated on good authority that the dissipations of the theater were +the chief cause of the decadence of ancient Greece. At one time, +Augustus, the emperor of Rome, was asked as a means of public +safety, to suppress the theater. The early Christians held the theater +in such bad repute as to rank it with the heathen temple. And to +these two places they would not go, even to preach the Good News +of Jesus Christ. Nor has the moral tone and character of the theater +improved, even in our day. Dr. Theodore Cuyler, for many years +an experienced pastor in Brooklyn, Says: "The American theater +is a concrete institution, to be judged as a totality. It is responsible +for what it tolerates and shelters. We, therefore, hold it responsible +for whatever of sensual impurity and whatever of irreligion, as well +as for whatever of occasional and sporadic benefit there may be bound +up in its organic life. Instead of helping Christ's kingdom, it hinders; +instead of saving souls, it corrupts and destroys." Dr. Buckley gives +this testimony: "Being aware of the fact that the drama, like every +thing else which caters to the taste, has its fashions--rising and falling +and undergoing various changes--now improving, and then degenerating, +I have thought it desirable to institute a careful inquiry into the plays +which have been performed in the principal theaters of New York during +the past three years. Accordingly, I procured the copies used by the +performers in preparing for their parts, and took pains to ascertain +wherein, in actual use, the actors diverged from the printed copies. +They number over sixty, and, with the exception of a few unprinted +plays, include all that have been produced in the prominent theaters +of New York during the three years now about closing..It is a singular +fact, that, with three or four exceptions, those dramatic compositions, +among the sixty or more under discussion, which are morally objectionable, +are of a comparatively low order of literary execution. But if language +and sentiments, which would not be tolerated among respectable people, +and would excite indignation if addressed to the most uncultivated and +coarse servant girl, not openly vicious, by an ordinary young man, and +profaneness which would brand him who uttered it as irreligious, are +improper amusements for the young and for Christians of every age, then +at least fifty of these plays are to be condemned." + +In the first place the theater leads one into bad company. As a class, +the performers are licentious. How can one be in their company, be +moved to laughter and to tears and not be contaminated by them? +One who has studied the theater tells us that the "fruits of the Spirit +and the fruits of the stage exhibit as pointed a contrast as the human +imagination can conceive." The famous Macready, as he retired from +the stage, wrote: "None of my children, with my consent under any +pretense, shall ever enter the theater, nor shall they have any visiting +connection with play actors or actresses." Dr. Johnson asks the question: +"How can they mingle together as they do, men and women, and make +public exhibitions of themselves as they do, in such circumstances, +with such surroundings, with such speech as much often be on their +lips to play the plays that are written, in such positions as they must +sometimes take, affecting such sentiment and passions--how can they do +this without moral contamination?" And we would ask, how can persons +live enrapt with this sort of thing for hours and hours each week, the year +around, and not become equally contaminated, for to the onlooker all this +comes as a reality, while to those who are performing, it is hired shamming? +Therefore, as the pupil becomes the teacher, so the attendant at the theater +becomes like the one who performs. So that to go to the theater is to "sit in +the seat of the scornful or to stand in the way of sinners." "There you find +the man," says one, "who has lost all love for his home, the careless, the +profane, the spendthrift, the drunkard, and the lowest prostitute of the street. +They are found in all parts of the house; they crowd the gallery, and +together should aloud the applause, greeting that which caricatures religion, +sneers at virtue, or hints at indecency." Not only the actors and the onlookers +of the average theater are vile, but all of the immediate associations of the +playhouse must correspond with it. If not in the same building with the +theater, in adjoining ones, at least, are found the wine-parlor and the +brothel. It is generally conceded that no theater can be prosperous if it is +wholly separated from these adjuncts of evil. + +The theater, therefore, kills spiritually and degrades the moral life +of the one who attends it. The theater deals with the spectacular. +This appeals to the eye, to the ear, and to all of the outer senses. +Spirituality depends upon a cultivation of the spiritual senses that +Grace has opened up within the soul. Hence, the spectacular is +directly opposed to the spiritual. The deep, contemplative, spiritual +soul could find little or no food in the false, clap-trap representations +of the modern stage. And to find an increased interest here is +evidence that one lacks spiritual life, at least deep-seated spiritual +life. This is why so many professing Christians are so eager to go to +the card-party, to the dancing-party, and to the theater. The inner- +sense life of the soul is dead, and one must have something upon +which to feed, hence he feeds upon the husks of "imprudent and +un-Christian amusements." And let one who has a measure of +spiritual life, instead of increasing it, seek to satisfy his soul- +longing by means of the spectacular, of false representations in +any form, soon he will lose the spiritual life that he has. And this +loss will be marked by an increased demand for the spectacular. +The surest proof to-day that the spiritual life of the Church is waning +in certain sections, is not so much that her membership-roll is not +on the increase, but that professing Christian people are running +wild after cards and dancing and the theater. Evangelist Sayles +declares: "The people of our so-called best society, and Christian +people, many that have been looked upon as active workers, sit +now and gaze upon scenes in our theaters, without a blush, that +twenty-five years ago would not have been countenanced..The +moral and spiritual life of many a Christian has been weakened by +the eyes gazing upon the scenes of the theater." Says he, "The +Christian, through attendance upon the playhouse, creates a relish +for worldly things, and so spiritual things become distasteful." + +Then, to go to one theater, sanctions all. To have heard and to have +seen Joe Jefferson in "Rip Van Winkle," Richard Mansfield in "The +Merchant of Venice," or Edwin Booth or Sir Henry Irving, or Maude +Adams, or Julia Marlowe in their best plays, is to have received a +deeper insight into human nature, and a stronger purpose to become +sympathetic and true, but who can afford to sanction all that is base +and villainous is the institution of the modern theater for the sake of +learning sympathy and truth and human nature from a few worthy +actors, when he may find all of this as truthfully, if not as artistically, +set forth by the orator, by the musician, by the painter, and by the +author? It is not cant, it is not pharisaism, it is not a weak claim of +Christianity, but it is common honesty, mighty truth, a cardinal and +beautiful teaching of Jesus Christ to deny one's self for the welfare +of the weaker brother. Let one go to hear Mansfield in Shakespeare, +and his neighbor boy will take his friend and go to the vaudeville, and +his only excuse to his parents and to his half-taught mind and heart +will be, "Well, Mr. So-and-So goes to the theater, he is a member of +the Church and superintendent of the Sunday-school; surely there is +no harm for me to go." To the immature mind what seems right for +one person seems lawful for another. This is because such a person +has not learned to discriminate between what is bad and what is good. +Therefore, if the theater as an institution has more in it that is bad than +It has in it that is good, rather if the general tendency of the theater, as +an institution, is bad, the safe thing for one's self and for those who +read one's life as an example, is to discard it entirely. + +In view of these facts, no person can attend the theater at all without +hurting his influence. The ideal life is that one which gives offense +of stumbling to no one. A successful preacher who had an aversion +toward speaking on the subject of questionable amusements, when +asked what he believed concerning a certain form of amusement, +replied: "See what I do, and know what I believe." It is a glorious +life whose actions are an open epistle of righteousness and peace, +read and believed and honored by all men. + +"Some time ago a gentleman teaching a large class of young men +in a Chicago Sunday-school, desired to attend a theater for the +purpose of seeing a celebrated actor. He was not a theater-goer, +and thought that no harm could come from it. He had no sooner +taken his seat, however, than he saw in the opposite gallery some +of the members of his class. They also saw him and began commenting +on the fact that their teacher was at the theater. They thought it +inconsistent in him, lost their interest in the class, and he lost his +influence over the young men. That teacher tied his hands by this +one act, so that he could not speak out against the gross sins of the +theater." + +Those who defend theater-going say that if Christian people would +patronize the theater that it would be made more respectable. But +over a thousand years of history proves that this principle fails here +as it does elsewhere. A Christian woman marries an unchristian man +with the hope that he will become a Christian; a steady, sensible +woman in all other matters marries a man who drinks, with the +thought of reforming him; one associates with worldly and sensual +companions, expecting to make them better; but, alas, what blasted +hopes, what wretched failures in all of these instances, at least in the +most of them! You can not reform vice; you may whitewash a sin, +but it will be sin, still. To purify a character or an institution one +must not become a part of it by sympathy, nor by association. This +is what the psalmist meant when he said, "Blessed is the man that +walketh not in the counsels of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way +of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." And so it is, that +every effort at reforming the theater, thus far has failed. The Rev. +C.W. Winchester says concerning the reforming of the theater: "The +facts are, (1) that the theater in this city and country never had the +support and encouragement of moral and religious people it has now; +(2) that the theater here was never so bad. Clearly, if Christian patronage +is going to reform the theater, the reform ought to begin. But the grade +is downward. The theater is growing worse and worse." Dr. Wilkinson +makes this statement on the question of reforming the theater: "Now +the Protestant Christians of New York number, by recent computation, +less than seventy-five thousand souls, in a population of a million. +Supposing a general agreement among them all that a regular attendance +at the theater was at this juncture the most pressing and most promising +method of evangelical effort, they would not then constitute even one- +tenth of the numerical patronage which the management would study +to please." Dr. Herrick Johnson says: "The ideal stage is out of the +question. It is out of the question just as pure, chaste, human nudity +is out of the question..The nature of theatrical performances, the +essential demands of the stage, the character of the plays, and the +constitution of human nature, make it impossible that the theater +should exist, save under a law of degeneracy. Its trend is downward; +its centuries of history tell just this one story. The actual stage of to- +day..is a moral abomination. In Chicago, at least, it is trampling +on the Sabbath with defiant scoff. It is defiling our youth. It is making +crowds familiar with the play of criminal passions. It is exhibiting +women with such approaches to nakedness as can have no other +design than to breed lust behind the onlooking eyes. It is furnishing +candidates for the brothel. It is getting us used to scenes that rival the +voluptuousness and licentious ages of the past." As never before to- +day, has the theater asked for the support of Church members. And +the ideal stage, with virtuous performers, and with pure dramas, are +held up as a sample of what Christian people are invited to attend. Dr. +Cuyler says: "Every person of common sense knows that the actual +average theater is no more an ideal playhouse than the average pope +is like St. Peter, or the average politician is like Abraham Lincoln. A +Puritanic theater would become bankrupt in a twelvemonth. The great +mass of those who frequent the playhouse go there for strong, passionate +excitements..I do not affirm," says Dr. Cuyler, "that every popular play +is immoral, and every attendant is on a scent for sensualities. But the +theater is a concrete institution, it must be judged in the gross and to a +tremendous extent it is only a gilded nastiness. It unsexes womanhood +by putting her publicly in male attire--too often in no attire at all." + +"So competent an authority as the famous actress, Olga Nethersole, +recently declared that the only kind of play which may hope for success +with English-speaking audiences at the present day is the play which is +sufficiently indicated by calling it immoral. There is no doubt about it +that the theater, as at present conducted, is pulling the stones from the +foundations of public morality, and weakening, and in many quarters +endangering, the whole structure of society. The atmosphere of the +modern theater is lustful and irreverent. It is a good place for Christians +to keep away from. It is a good opportunity for the strong man to deny +himself for the sake of his younger or weaker brother." + + + +PART II. + +WORTHY SUBSTITUTES. + +"Get the spindle and thy distaff ready, and God will send thee flax." + + +VI. +BOOKS AND READING. + +MANY BOOKS, MUCH READING. + + +TO-DAY every one reads. Go where you may, you will find the +paper, the magazine, the journal; printed letters, official reports, +exhaustive cyclopedias, universal histories; the ingenuous advertise- +ment, the voluminous calendar, the decorated symphony; printed +ideals, elaborate gaming rules, flaming bulletins; and latest of all, +we have begun to publish our communications on the waves of the +air. In this hurly-burly of many books and much reading, it is no +mean problem to know why one should read; and what, and how, +and when. Especially does this problem of general reading confront +the student, the lover of books, and those of the professions. Essays +are to be read, the historical, the philosophical, and the scientific; +novels, the historical and the religious; books of devotion, books of +biography, of travel, of criticism, and of art. What principles are to +guide one in his choice of reading, that he may select only the wisest, +purest, and helpfulest from all these classes of books? + + +WHY READ. + +Read to acquire knowledge. Knowledge is the perception of truth. +One arrives at knowledge by the assimilation of facts and principles, +or by the assimilation of truth itself. Three sources of knowledge are +experience, conversation, and reading. Experience leads one slowly +to knowledge, is limited entirely to the path over which one has passed, +and is a "dear teacher." To acquire knowledge by conversation is to +put one at the mercy of his associates, making him dependent upon +their good favor, truthfulness, and learning. But reading places one +in direct communication with the wisest and best persons of all time. +To acquire knowledge by reading is to defy time and space, persons +and circumstances, at least, in our day of many and inexpensive books. +Through books facts live, principles operate, justice acts, the light of +philosophy gleams, wit flashes, God speaks. Every book-lover agrees +with Channing: "No matter how poor I am..if the sacred writers will +enter and take up their abode under my roof, if Milton will cross my +threshold to sing to me of Paradise, and Shakespeare to open to me the +words of imagination and the workings of the human heart, and Franklin +to enrich me with his practical wisdom, I shall not pine for want of +intellectual companionship, and I may become a cultivated man, though +excluded from what is called the best society in the place where I live." +Kingsley says: "Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful +Than a book!--a message to us from the dead,--from human souls whom +we never saw, who lived, perhaps, thousands of miles away; and yet +these, in those little sheets of paper, speak to us, amuse us, terrify us, +teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers..If they are +good and true, whether they are about religion or politics, farming, +trade, or medicine, they are the message of Christ, the Maker of all +things, the Teacher of all truth." The wide range of truth secured through +reading acts in two ways upon the reader. It spiritualizes his character, +and it makes him mighty in action. Knowledge on almost any subject +has a marked tendency to sharpen one's wits, to refine his tastes, to +ennoble his spirit, to improve his judgement, to strengthen his will, to +subdue his baser passions, and to fill his soul with the breath of life. +It is only upon truth that the soul feeds, and by means of knowledge that +the character grows. "It cannot be that people should grow in grace," +writes John Wesley, "unless they give themselves to reading. A reading +people will always be a knowing people." Reading makes one mighty +in action when it gives one knowledge, since "knowledge is power," and +since power has but one way of showing itself, and that is, in action. +Knowledge takes no note of hardships, ignores fatigue, laughs at +disappointment, and frowns upon despair. It delves into the earth, +rides upon the air, defies the cold of the north, the heat of the south; it +stands upon the brink of the spitting volcano, circumnavigates the globe, +examines the heavens, and tries to understand God. With but few +exceptions, master-minds and men of affairs have been incessant +readers. Cicero, chief of Roman orators, whether at home or abroad, +in town or in the country, by day or by night, in youth or in old age, in +sorrow or in joy, was not without his books. "Petrarch, when his friend +the bishop, thinking that he was overworked, took away the key of his +library, was restless and miserable the first day, had a bad headache the +second, and was so ill by the third day that the bishop, in alarm, returned +the key and let his friend read as much as he liked." Writes Frederick the +Great, "My latest passion will be for literature." The poet, Milton, while +a child, read and studied until midnight. John Ruskin read at four years +of age, was a book-worm at five, and wrote numerous poems and dramas +before he was ten. Lord Macaulay read at three and began a compendium +of universal history at seven. Although not a lover of books, George +Washington early read Matthew Hale and became a master in thought. +Benjamin Franklin would sit up all night at his books. Thomas Jefferson +read fifteen hour a day. Patrick Henry read for employment, and kept +store for pastime. Daniel Webster was a devouring reader, and retained +all that he read. At the age of fourteen he could repeat from memory all +of Watt's Hymns and Pope's "Essay on Man." When but a youth, Henry +Clay read books of history and science and practiced giving their contents +before the trees, birds, and horses. Says a biographer of Lincoln, "A book +was almost always his inseparable companion." + +Then, read for enjoyment. Fortunately, a habit so valuable as reading +may grow to become a pleasure. So that as one is gathering useful +information and increasing in knowledge, he may have the keenest +enjoyment. Such an one sings as he works. He has learned to +convert drudgery into joy; duty has become delight. But even for +such an one a portion of his reading should be purely for rest and +recreation. If one has taught school all day, or set type, or managed +a home, or read history, or labored in the field, or been shopping, +heavy, solid reading may be out of the question, while under such +circumstances one would really enjoy a striking allegory or a well- +written novel. Or, if one is limited in knowledge, or deficient in +literary taste so that he may find no interest in history, science, +philosophy, or religion, still he may enjoy thrilling books of travel, +of biography, or of entertaining story. In this way all may enjoy +reading. "Of all the amusements which can possibly be imagined +for a hard-working man, after his daily toil, or in its intervals, there +is nothing," says Herschel, "like reading an interesting book. It +calls for no bodily exercise, of which he has had enough or too much. +It relieves his home of its dullness and sameness, which, in nine cases +out of ten, is what drives him out to the alehouse, to his own ruin and +his family's. It accompanies him to his next day's work, and, if the +book he has been reading be any thing above the very idlest and +lightest, gives him something to think of besides the mere mechanical +drudgery of his every-day occupation, something he can enjoy while +absent, and look forward with pleasure to return to." + + +WHAT TO READ. + +First of all read something. "Southey tells us that, in his walk one +stormy day, he met an old woman, to whom, by way of greeting, he +made the rather obvious remark that it was dreadful weather. She +answered, philosophically, that in her opinion, 'any weather was better +than none.'" And so we would say, excluding corrupt literature, any +reading is better than none! In this day of multiplicity of books who +who never reads may not be an ignoramus nor a fool, but certainly he +robs the world of much that is useful in character, and deprives himself +of much that enriches his own soul. Then one should select his books, +as he does his associates, and not attempt to read everything that comes +in his way. No longer may one know even a little about every thing. +It might be a mark of credit rather than an embarrassment for one to +answer, "No," to the question, "Have you read the latest book?" when +the fact is recalled that 30,000 novels have been published within the +past eighty years, and that five new ones are added to the list daily. + + +READ HISTORY. + +One has characterized history as both the background and the key to +all knowledge. No other class of reading so much as this helps one +to appreciate his own country, his own age, his own surroundings. +Extensive reading of history is a sure remedy for pessimism, prejudice, +and fanaticism. In so far as history is an accurate account of the past, +it is a true prophecy of the future for the nation and for the individual. +Who reads history knows that men always have displayed folly, +Weakness, and cruelty, and that they always will, even to their own +obvious ruin. Also he knows that every time and place have had their +few good men and women who have honored God, and whom God has +honored. Nothing so teaches a person his own insignificance and the +small part that he plays in the world as does the reading of history. Nor +is history to be found only in the book called history. If you want to +know the life of the ancients, as you know the life of your own +community, read Josephus. Do you want a glimpse of early apostolic +times, read "The Life and Times of Jesus," by Edersheim. Do you want +to see the battlefield of Waterloo, visit Paris in the beginning of the +nineteenth century, stop over night with Louis Philippe, see the English +through French spectacles, and the Frenchman through his own; do you +want a glimpse of the political despotism, court intrigue, and ecclesiastical +tyranny in France a hundred years ago; do you want to hear the crash of +the bastile, and see Notre Dame converted into a horse-stable; do you +want a picture of the "bread riots" and mob violence that terminated in +the French revolution of 1848; in short do you want a tale of French life +and character in its brightest, gloomiest, and intensest period, read "Les +Miserables," by Victor Hugo. To-day one must read current history. It +is not enough to plan, work, and economize, one must make and seize +opportunities. And this he can do only as he is alive to passing events. +In a few years one may outgrow his usefulness through losing touch +with advancing ideas and methods of work. To keep abreast of the +times one must read the newspaper and the magazine. The newspaper +is the history of the hour, the magazine is the history of the day. The +magazine corrects the newspaper, and "sums up in clear and noble +phrase those fundamental facts which are only dimly seen in the newspaper." +A serious and growing tendency is that the newspaper and magazine shall +take the place of the best books. A few minutes a day is enough for any +newspaper, and a few hours a month is enough for any magazine. The +greatest part of one's reading should be that of books. Who gormandizes +on current events will pay the price with a morbid mind and with false +conclusions in his reasoning. + + +READ BIOGRAPHY. + +The life of a great man is a continual inspiration. No other exercise +so fires a soul with noble ambition as the study of a great life. Real +life is not only stranger than fiction, but it is more interesting than +fiction. No boy should be without the life of Washington, of Lincoln, +of Webster, of Franklin. Every girl should know by heart brave +Pocahontas, sympathetic Mrs. Stowe, queenly Frances Willard, and +kind-hearted Victoria. No private library is complete without +Plutarch's "Lives," the "Life of Alfred the Great," of Napoleon, Grant, +and Gladstone. + + +READ SCIENCE. + +The fourteen-year-old child may master the practical principles of +natural philosophy, and yet how many intelligent persons remain +ignorant of the most commonplace truths in this branch of learning! +With a little attention to the natural and mechanical sciences, a new +world of beauty and truth opens up before one. He sees objects that +once were hid to him; he hears sounds that once were silent; he enjoys +odors that once retained their fragrance. His whole being becomes a +part of the living musical world about him, when he has his senses +opened to appreciate it and to become attuned to it. One should read +some science throughout his life, in order to remain at the source of +all true knowledge. Here he learns to appreciate the language of +nature. When expressed by man, this is poetry. + + +THEREFORE, READ POETRY. + +Ten minutes a day with Tennyson, Browning, Emerson, or Lowell, +will teach one a new language, by which he may converse with the +wind, talk with the birds, chat with the brook, speak with the flowers, +and hold discourse with the sun, moon, and stars. The deepest and +mightiest thoughts of all ages have been expressed in poetry, the +language of nature. "Poetry," says Coleridge, "is the blossom and +fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, passions, +emotions, languages." + + +READ BOOKS OF RELIGION. + +"Religion," says Lyman Abbott, "is the life of God in the soul." +Every truly religious book treats of this life. The only purely +religious book is the Bible. It is the source and inspiration of every +other religious book. The Bible is a "letter from God to man, handed +down from heaven and written by inspired men." Its message is free +salvation for all men through Jesus Christ; its spirit is divine love. No +wise person is without this letter, and every thoughtful and devout +person reads it daily. One may never find time to follow a course of +study, nor to pursue a plan of daily reading; he may never know the +wealth of Dante, the grandeur of Milton, nor the genius of Shakespeare, +but every one may make the Bible his daily companion and guide. + + +HOW TO READ. + +Enter into what you read. No book can thrill and move one unless he +gives himself up to it. Lack of fixed attention is the cause of the +half-informed mind, the faulty reason, and the ever-failing memory. +The cause of this lack of attention may be an historical allusion of +which one is ignorant, or a new word that he fails to look up, or an +overtaxed mind, or unfavorable surroundings. Whatever may be this +hindrance it must be removed or overcome before one can enter into +what he reads. A thought is of no value until it registers itself and +takes a room in the mind. This is why we are told on every hand, +that a few books well read are worth more than many books poorly +read. The secret of Abraham Lincoln's power as a public speaker +lay in his clear reasoning, simple statement, and apt illustration. This +secret was secured by Lincoln through his habit of mastering whatever +he heard in conversation or reading. "When a mere child," says +Lincoln, "I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a way +I could not understand. I don't think I ever got angry at anything else +in my life. But that always disturbed my temper, and has ever since. +I can remember going to my little bedroom, after hearing the neighbors +talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small part of the +night walking up and down, trying to make out what was the exact +meaning of some of their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep, +though I often tried to, when I got on such a hunt after an idea, until +I had caught it, and when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied +until I had repeated it over and over; until I had put it in language +plain enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to comprehend. This +was a kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me; for I am never +easy now when I am handling a thought until I have bounded it north, +and bounded it south, and bounded it east, and bounded it west." And +so to enter into what one reads, means that he will master the thought. +The most that a university can do for one is to teach him to read. Who +has learned how to read has secured a liberal education, however or +wherever he may have learned it. + +Then, one should learn to scan an author. This means to take a rapid +observation of his thoughts. Much of one's common reading matter +should be scanned. All local news, much magazine literature, and +many books should be used in this way. It is mental sloth and waste +of time to pore over a newspaper or a book of light fiction, as one +would a philosophy of history or a work of science. As Bacon aptly +puts it, "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and +some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be +read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few +to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also +may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others." One's +mind is like a horse, it soon learns its master. Feed it well, groom it +well, treat it gently, you may expect much from it. It is reported of +Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis that he has read a book a day for over +twenty years. He has learned to squeeze the thought out of a book at +a grasp, as one of us would squeeze the juice from an orange. Take +a glimpse into his library. Five hundred volumes of sociological +literature, four hundred volumes of history, two hundred of cyclopedias, +gazetteers, books of reference; four hundred volumes of pure science, +one hundred volumes of travels, two hundred and fifty volumes of +biography; one hundred volumes of art and art history; a section on +psychology, ethics, philosophy, and the relation between science and +religion, and a thousand volumes of literature, pure and simple. + + +WHEN TO READ. + +First, read at regular hours. This is for those who follow literary +pursuits. No professional person should respect himself in his work +who has no special time for reading and study, and who does not +conscientiously adhere to it. The pulpit, the law-office, the doctor's +office, the teacher, and the editor's desk, each clamors for the man, the +woman, who can think. To appreciate God and to sympathize with +the human heart; to know law and the intricate special case; to understand +disease and relief for the suffering patient; to have something to teach +and to know how to teach it even to the dullest pupil; to know human +character and to be able to enlighten the public mind and the public +conscience; all this requires in the one who serves a deep and growing +knowledge and experience which may be realized only in the grasp of +truth contained in the up-to-date and best authorized books. The use +of books with this class of persons is not optional. They must buy and +master them, or a few years at longest will relegate them with their old +books and ideas to the dusty garret where they belong. + +Then, many must read on economized time. The farmer, the mechanic, +the merchant, the shopkeeper, each may find a little time for daily reading. +Ten minutes saved in the morning, ten minutes in the afternoon, and ten +minutes in the evening, this is half hour a day. In a week this gives one +three hours and a half, in a month fourteen hours of solid reading, and +in a year one will have read seven days of twenty-four hours each. Think +of what may be accomplished in an average lifetime in common reading +by the busiest person, who really wants to read. "Schliemann," the +noted German scholar and author, "as a boy, standing in line at the +post-office waiting his turn for the mail, utilized the time by studying +Greek from a little pocket grammar." "Mary Somerfield, the astronomer, +while busy with her children in the nursery, wrote her 'Mechanism of +the Heavens,' without neglecting her duties as a mother." "Julius Caesar, +while a military officer and politician found time to write his Commentaries +known throughout the world." William Cobbett says: "I learned grammar +when I was a private soldier on a six-pence a day. The edge of my guard- +bed was my seat to study in, my knapsack was my bookcase, and a board +lying on my lap was my desk. I had no moment at that time that I could +call my own; and I had to read and write among the talking, singing, +whistling, and bawling of at least half a score of the most thoughtless of +men." Among those whom we all know who have risen out of obscurity +to eminence through a wise economy of time which they have used in +reading and study, are, Patrick Henry, Benjamin West, Eli Whitney, James +Watt, Richard Baxter, Roger Sherman, Sir Isaac Newton, and Benjamin +Franklin. + + + +VII. + +SOCIAL RECREATION. + +DEFINED. + + +The normal young person who does not dissipate is bursting with +life. The natural child is activity embodied. The healthful old person +craves exercise. Life, activity, exercise, each must have some method +of spending itself. Some normal method, some right method, some +attractive method must be chosen. By normal method we mean that +which calls into use the varied faculties and powers of the entire +being, body, mind, and heart. By right method we mean that which +does not crush out a part of one's being, while another part is being +developed. By attractive method in the use of life, activity, exercise, +we mean that which appeals to one's peculiar desires, tastes, and +circumstances, so long as these are normal and right. Some chosen +profession, trade, or work is the rightful heritage of every person. +Each man, woman, and child should know when he gets up of a +morning, what his work is for that day. Consciously, or unconsciously, +he should have some outline of work, some end in view, some goal +toward which he is stretching himself. Dr. J. M. Buckley asks: "Have +you a purpose and a plan?" And answers, "Life is worth nothing till +then." The child is in the hands of his parent, his teacher, his guardian. +These must answer to Destiny for his beginning and growth. "Satan +finds something for idle hands to do." Hence the necessity of +vigilance on the part of those who hold the young. But "all work and +no play, makes Jack a dull boy." This rule is good whether "Jack" be +a puny girl, a feeble grandfather, a hustling, responsible father, a busy +mother, or even a mischievous lad. Every person who rises each +morning, dresses himself and goes about his work as if he knew what +he were about; who has some useful work to do, and does it, sooner +or later, needs rest. True, night comes and one may rest. And sweet +is the rest of sleep; a third of one's life is passed in this way. Sancho +Panza has it right when he says: + +"Now blessing light on him that first invented sleep! It covers a man +all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak; it is meat for the hungry, drink +for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot." But one craves +a recreation, a rest which work nor sleep can give. Man has a social +nature, a longing to mingle with his acquaintances and friends. Let +one be shut in with work, or sickness, or weather, for whole days at a +time, and see how hungry he gets to see some one. A recreation at a +social gathering literally makes a new being out of him. He is +recreated. It is this form of recreation that we consider here, social +recreation. + + +A NECESSITY. + +Social recreation is a necessity in a well-ordered life. As with many +other common blessings we forget its benefits. Nor are these benefits +so evident until we see the blighting result in the life of the one who, +for any reason whatsoever, has become a social recluse. We have +known a few persons who have once been in society, but who have +allowed themselves to remain away from all sorts of gatherings, for +a number of years. In every case, the result has been openly +noticeable. They have become boorish in manners, unsympathetic +in nature, and suspicious in spirit. Thus they have grown out of +harmony with the ideas and ways of those about them, have come +to take distorted and erroneous views of affairs and of men. Man is +a composite being. Many factors enter into his make-up. He lives +not only in the physical and intellectual, in the religious and social, +in a local and limited sense, but his life expands until it touches and +molds many other characters and communities besides his own. In +all of these spheres of his influence and work on needs to be sobered +down, corrected, stimulated. In no other way is this better accomplished +than through one's very contact with his fellows in the religious +gathering, among his workmen, in the political meeting, at the assembly, +in the social gathering whenever and wherever persons may see one +another and talk over common interests. + +A SPECIFIC SENSE. + +In a specific sense, by social recreation, we mean those pastimes and +pleasures which all persons, except the social recluse, enjoy as they +meet to spend an afternoon or an evening together. Now, how may +we get the largest amount of pleasure, of rest, of recreation from such +gatherings? How may we best benefit ourselves, inspire one another, +and in it all, honor God? It is no small task to accomplish these three +ends in all things, in one's life. We have agreed that some social +practices are positively bad. And we have tried to show why the +"tobacco club," the "social glass," the "card-party," the "dancing-party," +and the play-house reveries should be avoided. We have left these +forms of so-called "questionable amusements" out of our practice and +let our of our lives. To what may we turn? Where may we go? We +turn to the social gathering. + + +BUT IT MUST BE PLANNED. + +No social gathering can successfully run itself. See what forethought +and expenditure are given to make successful the "smoking-club," the +"wine-social," the "card and dancing parties," and the "theater." Not +one of these institutions thrive without thought and cost in their +management. Put the same thought and expense into the gathering +for social recreation, and you will find all of the merits of the +questionable institution and none of its demerits. No company has +larger capabilities than the mixed company at the social gathering. +Nor may any purpose be more perfectly served than the purpose of +true social recreation. Here we find those skilled in music, versed +in literature, adept at conversation; we find the practical joker, the +proficient at games, and last, but not least, those "born to serve" +tables. This variety of genius, of wit, of skill, of willingness to +serve, is laid at the altar of pleasure for the worthy purpose of making +new again the weary body, the languishing spirit, the lonely heart. +Let the right management and stimulus be given to this resourceful +company, and the hours will pass as moments, the surest sign of a +good time. + + +SOME ESSENTIALS. + +DINING, SOCIAL HOUR, GAMES. + +No social recreation is complete without dining. And yet the least +important part of this meal should be the taking of food. It is a +serious fault with the modern social that too much attention is given +to the variety and quantity of food, and not enough to merriment in +taking it. To be successful, the social company should gather as +early as possible; the first hour-and-a-half should be given to greetings +and to social levity of the brightest and wittiest sort. If one has an +ache or a pain, a care or a loss, let it be forgotten now. It is weakness +and folly continually to be under any burden. Here every one should +take a genuine release from seriousness and earnestness in weighty +and responsible affairs. Let all, except the serving committee for +this evening, take part in this strictly social hour-and-a-half. When +the late-comers have arrived and have been introduced, and the people +have moved about and met one another, almost before the company +are aware of it they are invited by the serving committee to dine. +Usually all may not be served at once. Now that the company has +been thinned out, the older persons having gone to the tables, short, +spirited games should be introduced in which every person not at +luncheon, should be given a place and a part. At this juncture it is +not best to introduce sitting-games, such as checkers, authors, caroms, +or flinch, for the contestants might be called to take refreshments at +a critical moment in the contest. With a little attention to it, appropriate +games may be introduced here that need not interfere with luncheon. +Fully half an hour should be spent at each set of tables, where at the +close of the meal, some humorous subject or subjects should be +introduced and responded to be those best fitted for such a task. +Almost any person can say something bright as well as sensible, if he +will give a little attention to it beforehand. While the second and third +tables are being served, let those retiring contest at games of skill, +converse, or take up other appropriate entertainment directed by the +everywhere present entertainment committee. By this time half-past +ten or eleven o'clock, some who are old, or who have pressing duties +on the next day may want to retire. If the serving committee have been +skillful in adjusting the time spent at each table to the number of +tables, etc., by eleven o'clock the serving shall have been completed. +Now, the young in spirit, whether old or young, expect, and should have +an hour at the newest, liveliest, and most recreative games. No part of +the evening entertainment should be allowed to drag. To insure this a +frequent change of social games is needed. + + +AVOID LATE HOURS. + +As late hours tend to produce irregularity in sleep, in meals, and in +work; and since the object of the social is recreation, the company +should retire about midnight. Oftentimes people stay and stay at +such a gathering, until the hostess, the entertaining committee, and +the people themselves are worn out. And yet, who is at fault? This +is a critical point in the modern popular social. How shall the company +disband in due season? In his "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," +Oliver Wendell Holmes gives a suggestion on this point for the +private visitor, who does not know how to go. Says Holmes: "Do +n't you know how hard it is for some people to get out of a room +when their visit is really over? They want to be off, and you want +to have them off, but they do n't know how to manage it. One would +think they had been built in your parlor or study and were waiting to +be launched. I have contrived a sort of ceremonial inclined plane for +such visitors, which being lubricated with certain smooth phrases, I +back them down, metaphorically speaking, stern-foremost, into their +'native element,' the great ocean of outdoors." There are social companies +as hard to get rid of as this. They want to go, and every one wants them +to go, but just how to make the start, no one seems to know. Dr. Holmes +and his "inclined plane" may have been successful with the private caller, +but who will be the "contriver of a ceremonial," one sufficient to land the +social company into its "native element, the great ocean of outdoors?" +No, this most delicate of the problems involved in a successful modern +social must be left to a tactful hint from the entertainment committee, +and to the wise choice of a few recognized leaders in the company. + + +NEW COMMITTEES. + +Special committees should have charge of the serving and of the +entertainment. As far as possible these should vary with each +successive social. It is an erroneous notion, prevalent in nearly +every community, that only "certain ones" can do this or that; the +consequence is that these "certain ones" do all the work, are deprived +of the true rest and relief which the social is meant to give, while +others who should take their turn, grow unappreciative, and weak in +their serving and entertaining ability. + + +THE AVERAGE SOCIAL A FAILURE. + +As it is conducted to-day, the average social is a failure. Late at +arriving, want of introductions, lack of arranged entertainment, late +hours,--all go to weaken and to dull the average young person in +place of to cultivate his wits, his special genius at music, reading, +and conversation, and to recreate him in body, mind, and spirit. To +make a success of the social gathering some one must keep in mind +the personal convenience and happiness of every person present. +When this is done and the social gathering becomes notable for the +real pleasure that it gives, then we shall be able to drive out the +"questionable amusements," because we have taken nothing from +the person, and have given him new life and interest. + + + +VIII. + +FRIENDSHIP. + +BONDS OF ATTACHMENT. + + +Each person is connected with every other person by some bond of +attachment. It may be by the steel bond of brotherhood, by the +silvern chain of religious fellowship, by the golden band of conjugal +affection, by the flaxen cord of parental or filial love, or by the silken +tie of friendship. One or more of these bonds of attachment may +encircle each person, and each bond has its varying strength, and is +capable of endless lengthening and contracting. Brotherhood is a +general term, and as it is used here, comprises the fellow-feeling that +one human being has for another, this is universal brotherhood. +Brotherhood comprises the fellow-feeling that attracts persons of the +same race, nation, or community, this is racial, national, or community +brotherhood; also, it comprises the fellow-feeling that exists between +persons of the same avocation, calling, or work, this is the brotherhood +of profession; it comprises the fellow-feeling that joins persons of the +same order or party, this is the brotherhood of order; it comprises the +fellow-feeling that joins brothers and sisters of the same home, this is +the brotherhood of family. Religious fellowship includes that spiritual +intercourse which is held between persons of the same religious faith +and practice. Conjugal affection comprises that feeling of mind and +heart which unites husband and wife. Filial and parental love exists +between parent and child. While friendship comprises that soul union +which exists between persons because of similar desires, tastes, and +sentiments. Each of these bonds of attachment has its characteristic +mark, its essential feature. The essential feature of universal brotherhood +is common origin, present struggle, and future hope; the essential feature +of racial, national, or community brotherhood is patriotism; the essential +feature of brotherhood of the order is mutual helpfulness; the essential +feature in brotherhood of the profession is common pursuit; in brotherhood +of the family, common parentage; in conjugal affection, attraction for +opposite sex; in parental and filial love, love of offspring and love of +parent; while in friendship the essential feature is harmony of natures. + + +WHAT IS FRIENDSHIP? + +No human relationship can be more beautiful, nor more abiding than +true friendship. It is a spiritual thing, a communion of souls, virtuously +exercised. How one is impressed and pleased to see another horse just +like his own, to see another dog exactly resembling his own, to meet a +person who speaks, looks, and acts like some one he has known. It is +a surprise, mingled with mystery and delight. But with what increased +surprise and delight does one meet with a "person after his own heart." +All men have recognized the strength and beauty of right self-love. +The second great law of Christ's kingdom is declared in terms of true +self-love. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Every one loves himself, +because one's self is the truest and best of other lives filtered through +his own soul. When one finds in another that which perfectly answers +to his own soul-likings and longings, he has found another self, he has +found a friend. Friendship is the communion of such souls, although +they may be absent from one another. The highest friendship may grow +more perfectly when friends are separated, then it is unmixed with the +alloy of imperfect thought and action. Then it is nourished by the past, +for only the past buries all faults; it is encouraged by the future, for +only the future veils the awkwardness and shortcomings of the present. +The character of friendship is determined by the character of friends. +Negative personalities wanting in taste, conviction, and virtue produce +only a negative friendship. Intense personalities produce intense +friendships; noble personalities, noble friendships, and spiritual +personalities, spiritual friendship. In the true, spiritual sense, before +one can become a friend, he must become an individual. He must +stand for something in thought and purpose. If this is not true, +friendship becomes a flimsy affair. For souls to commune with one +another there must be harmony; unity, agreement of desires, sentiments, +and tastes. Not the harmony of indifference, nor a forced agreement, but +a beautiful and natural response of soul to soul. Such equipment for +friendship finds its basis only in individual character. Character is +conduct become habitual. If one spurns reason, and follows his impulse +and passion, he becomes unreliable, and does not know the issues of +his own heart and life. Who knows what such an one will do next? To +make it soar well or sail well, friendship must have ballast. This ballast +is worthy, individual character. It would be more exact to say there can +be no true friendship without individual character. Although many +elements constitute the character of the true friend, yet two elements are +essential--sincerity and tenderness. Sincerity is the soul of every virtue, +while true words, simple manners, and right actions make up the body. +If the soul of virtue is present one does not always demand the presence +of the body, but if the body of virtue is absent, one had better take a +search after the soul. If sincerity is unquestioned, words, manners, +actions have great liberty; but if words, manners and actions are +lacking in straight-forwardness, it is time to question sincerity. This +is true in all human affairs involving motive and conduct. Especially +is it true in friendship. Sincerity knows its own. By a glance it +penetrates the very heart of its true friend, and leaves translucent and +transparent its own. Sincerity gives steadfastness and constancy to +friendship. Insincerity mars and breaks friendship. Who has not +seen a soul spring into life through the love of a radiant friendship; +and then following a series of hollow pretenses, insincerities, that +friendship fails, and the beautiful creature stifles and dies. As one +tells us, "such a death is frightful, it is the asphyxia of the soul!" Then, +tenderness is an essential element in the character of a friend. Says +Emerson: "Notwithstanding all the selfishness that chills like east +winds the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element +of love, like a fine ether." With Emerson, we believe that every +person carries about with him a certain circle of sympathy within +which he, and at least one friend, may temper and sweeten life. Much +of the kindness of the world is simply breathed, and yet what an aroma +of good cheer it sheds in grateful lives. Tenderness possesses a +sensitiveness of sympathy to an extreme degree. It shrinks from the +sight of suffering. It treats others with "gentleness, delicacy, thought- +fulness, and care. It enters into feelings, anticipates wants, supplies the +smallest pleasure, and studies every comfort." Says one: "It belongs +to natures, refined as well as loving, and possesses that consideration of +which finer dispositions only are capable." Tenderness is a heart +quality. It is the luxury of a pure and intense friendship. It tempers one's +entire nature, making his whole being sympathetic with grace and favor. +It is manifest in the relaxing feature, in the penetrating glance, in the +mellowing voice, in the engracing manners, and in the complete +obliteration of time and distance, while with one's friend. We recall the +friendly visits spend with our friend, Lawrence W. Rowell, during his +medical course in Rush College, Chicago, while we were in attendance +at the Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois. Rowell was +intellectual, spirited, gifted in conversation, highly sympathetic, informed, +critical, yet charitable, a close student of human nature, a love of +philosophy, of musical temperament, of noble heart, of exalted purpose. +Our visits were kept up bimonthly throughout one year. We would spent +Saturday evening and Sunday together. Those visits revealed to me the +magnetism, intensity, and tenderness of a friend. Truly, with us time and +distance were almost completely obliterated from our consciousness. I +say distance, for we would walk together. Tenderness suits the amiable +and gentle in disposition, but it comes with a peculiar charm from the +austere nature. It is one of the stalwart virtues, and is often concealed +behind a crusty exterior. Severity and tenderness adorn the greatest lives. + + +THE TEST OF FRIENDSHIP. + +What is the uncertain mark of a friend? Have I a friend? How many +friends have I? I can invoice my stock, my goods, my land, my money, +can I invoice my friends? One may not always know the actual worth +of a friend, but he knows who are his friends, quite as well as he knows +who are his nephews and cousins. "A friend is one whom you need and +who needs you." Has one a bit of good news, he flies to his friend, he +wants to share it. Has one a sorrow, he seeks his friend who will gladly +share that. Does one meet with a defeat or victory, instantly he thinks +of his friend and of how it will effect him. Friends need one another, +as truly as the child needs its mother, or the mother her child. Is one +tempted to commit a wrong in thought or action, his friend, though +absent, appears at his side and begs him not to do it. If one is in doubt +or uncertainty, he summons his friend, who become a patient reasoner, +and an impartial judge. Who does not find himself, daily, looking +through other people's glasses, weighing on other people's scales, +sounding other people's voices? It is a habit that friends have with +one another. You can not deprive friends of one another, any more +than you can lovers. Ah, true friends are lovers of the heaven-born +sort; for their agreement is grounded in nature. They are not chosen, +they are discovered. Or, as Emerson says, they are "self-elected." + + "Friendship's an abstract of love's noble flame, + 'Tis love refined, and purged from all its dross, + 'Tis next to angel's love, if not the same, + As strong as passion in, though not so gross." + +Thus writes Catherine Phillips. + + +FRUITS OF FRIENDSHIP. + +True friendship gives ease to the heart, light to the mind, and aid to the +carrying out of one's life-purposes. First, ease to the heart. The presence +of a friend is a beam of genial sunshine which lights up the house by his +very appearance. He warms the atmosphere and dispels the gloom. The +presence of a true friend for a day, a night, a week, lifts one out of +himself, links him with new purposes, and immerses him in new joys. +Friends breathe free with one another. They inspire sighs of relief. +Embarrassment disappears; liberty reigns supreme. Hearts are like steam +boilers, occasionally, they must give vent to what is in them, or they will +burst. This is the true mission of friends, to become to one another +reserve reservoirs of "griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and +whatever lieth upon the heart to oppress it," or elate it. You recall those +familiar lines of Bacon: "This communicating of a man's self to his +friends works two contrary effects; for it redoubles joys and cutteth +griefs in halves; for there is no man that imparteth his joys to his friend, +but he joyeth the more; and no man that imparteth his griefs to his +friends, but he grieveth the less." The following selected lines, slightly +changed, set forth this first fruit of friendship. + + "A true friend is an atmosphere + Warm with all inspirations dear, + Wherein we breathe the large free breath + Of life that hath no taint of death. + A true friend's an unconscious part + Of every true beat of our heart; + A strength, a growth, whence we derive + Soul-rest, that keeps the world alive." + +Then, friendship sheds light in the mind. "He who has made the +acquisition of a judicious and sympathetic friend," says Robert Hall, +"may be said to have doubled his mental resources." No man is wise +enough to be his own counselor, for he inclineth too much to leniency +toward himself. "It is a well-known rule that flattery is food for the +fool." Therefore no man should be his own counselor since no one is +so apt to flatter another as he is himself. A wise man never flatters +himself, neither does a friend flatter. As a wise man sees his own +faults and seeks to correct them, so a true friend sees the faults of his +friend and labors faithfully to banish them. The one who flatters you +despises you, and degrades both you and himself. An enemy will tell +you the whole truth about yourself, especially your faults, and at times +that both weaken and hurt you. A friend will tell you the whole truth +about yourself, especially your neglected virtues, but at a time to both +strengthen and help you. The highest service a friend can render is +that of giving counsel. The highest honor one can bestow upon his +friend is to make him his counselor. It is no mark of weakness to rely +upon counsel. God, Himself, needed a counselor, so he chose His Son. +"His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the +Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." Isa. ix, 6. Counsel, says +Solomon, is the key to stability. "Every purpose is established by +Counsel." Prov. Xx, 18. Who despiseth counsel shall reap the reward +of folly. A friend is safe in counsel, according to his wisdom, for he +never seeks his own good, but the good of his friend. It is a saying, "If +some one asks you for advice, if you would be followed, first find out +what kind of advice is wanted, then give that." But this is not the way +of a friend. He has in mind the welfare of the friend and the cause his +friend serves. Honor does not require that one shall follow the advise +of his friend, rather liberty in this is a mark of freedom and trust +between friends. + +A friend aids one in the carrying out of his life purposes. Who is it +that helps one to places of honor and usefulness? It is his friend. Who +is it that recognizes one's true worth, extols his virtues, and gives tone +and quality to the diligent services of months and years? It is his +friend. Who is it, when one ends his life in the midst of an unfinished +book, or with loose ends of continued research in philosophy or science +all about him; who is it that gathers up these loose ends and puts in order +the unfinished work? It is his friend. Who is it that stands by the open +tomb of that fallen saint or hero and relates to the world his deeds of +sacrifice and courage which spurn others on to nobler living and thereby +perpetuates his goodness and valor? Who does this, if it is done? It is +his friend. A friend thus becomes not only a completion of one's soul +as he is by virtue of being a friend, but also he becomes a completion +of one's life. Then, one's relation to his fellowmen is a limited +relationship. He may speak, but upon certain subjects, on certain +occasions, and to certain persons. As Francis Bacon says, "A man can +not speak to his son but as a father; to his wife but as a husband; to his +enemy but upon terms; whereas a friend may speak as the case requires, +and not as it sorteth with the person....I have given the rule," says he, +"where a man can not fitly play his own part, if he have not a friend, he +may quit the stage." + + +HOW TO GET AND KEEP A FRIEND. + +A real friend is discovered, or made. First, discovered. Two persons +notice an attraction for one another. They see that their desires are +similar, they have the same sentiments, they agree in tastes. A feeling +of attachment becomes conscious with each of them, slight association +fosters this feeling, it increases. New associations but reveal a broader +agreement, a closer union, a perfecter harmony. The signs of friendship +appear. Heart and mind of each respond to the other, they are friends. +This is the noblest friendship. It has its origin in nature. It is, as H. Clay +Trumbull says: "Love without compact or condition; it never pivots on +an equivalent return of service or of affection. Its whole sweep is away +from self and toward the loved one. Its desire is for the friend's welfare; +its joy is in the friend's prosperity; its sorrows and trials are in the +friend's misfortunes and griefs; its pride is in the friend's attainments +and successes; its constant purpose is in doing and enduring for the +friend." + +Then, friends are made. Two persons do not especially attract one +another. But, through growth of character, modification of nature, or +change in desires, sentiments, and tastes, they become attracted to each +other. Or in spite of natural disagreements or differences, through the +force of circumstances they become welded together in friendship. +Montaigne describes such an attachment, in which the souls mix and +work themselves into one piece with so perfect a mixture that there is +no more sign of a seam by which they were first conjoined. Says +Euripedes: + + "A friend + Wedded into our life is more to us + Than twice five thousand kinsman one in blood." + +Such was the friendship of Ruth and Naomi. Orpha loved Naomi, kissed +her, and returned satisfied to her early home; but Ruth cleaved unto her, +saying: + + "Entreat me not to leave thee, + And to return from following after thee: + For whither thou goest, I will go; + Where thou lodgest, I will lodge: + Thy people shall be my people, + And thy God my God: + Where thou diest, will I die, + And there will I be buried: + The Lord do so to me, and more also, + If aught but death part thee and me." + +The keeping of a friend like the keeping of a fortune, lies in the getting, +although in friendship much depends upon circumstances of association. +However subtle may be the circumstances which bring friends together, +or whatever natural agreement may exist between their natures, still +there is always a conscious choosing of friends. In this choosing lies the +secret of abiding friendship. Young says: + + "First on thy friend deliberate with thyself; + Pause, ponder, sift: not eager in the choice, + Nor jealous of the chosen; fixing fix; + Judge before friendship, then confide till death." + +Steadfastness and constancy such as this seldom loses a friend. + +Last of all, abiding friendship is grounded in virtue. Says a famed +writer on Friendship: "There is a pernicious error in those who think +that a free indulgence in all lusts and sins is extended in friendship. +Friendship was given us by nature as the handmaid of virtues and not +as the companion of our vices. It is virtue, virtue I say . . . that both +wins friendship and preserves it." And closing his remarks on this +immortal subject, Cicero causes Laelius to say: "I exhort you to lay +the foundations of virtue, without which friendship can not exist, in +such a manner, that with this one exception, you may consider that +nothing in the world is more excellent than friendship." + + + +IX. + +TRAVEL. + +A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. + + +We have set in order some facts, incidents, and lessons gathered from +a hasty trip to the old country during the summer of 1899. The journey +was made in company with Rev. C.F. Juvinall, for four years my room- +mate and fellow-student, and my estimable friend. On Wednesday, +June 21st, we sailed from Boston Harbor; reached Liverpool, England, +Saturday morning the 1st of July; visited this second town in the British +kingdom; stopped over at the old town of Chester; took a run out to +Hawarden Estate, the home of Gladstone; changed cars at Stratford-on- +Avon and visited the tomb of Shakespeare; staid a half day and a night +in the old university town of Oxford, and reached London on the evening +of July 4th. Having spent a week in London, we crossed the English +Channel to Paris; remained there two days, then made brief visits to the +battlefield of Waterloo, to Brussels, Amsterdam, Hull, Sheffield, Dublin, +and back to Liverpool. We sailed to Boston and returned to Chicago by +way of Montreal and Detroit, having spent forty-nine days--the +intensest and delightfullest of our lives. At first, we hesitated to treat +this subject from a point of view of personal experience, but since it +is our purpose to incite in others the love for and the right us of all +helpful resources of happiness and power, it seemed to us that we could +no better accomplish our purpose with respect to this subject than to +recount our own observations from this one limited, imperfect journey. + + +AN EYE-OPEN AND EAR-OPEN EXPERIENCE. + +One is always at a disadvantage in relating the faults of others, for he +seems to himself and to his friends to be telling his own experience. We +were about to speak of the superficial way in which Americans travel. +One who has traveled much says that "the average company of American +tourists goes through the Art Galleries of Europe like a drove of cattle +through the lanes of a stock-market." Nor is it the art gallery and museum +alone that is done superficially. How many persons before entering +grand old Notre Dame, or the British Houses of Parliament, pause to +admire the elaborate and expansive beauty of the great archways and +outer walls? It is possible to live in this world, to travel around it, to +touch at every great port and city, and yet fail to see what is of value +or of interest. A man on our boat going to Liverpool, said that he had +traveled over the world, had been in London many a time, but had not +taken the pains to go into St. Paul's, nor to visit the Tower of London. +A wise man, a seer, is one who sees. It is possible to live in this world, +and not to leave one's own dooryard, and yet to possess the knowledge +of the world, and to tell others how to see. Louis Agassiz, the scientist, +was invited by a friend to spend the summer with him abroad. Mr. +Agassiz declined the gracious offer on the ground that he had just +Planned a summer's tour through his own back yard. What did Agassiz +find on that tour? Instruction for the children of many generations, a +treatise on animal life, and later a text-book of Zoology. Kant, the +philosopher, the greatest mind since Socrates, was never forty miles +from his birthplace. On the other hand, Grant Allen, author, scholar, +and traveler, says: "One year in the great university we call Europe, +will teach one more than three at Yale or Columbia. And what it +teaches one will be real, vivid, practical, abiding . . . ingrained in +the very fiber of one's brain and thought. . . . He will read deeper +meaning thenceforward in every picture, every building, every book, +every newspaper. . . . If you want to know the origin of the art of +building, the art of painting, the art of sculpture, as you find them +to-day in contemporary America, you must look them up in the +churches, and the galleries of early Europe. If you want to know +the origin of American institutions, American law, American thought, +and American language, you must go to England; you must go farther +still to France, Italy, Hellas, and the Orient. Our whole life is bound +up with Greece and Rome, with Egypt and Assyria." But whatever +advantage travel may afford for broad and intense study, whatever +be its superior processes of refinement and learning, yet it is well +to remember this, that at any place and at any time one may open +his eyes and his ears, his heart and his reason, and find more than +he is able to understand and a heart to feel! You can not limit God +to the land nor to the sea, to one country nor to one hemisphere. +Thus the kind of travel of which we speak is the eye-open and ear- +open sort. + +Let us note first, then, that travel is a study of history at the spot +where the event took place. The history of a nation is a record of +its great men. You tell a faithful story of Columbus, John Cabot, +and Henry Hudson; of Winthrop, John Smith, and Melendez; of +General Wolfe, General Washington, Patrick Henry, and Franklin; +of Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, and Webster; of Abraham Lincoln, +Wendell Phillips, John Brown, and General Grant; of John Sherman, +Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley, and you an up-to-date +history of the young American Republic, acknowledged by every +country to have the greatest future of all nations. So, if one reads +with understanding the inscriptions on the monuments of Gough, +O'Connell, and Parnell, he will get the story of the struggles of the +Irish. Enter London Tower, "the most historical spot in England," +and recount the bloody tragedies of the English people since the +time of William the Conqueror, 1066 A.D. Here we have a "series +of equestrian figures in full equipment, as well as many figures on +foot, affording a faithful picture, in approximate chronological +order, of English war-array from the time of Edward I, 1272, down +to that of James II, 1688." In glass cases, and in forms of trophies +on the walls, we find arms and armor of the old Romans, of the +early Greeks, and Britons, and of the Anglo-Saxons. Maces and +axes, long and cross bows and leaden missile weapons and shields, +highly adorned with metal figures, all tend to make more vivid the +word-pictures of the historian." Of the small burial-ground in this +Tower, Macaulay writes: "In truth there is no sadder spot on earth +than this little cemetery. Death is there associated, not, as in +Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's, with genius and virtue, with +public veneration, and with imperishable renown; not, as in our +humblest churches and church-yards, with every thing that is most +endearing in social and domestic charities; but with whatever is +darkest in human nature and in human destiny, with the savage +triumph of implacable enemies, with the inconstancy, the ingratitude, +the cowardice of friends, with all the miseries of fallen greatness and +of blighted fame." We note a few names chiseled here: Sir Thomas +More, beheaded 1535; Anne Boleyn, beheaded in this tower, 1536; +Thomas Cromwell, beheaded, 1540; Margaret Pole, beheaded here, +1541; Queen Catharine Howard, beheaded, 1542; Lady Jane Grey +and her husband, beheaded here, 1544; Sir Thomas Overbudy, +poisoned in this tower, 1613. Since travel is a study of history at +the spot where the event took place, let us cross the rough and famed +English Channel to visit one of the many noted spots of France. We +select the site of the Hotel de Ville or the town-hall of Paris. "The +construction of the old hall was begun in 1533, and was over seventy +years in its completion. Additions were made, and the building was +reconstructed in 1841. This has been the usual rallying site of the +Democratic party for centuries. Here occurred the tragedy of St. +Bartholomew in 1572; here mob-posts, gallows, and guillotines +did the work of a despotic misrule until 1789. (As we left for +Brussels on the evening of the 13th of July, all Paris was gayly +decorated with red, white, and blue bunting, ready to celebrate the +event of July 14, 1789, the fall of the Bastile.) On this date, 110 +years ago, the captors of the Bastile marched into this noted hall. +Three days later Louis XVI came here in procession from Versailles, +followed by a dense mob." Here Robespierre attempted suicide to +avoid arrest, when five battalions under Barras forced entrance to +assault the Commune party, of which Robespierre was head. Here, +in 1848, Louis Blanc proclaimed the institution of the Republic of +France. This was a central spot during the revolution of 1871. The +leaders of the Commune party place in this building barrels of +gunpowder, and heaps of combustibles steeped in petroleum, and on +May 25th they succeeded in destroying with it 600 human lives. A +new Hotel de Ville, one of the most magnificent buildings in Europe, +has replaced the old hall. This is open to visitors at all hours. To +study history at the spot where the event took place means work as +well as pleasure, so we took our luncheon and sleep in our car while +the train carried us to Brussels, and out to Braine-l'Alleud, where, on +the beautiful rolling plain of Belgium, June 18, 1805, Napoleon +Bonaparte met his Waterloo, and Wellington became England's idol. + +A railway baggageman was on our train returning to his home in +Cleveland, Ohio. In conversation, he said: "I have been with this +company for twenty-two years; have drawn two dollars a day, 365 +days in the year for that time, and I haven't a dollar in the world, but +one, and I gave it yesterday for a dog. But," said he, "I have a good +woman and the greatest little girl in the world, so I am happy." This +is one of a large class of persons who receive fair wages all their lives, +and yet die paupers, because they plan to spend all they make as they +go along. In conversation with a gruff, old Dutch conductor between +Albany and New York City, I ventured to ask him if he had ever +crossed the ocean. "No," he said, "nopody eber crosses de ocean, bud +emigrants, and beoble vat hab more muney dan prains." + +Travel is a study of religious institutions. Among the most interesting +in Europe, that we visited, are Wesley's Chapel, Westminster Abbey, +St. Paul's Cathedral, and Notre Dame. The Church of Notre Dame, +situated in the heart of Paris on the bank of the Seine, was founded +1163 on the site of a church of the fourth century. The building has +been altered a number of times. In 1793 it was converted into a temple +of reason. The statue of the Virgin Mary was replaced by one of +Liberty. Busts of Robespierre, Voltaire, and Rosseau were erected. +This church was closed to worship 1794, but was reopened by Napoleon +1802. It was desecrated by the Communards 1811, when the building +was used as a military depot. The large nave, 417 feet long, 156 feet +wide, and 110 feet high, is the most interesting portion of this massive +structure. The vaulting of this great nave is supported by seventy-five +huge pillars. The pulpit is a masterpiece of modern wood-carving. The +choir and sanctuary are set off by costly railings, and are beautifully +adorned by reliefs in wood and stone. The organ, with 6,000 pipes, is +one of the finest in Europe. "The choir has a reputation for plain song." +On a small elevation, in the center of London, stand the Cathedral of +St. Paul's, the most prominent building in the city. From remains found +here it is believed that a Christian Church occupied this spot in the times +of the Romans, and that it was rebuilt by King Ethelbert, 610 A.D. Three +hundred years later this building was burned, but soon it was rebuilt. +Again it was destroyed by fire, 1087, and a new edifice begun which was +200 years in completion. This church, old St. Paul's, was 590 feet long, +and had a leaden-covered, timber spire, 460 feet high. In 1445 this +spire was injured by lightning, and in 1561 the building was again burned. +Says Mr. Baedeker, whose guidebook is indispensable in the hands of a +traveler, "Near the cathedral stood the celebrated Cross of St. Paul, where +sermons were preached, papal bulls promulgated, heretics made to recant, +and witches to confess, and where the pope's condemnation of Luther was +proclaimed in the presence of Woolsey." Here is the burial place of a +long list of noted persons. Here occurred Wyckiff's citation for heresy, +1337; and here Tyndale's New Testament was burned, 1527. It was +opened for divine services, 1697, and was completed after thirteen years +of steady work, at a cost of three and a half millions of dollars. This sum +was raised by a tax on coal. The church is in the form of a Latin cross, +500 feet long, with the transept 250 feet in length. "The inner dome is +225 feet high, the outer, from the pavement to the top of the cross, is 364 +feet. The dome is 102 feet in diameter, thirty-seven feet less than St. +Peter's. St. Paul's is the third largest church in Christendom, being +surpassed only by St. Peter's at Rome." Three services are held here +daily. The religion of Notre Dame is Roman Catholic, but that of St. +Paul's and Westminster is of the Church of England. What shall we say +of Westminster Abbey, the most impressive place of all our travel! As +my friend and I entered here and took our seats for divine worship, +preparatory to visiting her halls, and chapels, and tombs, I think I was +never more deeply impressed. I said to myself, "What does God mean +to allow me to worship here?" and I seemed to realize how little my +past life had been. I felt that circumstances and not I myself had +thrust this new privilege, and thereby new responsibility, upon me. +Westminster Abbey! A church for the living, a burial-place for the +honored dead; a monument to genius, labor, and virtue; England's +"temple of fame;" the most solemn spot in Europe, if not in the world! +Here lie authors, benefactors, and poets; statesmen, heroes, and rulers, +the best of English blood since Edward the Confessor, 1049 A.D. We +must now leave this sacred spot to visit, if possible for us, a more +sacred one, the birthplace of Methodism, or more accurately speaking, +in the words of Bishop Warren, the "cradle of Methodism." + +On City Road, London, near Liverpool Street Station, is located the +house, chapel, burial-grounds, and tomb of John Wesley. Across the +street, in an old Nonconformist cemetery, are the graves of James +Watt, Daniel Defoe, and John Bunyan. Across the narrow street to +the north is the tabernacle of Whitefield. We learned that Friday, +July 7th, was reopening day for Wesley's Chapel. What a distinguished +body of persons we found at this meeting! Dr. Joseph Parker was the +speaker of the day. The Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, president of the +Conference, presided at the memorial services. Rev. Westerdale, +present pastor, successfully managed the program of the day, especially +the collections, for he met the expense of the rebuilding and past +indebtedness with the sum of over fifteen thousand dollars. He told +those discouraged ministers with big audiences to go and take courage +from what the mother-church, with her small number of poor +parishioners, had done. In the evening, Bishop Warren, on his return +to America, called in and gave an interesting talk. He was followed +by Fletcher Moulton, member of Parliament. You may not realize the +feeling of gratitude with which we took part in this eventful service of +praise, prayer, and rededication! On the next day we returned to see +the books, furniture, and apartments of Wesley, himself. We sat at his +writing desk, stood in his death-chamber, and lingered in the little room +where he used to retire at four in the morning for secret prayer. From +here he would go directly to his preaching service at five. Wesley put +God first in his life, this is why men honor him so much now that he +is gone. We took a farewell view of the audience-room from the very +pulpit into which Wesley ascended to preach his Good News of Christ. +From the several inscriptions on Wesley's tomb, we copied the following +one: "After having languished a few days, he at length finished his +course and life together. Gloriously triumphing over death, March the +2nd, Anno Domine, 1791, in the eighty-eight year of his age." + +In Liverpool, on the day of our arrival, July 1st, an old, gray-haired man +was shining my shoes. He observed that I was from across the water, +and that an Englishman can readily tell a Yankee. He began to praise +America. He said that Uncle Sam was only a child yet, that America +was destined to be the greatest country in the world; that her trouble +with Spain was only a bickering; that the present engagement was only +his maiden warfare, and that he "walked along like a streak of lightning." + +Saturday evening, July 8th, witnessed the greatest military parade in +London for thirty years. The Prince of Wales reviewed twenty-seven +thousand London volunteers. Early in the morning citizens from all +over England began to gather in front of the English barracks, and at +the east end of Hyde Park. By two o'clock in the afternoon hundreds +of thousands had packed the streets and dotted the parks and lawns, +until, in every direction one could witness a sea of faces. After the +royal and military procession began, the patient Johnnies, with their +sisters, sweethearts, wives, mothers, grandmothers, and great-grand- +mothers, stood for five hours to see it go by. The Englishman does +not tire when he is honoring his country. At the close of this parade +we dropped into a barbershop for a shave. The gentleman seemed to +understand that I was a long ways from home. "You fellows," I said, +"can tell us as far as you can see us." "Yes," said he, "by your shoes, +your hat, your coat, your tongue, and even by your face. We can tell +you by the way you spit. A spittoon here, pointing about ten feet away, +give a Yankee two trials, he will hit it every time." + +Travel is a study of the genius of man as shown in architecture, in +sculpture, and in painting. Ninety-seven plans were submitted for +the Houses of Parliament, including Westminster Hall. That of Sir +Charles Barry was selected, and the present imposing structure was +built, covering eight acres, at a cost of $15,000,000. The style is +perpendicular (Gothic), with carvings, intricate in detail and highly +picturesque. The building faces the river with a 940 feet front, but +her three magnificent square-shaped towers rise over her street front. +The clock tower at the northwest corner is 318 feet high, the middle +tower is 300 feet, and the southwest, or Victorian tower, is 340 feet +high. The large clock with its four dials, each twenty-three feet in +diameter, requires five hours for winding the striking parts. The +striking bell of the clock tower is one of the largest known; it weighs +thirteen tons, and can be heard, in favorable weather, over the greater +portion of London. One never tires in looking at this noble building. +It is appropriately adorned inside and out with elaborate carvings, +statuary, and paintings. Here are located the Chamber of Peers, the +House of Commons, and numerous royal apartments, lavishly fitted +up to be in keeping with the office and dignity of the building. + +Crystal Palace, situated about eight miles southeast of St. Paul's, +consists entirely of glass and iron. Its main hall, or nave, is 1,608 +feet long, with great cross sections, two aisles, and numerous lateral +sections. The two water towers at the ends are each 282 feet high. +If you were at the World's Fair in Chicago, and visited the Transportation +Building, you may imagine something of the magnitude and beauty of +Crystal Palace, with her orchestra, concert hall, and opera-house; with +her fountains, library, and school of art; with her museums, gardens, +and arenas; with her parks, panoramas, and her numerous exhibits of +nature and art. Near the center of the palace "is the great Handel +Orchestra, which can accommodate 4,000 persons, and has a diameter +twice as great as the dome of St. Paul's. In the middle is the powerful +organ with 4,384 pipes, built at a cost of $30,000, and worked by +hydraulic machinery. An excellent orchestra plays here daily." The +concert-hall on the south side of the stage can accommodate an +audience of 4,000. An excellent orchestra plays here daily. "On each +side of the great nave are rows of courts, containing in chronological +order, copies of the architecture and sculpture of the most highly +civilized nations, from the earliest period to the present day." The +gardens of Crystal Palace cover two hundred acres, and are beautifully +laid out "with flowerbeds, shrubberies, fountains, cascades, and +statuary." "Two of the fountain basins have been converted into sport +arenas, each about eight and one-half acres in extent." Nine other +fountains, with electric light illuminations, play on fireworks nights +and on other special occasions. It is common for 15,000 visitors to +attend these Thursday night firework exhibits. Colored electric light +jets deck the fountains, flower-beds, and halls. Crystal Palace was +designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, and cost seven and a half million of +dollars. Well may it be called London's Paradise. + +Shall we say that the greatest piece of constructive architecture of any +country is that of Eiffel Tower! Situated on the left bank of the Seine +River, it overlooks Paris and the country for fifty miles around. + +In its construction, iron caissons were sunk to a depth of forty-six feet +on the river side, and twenty-nine and one-half on the other side. When +the water was forced out of these caissons by means of compressed air, +"concrete was poured in to form a bed for four massive foundation +piers of masonry, eighty-five feet thick, arranged in a square of 112 +yards. Upon this base which covers about two and a half acres rises +the extraordinary, yet graceful structure of interlaced ironwork" to a +height of 984 feet. Eight hundred persons may be accommodated on +the top platform at once. It was completed within two years' time, +and is the highest monument in the world. Washington monument +ranks second, being 555 feet high. From the summit of Eiffel Tower +one may secure a good view of Paris, her public buildings, chief hills, +parks, and boulevards, monuments, and embankments. An imitation +of Trajan's column in Rome, is 142 feet in height, and thirteen feet in +diameter. It is constructed of masonry, encrusted with plates of bronze, +forming a spiral band nearly 300 yards in length, on which are represented +the "battle scenes of Napoleon during his campaign of 1805, and down to +the battle of Austerlitz. The figures are three feet in height and many of +them are portraits. The metal was obtained by melting down 1,200 +Russian and Austrian cannons. At the top is a statue of Napoleon in his +Imperial robes. This column reflects the political history of France." +The design sculptor is Bergeret. For their antiquity the mummies and +statues in the Egyptian galleries of the British Museum are very +interesting. They embrace the period from 3600 years before Christ to +350 A.D. "The tomb of Napoleon by Visconte," and "the twelve colossal +victories surrounding the sarcophagus by Pradier," are among the finest +works of Parisian sculpture. The sarcophagus, thirteen feet long, six +and one-half feet high, consists of a single huge block of reddish-brown +granite, weighing upwards of sixty-seven tons, brought as a gift from +Finland at a cost of $700,000. The Louvre, Paris, contains one of the +finest art galleries in Europe, and with the Tuilleries, covers about eight +acres, "forming one of the most magnificent places in the world." + +In our limited experience at travel we have yet to find a single object of +beauty or utility that is not the product of skill, of genius, of great labor. +Every monument bears testimony of struggle, of bloodshed, of hard- +earned victory; beneath every tomb that honor has erected rests the body +of incarnate intelligence, fidelity, and courage. In the shadow of every +great cathedral lies collected the moth and rust from the coppers of +myriad-handed toilers of five and ten centuries. The towers and domes +of London, and Paris, and Amsterdam, and Dublin are monuments to +the genius of the architect and to the faithfulness of the common toiler. +The parks and gardens tell of centuries of wise and faithful application +of the laws of growth, of symmetry, of design in form and color. The +historic chapels of worship and learning breathe the very incense of +devotion and reverence for truth; while the conservatories of sculpture +and painting preserve what is divinest in human experience. Age alone +can produce a great man or a great nation. Decades for the man and +centuries for the nation; these are the measuring periods for real +achievement. But all this is on the human side. Correggio and Titian +in painting; Bacon and Bailey in sculpture; Raphael and Michael Angelo +in sculpture and painting; and Sir Christopher Wren in architecture,-- +the works of art of such as these elevate and purify one's thought and +feeling. But the profoundest impressions that come to one from travel, +come alone from the works of nature. The Crystal Palace in London +can not compare in glory with the crystal ripples of a mid-ocean scene. +The botannical gardens of the Tuilleries in Paris do not stir the soul as +does the splendor of the Welsh mountains. The rockery plants of Phoenix +Park, Dublin, are insignificant compared with growths of ferns and moss +On the rock ledges of Bray's Head, south of Dublin. No panorama that +man has painted can equal the scene of Waterloo battle-field, observed +from the earthen mound near the fatal ravine. So, we shall always find +it true, that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so the thoughts of +God are higher than the thoughts of man, and his ways than man's ways. + + +X. + +HOME AND THE HOME-MAKER. + +WHAT IS HOME? + + +"RECENTLY a London magazine sent out 1,000 inquiries on the +question, "What is home?" In selecting the classes to respond to the +question it was particular to see that every one was represented. The +poorest and the richest were given an equal opportunity to express +their sentiment. Out of eight hundred replies received, seven gems +were selected as follows: + + "Home--A world of strife shut out, a world of love shut in. + "Home--The place where the small are great and the great are +small. + "Home--The father's kingdom, the mother's world, and the +child's paradise. + "Home--The place where we grumble the most and are treated +the best. + "Home--The center of our affection, round which our heart's +best wishes twine. + "Home--The place where our stomachs get three square meals +daily and our hearts a thousand. + "Home--The only place on earth where the faults and failings +of humanity are hidden under the sweet mantle of charity." + +Dr. Talmage defines home, as "a church within a church, a republic +within a republic, a world within a world." Dr. Banks writes, "It is +not granite walls, or gaudy furniture, or splendid books, or soft carpets, +or delicious viands that can make a home. All of these may be present, +and yet it be only a dungeon, if the great simplicities are not there." +Sings one: + + "Home's not merely roof and room, + Needs it something to endear it. + Home is where the heart can bloom, + Where there's some kind heart to cheer it. + + Home's not merely four square walls, + Though with pictures hung and gilded, + Home is where affection calls, + Filled with charms the heart hath builded. + + Home! Go watch the faithful dove + Sailing 'neath the heavens above us, + Home is where there's one to love, + Home is where there's one to love us." + +We believe the five sweetest words in the English language to the +largest number of persons--words which carry with them intrinsic +meaning and blessing are these: "Jesus," "Mother," "Music," "Heaven," +"Home." "Twenty thousand people gathered in the old Castle Garden, +New York, to hear Jennie Lind sing. After singing some of the old +masters, she began to pour forth 'Home, Sweet Home.' The audience +could not stand it. An uproar of applause stopped the music. Tears +gushed from thousands like rain. The word 'home' touched the fiber +of every soul in that immense throng." In an early spring day, when +the warm sun began to invite one to bask in his rays, my wife, delicate +in health, lay drowsing on some boards near the house. The large +garden spot spread out to the rear of her; a beautiful grassy lawn +carpeted round a deserted house, granary, and shop-building in front of +her. She was living over her girlhood days. She thought she was in the +old home orchard, where she used to doze, dream, and play. The songs +of the birds seemed the same; the same gentle breezes played with her +hair; the same passers-by jogged along the roadside; the same family +horse nibbled the tender grass in the barnyard. How sad, and yet how +sweet are the memories of early days! The tender associations of home +never leave one, however roughly the coarse hand of time would tear +them away. It is because home means love that its associations and +lessons remain. + + +ESSENTIALS TO A HAPPY HOME. + +Although home means love, yet love alone may not insure happiness. +In addition to love, without which a true home can not exist, we select +four essential requisites to make home life useful and happy. These +are intelligence, unselfishness, attractiveness, and religion. + +First, Intelligence. Much of the misery of the world in individual and +family life is due to gross ignorance. Once the father of a family said +to me, "We did not get our mail to-day, I miss my reading." Knowing +the man we were surprised at such a remark, and ventured to ask him +what papers he took. A list of ten or a dozen papers was named. All +of them were newspapers. One was a general daily, two were local +dailies, and the rest were local weekly papers. No intelligent person +would have carried over three of those papers from the post-office. +This man spent hours upon a class of reading that should be finished +with a few minutes each day. In this same family the mother told me +that she had never rode on a railway train, and that she had never been +outside of her own county. This is an exceptional case, but it illustrates +how that ignorance makes thrift and happiness impossible in a home, +neither of which belong to this family. Here every law of health is +violated, foresight in providing for the physical comforts of the home +is wanting; little attention is given to the education of the children; no +sacrifices to-day enrich to-morrow; life is a humdrum, a routine, a +dread, with no exuberance, joy, or hope. In time, such a life leads to +failure and gloom, to secret, then to open vice, and to a final shipwreck +of the home and of the individual. In a similar yet in a less marked way, +the career of many a home is ended. No one may be directly to blame, +but want of common knowledge and common wit have set a limit +beyond which such a family may not go. The intelligent family has +some sort of a history which it is their privilege and duty to perpetuate. +Members of the intelligent family are moral sponsors for one another, +the mother for the daughters, the father for the sons, the brothers and +sisters for one another. They find their own best interests in the interests +of one another. The intelligent family is not superstitious. They act upon +the wisdom of the ancient poet, "every one is the architect of his own +fortune." They look to cause and condition for results. They spell "luck" +with a "p" before it. The intelligent farmer plants his crop in the ground, +rather than in the moon, and looks for his harvest to the seed and the +toil. The intelligent merchant locates his business on the street of largest +travel and makes the buying of his goods his best salesman. The intelligent +man of letters thrives at first by making friends of poverty and want, until +one day his genius places his name in the temple of honor. So it is with the +artist, the musician, the inventor, the architect. To be happy and useful +in one's lot, one must know something of the sphere in which he lives and +works, of its practical wisdom, and must be prepared to live, or glad to +die for the cause he serves. No indolent, superstitious, or ignorant family +need look for abiding happiness nor expect to be permanently useful. + +Then unselfishness is essential to happy home life. It is a serious +matter for two persons, even when they are naturally mated, to +undertake to live together in peace and harmony. It is a more serious +matter when they are not naturally mated. It is more serious still +when children enter the home, for they bring with them conflicting +tendencies, dispositions, and wills. Often have we wondered how it +is that families get on as well together as they do when we have +considered, what natural differences exist between them, and what +little teaching and discipline have been used to harmonize these +differences. An harmonious home is truly begun in the parental +homes of the husband and wife. Two persons may be perfectly +suited to one another, and yet they may be selfish in wanting their +own way. As one grows up, if he is allowed to have his own way +regardless of the rights and privileges of others, he becomes a +selfish person, and his parents are to blame. A selfish person in the +home plans for his own comfort, decides and acts as he wishes, and +seeks to satisfy his own desires. He does not take into consideration +the plans, wishes, and desires of other members of the family. It is +understood that his authority is supreme. Not one member of the +family dreams of expressing dissent to his dominion. A so-called +peace of this sort is not uncommon among families. This supreme +authority may be vested in husband, or wife, or in one or all of the +children. A forced peace of this kind is worse than rebellion and is +as bad as open war. How can any persons be so presumptuous as to +think that any person, or a number of persons, exist solely for his +comfort and advantage! Let two such selfish persons get together, +a permanent riot is assured. Unselfishness in the home means +thoughtfulness, discipline, self-control. Each child is taught the +rights and privileges of others as well as his own. When two +unselfish persons join their lives there begins a holy and beautiful +rivalry in seeking the rights and privileges of one another. The very +atmosphere of such a home is deference, respect, and love. As the +stranger, the neighbor, the friend, comes and goes, he catches the +spirit of it and carries it with him into his own and other homes. +Children born into such a home early imbibe its spirit, and, O, the +inspiration one receives from going into that family circle! No +home-life can be an inspiration and a blessing where selfishness is +allowed to reign. Nor can it be useful and happy. + +Ella Wheeler Wilcox describes a selfish, though a kind and loving +husband: + + +THEIR HOLIDAY. + +THE WIFE: + +Our house is like a garden-- + The children are the flowers, +The gardener should come, methinks, + And walk among his bowers. +So lock the door of worry, + And shut your cares away, +Not time of year, but love and cheer, + Will make a holiday. + +THE HUSBAND: + +Impossible! You women do not know, +The toil it takes to make a business grow: +I can not join you until very late, +So hurry home, nor let the dinner wait. + +THE WIFE: + +The feast will be like Hamlet, + Without the Hamlet part; +The home is but a house, dear, + Till you supply the heart. +The Christmas gift I long for + You need not toil to buy; +O, give me back one thing I lack: + The love-light in your eye. + +THE HUSBAND: + +Of course I love you, and the children, too. +Be sensible, my dear. It is for you +I work so had to make my business pay; +There, now, run home, enjoy your holiday. + +THE WIFE, TURNING AWAY: + +He does not mean to wound me, + I know his heart is kind, +Alas, that men can love us, + And be so blind--so blind! +A little time for pleasure, + A little time for play, +A word to prove the life of love + And frighten care away-- +Though poor my lot, in some small cot, + That were a holiday. + + +To preserve the family circle, the home must be made attractive. No +amount of practical wisdom, of Puritanic piety, nor mere kindly +treatment will hold a family of children together until they are strong +enough to resist the temptations of the world. The home must be made +more attractive than the street or places of amusement. The average +boy or girl who loses interest in home and uses it chiefly as an eating +and sleeping place, does so with good reasons. Home has lost its +charm. No provision is made for his pastime and pleasure. Not +finding this at home he will go elsewhere in search of it. "An +unattractive home," says one, "is like the frame of a harp that stands +without strings. In form and outline, it suggests music, but no melody +arises from the empty spaces; and thus it is an unattractive home, is +dreary and dull." How may home be made attractive? We have +presupposed a certain amount of education and culture in the home +by maintaining for it intelligence and unselfishness. Any home that +is intelligent and unselfish is capable of being made attractive. In +the first place, in as far as it is practicable, each member of the family +should have a room of his own and be taught how to make it attractive. +Here, one will hang his first pictures, start his own library, provide a +writing desk, and learn to spend his spare moments. Recently we +visited a home in Chicago. The rooms are few in number and hired. +The family consists of father, mother, and three children, now grown. +During our short stay in the home I was invited into the boys' room. +The walls are literally covered with original pencil designs, queer +calendars, odd pictures; the dresser and stand are lined with books +and magazines, with worn-out musical instruments, art gifts from +other members of the family, and ball-team pictures, while two lines +of gorgeous decorations stretch from wall to wall. This is still these +young men's little world, their interests have centered here. No less +than five kinds of musical instruments were visible in this home. The +walls of the living room and parlor are made beautiful with simple +tasteful pictures made by the daughter, whose natural gift in art was +early cultivated. The table, shelves, and mantelpiece are decorated +with china bowls, plates, and vases, simply, yet elegantly adorned. +This work was done by the daughter and mother. Not a large but a +choice collection of flowering plants relieved the bay window of its +emptiness. This is an attractive home. The children never have cared +to spend their evenings on the street nor at places of amusement. Games +of skill, innocent, instructive, and entertaining, may be used to make +home life more attractive. Only let the amusements of the home be +under the direction of father and mother, and be practiced by them. +Here is a chance to teach shrewdness, honor, interest, and by all means, +moderation. To overdo at games and amusements is more harmful +than to overwork. + +Religion is essential to happy home life. A family may get on for a +time very smoothly without prayer, Bible study, faith in God, and +love for Jesus Christ; but no family life is completed without a storm, +many storms of some sort. Years may pass as on a quiet sea, but one +day at high noon, or, perhaps, in the silent, early hour, a small cloud +is seen in the distance; it comes nearer; the wind begins to blow, the +thunders peal, the lightnings flash, the old home, for so long an ark +of safety, is being tossed on the billowy waves. A testing time is at +hand. Mother is gone, or father has ventured too far and lost all; or +son has disgraced the family name; or daughter is in shame; or the +darling of the home is no more! It makes a vast difference who is at +the helm when the storms of home life rage. It is a mark of highest +wisdom to place the family ship under the world's best Captain, Jesus +Christ. He never lost a life. He alone can arrest the lightning, quiet +the waves, inspire confidence, and restore peace and good will in any +storm. But religion is not only useful in trouble, it is an ornament in +peace and prosperity, in the making and building of the home. Tempers +must be controlled, dispositions cultivated, conduct improved, hearts +softened, and minds purified and disciplined. To accomplish all of +this, no substitute can be made for the spirit and faith of Jesus Christ. + +"'Dear Moss,' said the thatch on an old ruin, 'I am so worn, so patched, +so ragged, really I am quite unsightly. I wish you would come and +cheer me up a little. You will hide all my infirmities and defects; and, +through your loving sympathy no finger of contempt or dislike will be +pointed at me.' 'I come,' said the moss; and it crept up and around, and +in and out, till every flaw was hidden, and all was smooth and fair. +Presently the sun shone out, and the old thatch looked bright and fair, +a picture of rare beauty, in the golden rays. 'How beautiful the thatch +looks!' cried one who saw it. 'How beautiful the thatch looks!' said +another. 'Ah!' said the old thatch, 'rather let them say, 'How beautiful +is the loving moss!'" So it is with the religion of Christ, it adorns and +beautifies the life who really wears it; so that the plainness of that life +is covered, its ruggedness softened, and its "pain transformed into +profit and its loss into gain." + +Charles M. Sheldon gives as an essential for a permanent republic, "A +true home life where father, mother, and children spend much time +together; where family worship is preserved; where honesty, purity, +and mutual affection are developed." + +J.R. Miller beautifully sums up the secret of happy home-making in +one word--"Christ." Christ at the marriage altar; Christ on the bridal +journey; Christ when the new home is set up; Christ when the baby is +born; Christ when the baby dies; Christ in the pinching times; Christ +in the days of plenty; Christ in the nursery, in the kitchen, in the parlor; +Christ in the toil and in the rest; Christ all along the years; Christ when +the wedded pair walk toward the sunset gates; Christ in the sad hour +when the farewells are spoken, and one goes on before and the other +stays, bearing the unshared grief. Christ is the secret of happy home +life." + + +THE HOME-MAKER. + +Just as a surly husband, a dissipated father, or a reckless son may blight +a home and destroy its happiness, so may a thoughtful, virtuous, and +kind man in the home change its very atmosphere and help to make it +a heaven. As a home-maker man has the ruggeder part. It is his to +provide. The man who falls short of this in the home does not do his +part. No woman can respect a man much less love him, who places +her, her work, her life, her home, her world under constant embarrassment +by a scant and niggardly provision. She loses her ambition, ceases to +make her self and her home attractive; disorder, filth, unwholesome +food, lack of spirit on her part is the result. She can not be to him, most +of all, what he expects her to be, a companion, a counselor, a comfort--a +home-maker. Also, it is the part of the man in the home to shield the +woman from the heavier burdens and responsibilities. Let him count the +cost of his enterprises, secure himself against hazardous speculations, +and give his wife and children to realize that his shoulders, and not theirs, +are to bear the load of financial obligation and material support. This +leaves the woman with her finer instincts and sensibilities to make the +home the dearest spot on earth to husband, children, and to all who cross +her threshold. The house is her dominion. There she is queen. What a +tender and beautiful one she may become! + + +SOME PRACTICAL HINTS. + +The true home-maker does not spend all of her time with her ducks, +chickens, pigs, and cows, nor yet with her neighbors, her club, nor her +Church. She finds some time to cultivate her intellectual nature and the +finer feelings of her children. She does not degenerate into a mere +household drudge. She is not the slave of her husband, but his companion. +If she has musical ability, she keeps up the practice of her music; if she +is inclined to literature, she reads some every day. Whether literary or +not, every woman should spend some time each day in reading that she +might keep abreast with the world, at least with her companion, in the +movements and thoughts of every-day life. The true home-maker plans +to have a few minutes each day which she calls her own, in which she +may do as she pleases regardless of call or duty, that she might relax +herself, remove the strain of intense effort, rest, give her nature its free +bent and inclination. It will pay her in every way. She will accomplish +more and better work in the busy hours. A spirit and a force will +characterize every effort. The women of to-day are overworked. They +can not do themselves, their families, not their homes the true spiritual +service that it is their part to do. Plan for a few minutes rest with the +daily routine of care. But how is one to do this with so many demands +made upon her? For she is expected to be seamstress, laundress, maid, +cook, hostess, a companion to her husband, a trainer of her children, a +social being, and a helper in the Church. If it is impossible or impracticable +for one to have a servant, she will find these few minutes for daily recreation +and study only in a wise choice of more important duties, and will allow the +less important ones to go undone. Many housewives could well afford +to keep a helper. It becomes a question which is of greater importance, +the life and health of the wife and mother, or the paltry wages of a servant? +We knew a family in Illinois who were quite able to keep help in the home, +but did not do so. The mother made a slave of herself, in a few years +broke in health, and left a large family of small children to struggle alone +in the world. The stepmother, who soon came into the home, could afford +one servant girl and part of the time two. This is a common experience in +ill-managed homes. Or this question arises, Which is of greater importance, +to make more money or to improve the moral tone of the home; to seek +to gratify the outer senses, or to seek to elevate the spiritual life of the +children and the parents? In pleading for rest and study for the mother in +the home we plead for the highest interests of the entire family. For how +can a wife be a companion to a husband when she is made irritable and +nervous from overwork and worry. How can she be a true mother to her +children and neglect their mental and spiritual growth? + +Napoleon once said: "What France wants is good mothers, and you may +be sure then that France will have good sons." Thomas McCrie, an +eminent Scotch preacher, used to tell, with great feeling, of how his +mother, when he was starting out for school in the city, accompanied +him along the road a little way, and then leading him into the field where +she could be alone, prayed with him, that he might be kept from sin in +the city, and become a very useful man. That moment was the turning +point in his life. A few minutes a day spent with the eager, susceptible +child mind, will bring everlasting blessing upon the father and mother. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes + diff --git a/old/jmjdy10.zip b/old/jmjdy10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7aec6e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jmjdy10.zip |