The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-03-06
From be- sprtnaa.ld Rspasliean
The Controversy about Amusements.

"We are all poor critters" There is no
denying it. When our hearts don't run away
with our heads, our heads run away with our
hearts, and between the two, logic and moral
ity get at "sixes and sevens,p and we fail to
command the situation" The argument
from incongruity is perhaps oitenest run into
| the ground or made to undergo violent somer-
saults. We read, for instance, in a serious ar
ticle against amusements, Scan you go from
the card table or the dance to the Lords ta-
BILE? ?" This is evidently put forward as q DO
ser. One might ask, "Can you dance a iig on
your mothers grave? Will you play at poker
in prayer meeting? Will you sing funeral
dirge at a wedding? By no means; but it
does not follow that Jigs and pokers and dirges
are cardinal sins because they are incongruous
with the other things. 1t is sin, at least an
onense against good taste, to mingle the incon-
gruous. The preacher who told the story of
the first husbands melancholy taking off in
the prayer he made at the widows wedding
committed quite as grieyous an offense as ii
ne mad insisted upon singing sold King Cole"
az the mineral. lncongruity is an offense, but
lncongrulty In things not associated is not an
argument against either in its proper time and
place. Because we do no put salt in our tea
or sugar upon our steak, we are not to be told
that sugar and salt should be excluded alto
gether from the table. This much, not as a
dVlohSO VI du1uoOH4OuJo Ill S6u0Idl3 VI ally par
ticular amusement. 1t is merely remon-,
STRANGE against vicious logic. l.a III
The great peril of all amusements lies in the
associations into which they bring the young.
Many people deny to their children cards and
dancing, not because they think either intrin-
sically wrong, but because the person who
plays cards is likely to be tempted to gambling
and because of the designations and the expo
sures to contact with the rude and vulgar in
tho hol In "a iIxy
ty of friends many amusements are harmless
and healthful that are perilous in promis-
cuous crowd. And this consideration is one
that should have more weight than it does in
the selection of proper recreations for our
children, for recreation of some sort they must
and will have. Many of the modern house
hold games are pretty and innocent enough,
but their extreme simplicity soon makes them
tedious. 1t would be great thing if chess
could be restored and made fashionable. There
is no game so profoundly interesting or SO
stimulative of the highest powers, and yet
child can play it in a simple way, and yet it
will be continually new game to him as he
grows in capacity to estimate its infinite pos
sibillties and to plan Its far reaching combina-
tions. The duty of the parent is to select |
games and other amusements for his childten,
to exclude those ofdangerous or doubtful ten |
dency and association, and to encourage those |
Soeso SoA.oi AOuoO utOStAJ w pAJ54CuA anu HlCH-
tai development and health. Of course if one |
honestly thinks that all amusements are wrong |
and that life should be wholly devc ted to SER |
ious employments, exclusion and repression
are the true policy. and "a
Notions OF such extreme rigor do not prevail
to any great extent in these days. Most of
the churches now cultivate the social element
systematically, and through the parish soci-
ables, amusements have found their way into
the most serious places and the most serious
company. Under proper "watch and caren
there is no harm in this, but If the vestry doors
are thrown open to everybody, and dirty boys
come in because they can have a rougher and |
freer time there among decent folks than in |
the street, even the church sociable may not |
be an entirely safe place for our daughters
The truth is. there is no possibility OF drawing
exact lines In these matters. There is no such |
thing as barring out temptation and evil infiu- !
ences together, ''elss must we need go out of |
the world, as Paul says. Neither should we |
go to the other extreme, and put ourselves
recklessly in connection with wrong influence
es, for it is natural to our human weakness
to r4sg faatsa343
"First endure. then pity, then embrace aa
The young must be told where danger lies, |
and how to fortify themselves against it, but |
they should be as little as possible exposed to |
it. To taboo amusements altogether is i'm
possible, even in the most religious society
And it is not true, as is often assumed, that
they unfit us fsr serious and religious duties. |
Properly INDUCED they refresh and quicken
us for work and prayer, and he must be
made who has not found it SO. Sol |
omon was not mistaken in finding proper |
time for all duties and enjoyments, and every
thing right and proper in its time. And the
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