The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1865-08-22

mcnt may sec proper W pesso" "Pon
US.
The Controversy about Amusc.
MentS.
eve are all poor critters" There
is no use denying 1t. When our hearts
don't run away with our heads, our
heads run away with our hearts, and
between the two, logic and morality
get at " skies and sevens," and we
fail to command the situation" The
arguments from incongruity is perhaps
oftencst run into the ground or made
to undergo violent somersaults, We
read, for instance, in a serious article
against amusements, Scan you goI
from the card table or the dance to the
Lords tablet" This is evidently put
forward as poser. One might ask,
50 Can YOU dance jig on your moth
cr's grave? Will you play at poker in
a prayer-meeting? Will you sing o
funeral dirge at wedding!
By no means; but it does not follow
that iigs and pokers and dirgcs are not
cardinal sins because they are incon-
eruous with the other things. 1t is
sin. at least an offence against good
taste, to mingle the incopgruous, The
preacher who told of the first hus-
bands melancholy taking off in the
! prayer he made at the widows we'd
ding committed quite rs grievous an
offsnse as if he had insisted upon sing
; ing Old King Cole" at the funeral.
Incongruity is Gn oifensc, but mcon-
gruity in things not associated is not
; an argument against either i'll its prop
! or time and place. Because we do not
, put salt in our tea or sugar upon our
, steak, we are not to be told that sugar
. and salt should be excluded altogether
/, from the table. This much, not as a
l defense of amusements in general, or
l any particular amusement. 1t is mere
I ly a remonstrance against vicious log
ic.
l The great peril of all amusement ties
e in the associations into " vhich they
1 bring the young. Many people deny
to their children cards aud dancing
$ not because they think either intrinsic
e ally wrong, but because the person who
g piays cards is likely to be tempted .te
: gambling and because of the disslPa
l. ton and exposures to contact with the
!; rude and vulgar in the ballroom. Ii
S the family or the select party of friends
|, MANY amusemonts are harmless ant
= healthful that are perilous in a promis
It cuous crowd. Aud this consideration
o is one that should have more weigh
c than it does in the selection of prope
2 recreation for our children, for recrea
It ton they must aud will have. Man.
l, of the household games are pretty an'
e. innocent enough, but their extrem
It simplicity soon makes them tedious
y 1t would be great thing if chess coul'
n, be restored and made fashionable
rs There is no game so profoundly inter
if estino or so stimulative of the highes
20 powers and yet a child can play it on
le simple way, and it will be continual
le new game to him as he grows i
ty capacity TO estimate its infinite poss
'e bilities and to plan its far reachin
combinations. The duty Of the parer
I'd is to select games and other amust
IL ments for his children, to exclude thos
at of dangerous or doubtful tendenc
g. and association, and to encourage thos
Is that contribute directly to physical an
to mental development and health. [
or course, if one honestly thinks that a
ed amusements are wrong, and that III
We should be wholly devoted to serior
ur omployments, exclusion and repressio
en- is the true policy,
OF Notions of such extreme rigor d
on not prevail to any great extent IN the'
Sc days. Most of the churches now.cu
he tivate the social clement systematicall
ke and through the parish sociables, anus
ep mcnts have found their way into Il
Ie. most serious palces and the most SCI
he Gus company. Under proper watt
~. and care' there is no harm in thi
~ but if the vestry doors are thrown OPP
III, to everybody, and dirty boys come
nd because they can have n rougher tin
in among decent folks than in the stree
zen even the church sociable may not
on- an entirely safe place for our daughter
TO The truth is, there is no possibility
we drawing exact lines in these matters.
lily There is no such thing as barring o
temptatlOn anu eNh iiih"oh0So "'oS0'
md er, :" else must we need to go out
'rl,, the world" as Paul says. Neitl
Ind should we go to the other extreme, a
put ourselves reclIlessly in connect
ur- with wrong influences, for 1t is natu
to to our human weakness to
hat First endure. then pity. then Embrace"
len The young must be told where d'
ted ger lies, and how to fortify themsel'
uld against it, but they should he rs lii
&c, as possible exposed to it. To tai
'ac- amusements altogether is impossif
ose even in the most religious society, a
'ith it is not true, as is often assumed, d
tne they unfit us for serious and religi'
10 duties. Properly INDUCED they refr'
ave and quicken MS for work and pray
IoyF and he must be strangely made "
iedi has not found it so. Solomon was
axe mistaken in finding proper time
ior all its duties and enjoyments, and eve
thing right and proper in its time
nur- And the proprietics Of time and pl
I'd n are to be considered in regard to M
eral ly all amusemcnts, rather than any
~! trinsic character they may be suppo
the to have.-[ Springfield Republican,
be A rebel staff officer who had
rau- with JEFF. Davis says that the ex
!, do spot where the Confederate Cove
n1c ..sn.,+ 1;oJ ,,,os Of Waehiu oton "a