The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-07-15

ties of Baden Baden. Leu yOuI mV!ei
and your immortal health keep pace with
our physical recuperation, and remem,
her that all the waters Of Hawthorne and
Sulphur and Chalybete springs can not
do YOU so much good as the mineral neal
ING perennial flood, that breaks forth
from the Rock of Ages" This may DC
your last summer. If 80, maxi II a NJ
vestibule of heaven.
Another temptation, however, around
all our watering. places is the horse'rac'
ing business. We all admire the horse
but we do not think that its beauty or
speed ought to be cultured at the expense
of human degradation. The horse'race
is not of such importance as the human
race. The Bible intimates that a nan
is better than a sheep, and L suppose
he is better than a horse, though, like
Jobs stallion, his neck be clothed with
thunder.
Horse races in olden times were under
the ban of Christian people, and IN our
day the same institution has come up
under fictitious names. 1t is called
" Summer Meeting" almost suggestive
of positive religious exercises. And 1t ID
called Agricultural Fair" suggestive OF
every thing that is improving in the art
of farming. But under these deceptive
titles are the same cheating, the same
betting, and the same drunkenness, and
the same vagabondage, and the same
denominations that we're to be found un'
der the old horse racing system. never
knew a man yet who could give himself
to the pleasures of the turf for a long
reach Of time and not be battered in
morals. They hook up their spanking
team, and put on their sporting'cap, and
dash down the road to perdition The
great day at Saratoga, and Long Branch,
and Cape May, and nearly all the other
watering places, is the day of the races.
The hotels are tbronged, every kind OF
eouipage is taken up at al almost tabu-
lous price, and there are many respectable
people minglirg with jockeys, and gamS;,
iers, and libertines, and foul mouthed
men and fashy women. The bartender
stirs up the brandy.smash. The bets
run high. The greenhorns, supposing all
is fair, put in their money, soon enough
to lose it. Three weeks before the race
takes place the struggle is decided, and
the men in the secret know on which
steed to bet their money. Tie two men
on the horses riding around long before
arranged who shall beat. Leaning from
the stand or from the carriage are men
and women, so absorbed in tie struggle
of bone and muscle, and metal, that they
make a grand harvest for the p%iCkpock.
cts who carry off the poCket.books and
portemonnaies. Men looking on see only
two horses with two riders flying around
the ring but there is many a man on
that stand whose honor, and domestic
happiness, and fortune-white name,
white foot, white fanfare in the ring,
racing with inebriety, and with fraud,
and with profanity, and with ruin
black neck, black foot, black flank. Neck
and neck they go in that moral EPSON.
White horse of honor; black horse of
ruin. Death says: II will bet on the
black horse" spectator says: 81 will
bet on the white horse" The white
horse of honor a little ahead. The black
horse of ruin, Satan-mounted, all the
time gaining on him. Spectator breath
less. Put on the lash. Dig in the spurs.
There They have passed the stand.
Sure. Just as l expected it. The black
horse of ruin has won the race, and all
the galleries of darkness "huzza! huzza!"
And the devils come to pick up their
wagers. All my friends, have nothing
to do with horse.racing designations this
summer. Long ago the English govern
ment got through looking to the turf for
the dragoon and light cavalry horse.
They found the turf depreciates the stock;
and it is yet worse for men. Thomas
Hughes, the Member Of Parliament and
the author, known all the world over,
hearing that a new turf enterprise was
being started in this country, wrote a let
ter in which he said Heaven help
you, then for of all the cankers OF our
old civil. cation, there is nothing in this
country approaching in %unblushing
meanness, in rasCality holding its head
high, to this belauded institution of the
British turf" Another famous sports
man writes How many fine domains
have been shared among these hosts Of
rapacious sharks during the past two
hundred years and unless the system be
altered, how many more are doomed to
fall into the same gulf" The Duke Of
Hamilton, through like proClivities, in
three years got through bis entire fortune
of 100000; and l will say that some Of
you are being undermined by it. With
the bull fights of Spain and the bear.
batings of the pit, may the Lord God an
initiate the acCursed horse.raCing Of
England and America.
l go further, and speak Of another
temptation that hovers over the water
ing. places; and that is the temptation to
sacrifice physical strength. The modern
Bethesda, just like the Bethesda of the
text, vas intended to recuperate the
physical health and yet how many
come from the watering places their
health absolutely destroyed!
New York and Brooklyn idiots boast-
ing Of having imbibed twenty glasses Of
Congress water before breakfast! Fami-
lies accustomed to going to bed at ten
o'clock at night gossiping until n or
TWO U ClOCk III Guo mOIulus3 D~ynpoPtNOp'
usually very cautious about their health,
mingling ice creams. and lemons, and
Holsters salads, and cocoanuts, until the
gastric juices lift up all their voices of
lamentation and protest. Delicate wo-
men, brainless young men chassezing
themselves into vertigo and catalepsy!
Thousands of men and women coming
back from our watering places in the au-
tumn with the foundations laid for all
ments that will last them all their life
long! You know as we'll as l do that
this is the simple truth. In the summer
you say to your good health: "Good.by
| am going to have a good time for a lit,
tie while; l will be very glad to see you
again in the autumn" Then in the au
tumn, when you are are hard at work
in your office, or store, or shop, or count.
ing room, Good Health will come in and
say: 'Good.by; l am going" You say:
where are you goingP" "0h," says
Good Health, 1 am going to take a va
cation" 1t is a poor rule that does not
work both ways, and your good health
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