Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1850-08-10
Alisfellaneous.
AMUSEMENT.
BY ELIZA COOK.

amusement is most important part Of edu-
cation.
OF course, there are many kinds of amuse-
meDt varying according TO the degree of
moral and intellectual culture Of those takinr
part in them. There are the low amllse-
ments of the gross and uncducated, whom
society has allowed to grow up in its midst,
with minds unframed and untaught, with
tastes unrefined by intercourse with art or
letters, aud who are narrowed in all their
sources of pleasure aud enjoyment To
these the brutal exhibition of dog-fght is
saturnalia of enjoyment-an enjoyment
winch rs level with the meanest capacity,
and no other.
How different the amusement of the in
telligent and refned-such as an intercourse
with the beauties ofnature, a rambe through
q beautiful country full of historic associ-
ations, a concert of exquisite music, pic
ture exhibition, a soiree, an agreeable book,
or an evenings delightful conversation with
intelligent persons. Then there are out-of-
doors amusements; the manly games, of
Which the healthful game of cricket is one
OF the most cheerful and exciting.
Inc occupations of n very large portion of
our Town population are setlentary and nm
wholesome, and require, for health's sake. a
frequent relaxation in game of this latter
soit Whlcn brings mans muscles into nc
non, ana heolthfully excites all the organic
Iunctions OF the system. What is better cal
culated to blow away the vapors from the
brain, and to give thorough fresh-nirinr TO
the blood, than the breeze blowing across the
heath, while the cricketer is actively en-
gagged in batting, balling, fielding, and the
other exercise of the game Every muscle
Is put in action; he must run, and play his
limbs actively, the use of which, while sit
ting at his city desk, he had well nigh forgot
ten. lie must be all alive-he makes the |
green carpet Of turf fly from under him, |
while the welcome breeze plays around his |
head. He is cheerful and full of good hu-
NOR; care and anxiety are banished; and
lumbage, headache, or gout is driven fur
ther from him in every run that he takes
lie goes TO bed well tired, and then enjoys
the profound and refreshing slumber which
he has earned on the cricket ground; rising
IN the morning clear headed, and renovated
in health and strength.
III is mistake to suppose that the man
who plays at cricket, or who otherwise
aInuses himself in active exercise during the |
intervals Of business, is wasting his time.-
Amusement is not waste of time but rather |
economy of life. Relax frequently, If YOU |
would enjoy good health during a long Pc |
Rod of existence. If you relax not, and
fake no amusement-that is, if your calling
should not itself be constant exercise--then
you will mentally suffer, in the pangs of in
digestion, in weak and unhealthy lungs, in
cold and rheumatisms, and in all the penal
ties which attend confinement and seden-
tary occupation.
Man has strong natural appetite for re-
taxation and amusement, and, like all other
natural appetites, il has been implanted in
lis for wise purpose. II is not to be re-
pressed, but will break out in one form or
another If we provide not the opportunity
for enjoying wholesome amusements, men
will certainly find out vicious ones for them
selves.
There are, we believe, some people in the
world who, under mistaken notions, would
if they had the power, hang the heavens
about with Grape; pick the bright stars from
the sky veil the sun with clouds, because of
his shining too merriy on the gay earth;
pluck the silver moon from her place in the
ornament, no more TO brighten the young
wooers, who laughed and loved under her
beams; throw shroud on the beautiful and
llfe-heaying bosom of this fair planet shut
up our gardens and fields, and all the sweet
flowers with which they are bedccked, and
doom our world TO an atmosphere of gloom
and cheerlessness. But there is no reason
or morality in this, and still less religion. A
benevolent Creator has endowed man with
an eminent capacity for enjoyment, set him
in fair and lovely world, surrounded him
with things good and beautiful, and given
him the disposition to love, 10 sympathize 10
produce, to cooperate, to enjoy; and thus to
become an honorable and happy being,
bringing Gods work to perfection, and
sulting the divine creation in the midst of
which he lives.
Who knows not that the heart of man is
greatly influenced by the moral atmosphere
which he breathes and that he is disposed
to an affinity with the good, very much in
proportion as his spirits are kept in that
genial tone which their relaxation promotes.
Make man happy, and his act0ns will be
happy too; but doom him to dismal thoughts
and miserable circumstances and you make
him gloomy, discontented, niorose, and proba
ply vicious. Hence coarseness and crime ore
almost invariably found among those who
have never been accustomed 10 he cheerful.
whose hearts have been shut against the pu-
rilying influences of a happy communion
with nature, or an enlightened and cheerful
Intercourse with man.
And yet all, even the meanest of human |
beings if any human beings can be mean.) |
possess the sense TO discern, and the heart 10 |
rove ana even reverence beauty in all its |
forms. Why should not some care be taken. |
then, 10 cultivate taste for the beautiful n /
art and nature among all ranks in the com
munltyf Why should not this means Inc |
adopted of unfolding the noble powers and |
objections of men? Why should not the
fields and gardens be thrown freely open TO |
me classes who now waste their long
hours IN consuming toll, cut off from ali |
Mghcr pleasures, and impelled too often by |
ms ;,sg ss1ong love Of excitement, to seek a de- |
usMu, . soiase IN sensual excess, after esca-
bhhs XIV, rom The burdeuof their daily care and
mr swipes, Eve Just kicked your Will
iam out Of door" eWell, Mr.. sw;ns,e y -, ~
the first bill you have footed Ills su, ,,sa, 's