The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-13
THE ROLLER-SKATING CRAZE.
DIR. Talmage Talks Of the Rink and It's
Possibilities for Good or Evil.
A Beautiful and Healthful Exercise, Which
Must BE Surrounded by Proper Restric-
tions and Not Carried to Excess.
Special to the indianapolis Journal.

preached in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, this
morning, on 1.-THE Roller-skating Craze After
expounding appropriate passages of Scriptures
he gave out the opening hymn:
Mid scenes of confusion and creature complaints,
How sweet to my soul is communion of saints
To ind at the banquet OF mercy there's room,
And feel III the presence of Jesus at home"
The usual great throng inside and outside the
Tabernacle were present, including strangers
from all parts of this land and from otheS
lands.
DR.. Talmage chose two texts-Ezekiel Iii, -:
1.-THE noise of the wheels over against them.1
and Nahum iii, 2: 1.-THE noise of the rafting oe
the wheels" Following is the sermon in full:
In the one verse are the wheels of help and
Ezekiel heard them. In the other verse are the
wheels of destruction. and Nahum heard them.
The good wheels and the bad wheels will decide
the destiny of this planet. Archim edes eulo-
gized the lever and said if he could find full
crum for it to rest on, he could move the world.
But he found no such fulcrun, and it is not tho
lever which is to lift or sink the world, but the
Wheel Whether solid disk, or composed OF
outer rim, and spokes. and hub; wheel Of the
rall-train that accelerates travel wheel of print
ing press, that multiplies intelligence; wheel Of
ship, wound with tiller ropes, guiding naviga-
ton; wheel of sewing machine, that alleviates
toll; wheel of chronometer that measures the
fight of the hours balance wheels fy-wheels,
beltwheels, spur wheels ratchet-wheels, driv-
ngwheels The wheel, invented by whom
know not, but it is suggested to us by the fact
that the planetary system is a wheel, and con-
stellations and galaxies are Wheels and all Of
{hopo xyba ;rkn he ~aof
wheel of the universe. the axis of which is the
periphery on which rests the throne of God
Show me which way the majority of the worlds
wheels turn and I will tell you whether it is
rolling toward redemption or ruin; and toll mo
how many revolutions they make in an hour and
| will tell you how The world is to its olsen
thrallment or demolition. In our day the prn-
ciple of the wheel has come to be applied to
amusements and recreations, and the veloci-
pede, and bicycle, and tricycle., and the roller
skate are the consequence. And the thousand
voiced question TO be met is, the roller skatas
wheels of help, like those which Ezekiel heard,
or wheels of destruction, like those that rack
eted in the ears of Nahum!
AGITATION AS TO ADJUSTMENTS
Never in my memory or yours has there been
in this country such wide, deep, high popular
agitation on the subject of amusements, and all
ministers of religion, and all parents, and all
young people, and all old people must answer
the question: and answer it right and have a
reason for the answer. Let me premise that
have for twenty five years been waiting for soma
new style of amusement, healthful for body and
mind, hoping it might come in time 10 rescue
this generation. Such amusements have been
appalingy scarce. Plenty of places to blast
and blight, and consume body, mind and soul
Never any lack of gambling saloons Within
one hour of every home and hotel in New York
and Brooklyn there are places where young
man can get divorced from his money, while the
old spider of the gaming table officiates at the
funeral of innocent flies. Plenty Of places
where you can lose Ten cents, or house and lot
or all you have, in one night Plenty of drink
ing saloons, where the owner. by the outlay Of
$40 worth of alcohol, can mix up stuff that he
sells for $3.50. They will let young man have
all he wants as long as his money lasts-one
glass, two glasses three glasses, four glasses
and then when. having felt in all his pockets for
more money, it is demonstrated that he has not
so much as postage stamp left, they will help
him into the street to look after himself, or be
taken home by some other young man not quite
as intoxicated; for rumsellers never help their
victims home, lest getting to the door, they con-
front the mother or wife, to whom God might
lend one of his smaller thunderbolts with whick
she could strike the despoiler into ashes. Plenty
of gates Of hell, and all of them wide open, the
temptresses crying: "Come in come in!n But
of good places great deficit
Seven o'clock P. NJ finds tens of thousands Of
young people home, or at hotel or boarding
house. "What shall do with myself this even
ing2' he asks. You answer go to prayer
meeting" Well that is good advice for two
nights of the week, but there are seven night3
in most weeks Subtract Sunday night and two
other church nights and you have four nights
left "Go and hear a lecture on astronomy
you say. Well, the young mans brain is tired
from running up the figures of the account
book, or from trying to sell goods to people that
don't want to buy and he has no appetite for a
lecture on astronomy. He does not want TO
hear about other worlds be has more than he
can do to get along with this Now, take up the
newspapers and pick out for him a place Of
healthful recreation. The most of the places
advertised are unventilated audience rooms
where the companionship is depraying and
much of the spectacular is indecent. Two hours
and half in such place and the man goes
homo body asphyxiated, mind weakened, soul
SCARED; consecutive amusement of that sort
makes thriving business for undertakers and
affords tragedies of illustration for discourse on
the text ''The end thereof is death" Whas
our young people want in thor amusement ID
recreation for body and soul, something that
will allow them to be asleep on their pillow at
ii o'clock every night. and awake fully rested at
7:30 in the morning. something that will put our
boys and girls at the goal of manhood and
womanhood, ready for useful and practical life
not invalids at nineteen. and twenty, and twenty.
one not splinters of humanity. not masculine or