Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-04


tides Of feeling sHrging up from the depths
of their soul, in billow after billow Of re-
Yerberating laughter. They seem as Il
nature had built them by contract and
made buugling job ont d it,.
But blessed be God, there are
people in the world who have
bright faces and whose lite Is a s0ns. an
anthem, pean OF victory. Even their
t-'1hles are Ike the vines that crawl up
side ~ a great tower. on the top Of
which the sunlight sits and the s0ft airs
: OF summer hOid perpetual carnival. They
are the people YOU like 10 have come to
I your house; they are the people Ike 70
+ have come 10 my house. II you but touch
the hem Of their garments you are healed.
+ hew, it Is these eXhilaraut and sympa-
thetic and warm-hearted people that are
most tempted 10 pernicious amusements.
In proportion as q snip is swift 1t wants
a strong helmsmSn; IN proportion as a
horse Is gar il wants stout driver; and
. these people Of eXuberant nature will do
well 10 look at the reaction Of all their
amusemeuts. II an amusement sends you
home at night nervous so YOU cannot sleep.
and you rise in the morning not because
you are slept out, but because your duty
drags you from your slum bers, you have
been where you ought not to have been.
There are amusements that send a man
next day TO his work blOOdshOt, yaWning,
stupid, nauseated, and they are wrong
kinds OF amusement. There are enter
tainments that give man disgust with
the drudgery OF lite, with tools because
they are not swords. with working aprons
because they are not robes, with cattle
because they are not Infatuated bulls of
the arena. II any amusement sends you
home longing for life Of romance and
thrilling adventure. love that takes poison
and shoots itself, moonlight adventures
and hair-breadth escapes, you NAV de-
pend upon it that you are the sacriicial
victim OF unsanctifed pleasure. Our re-
creations are intended TO build as up.
and if they pull us down as to our moral
or as to our physical strength, you may
come to the conclusion that they are OBJ
noXious.
Still further: those amusements are
wrong which lead you into expenditure
beyond your means. Money spent IN recre-
alton is not thrown away. 1t is all folly
for us to come from place Of amusement
feeling that we have wasted our money
and time. You may by It have made an
investment worth more than the transac-
ton that yielded you 500 or $1,000. But
how many properties have been riddled
by costly amusements? The table has
been robbed to pay the club. The cham
payne has cheated the children's ward
robe. The carousing party has burned
up the boys primer. The table cloth of
the corner saloon is in dept 10 the wife's
faded dress. Excursions that in a day
make a tour around a whole months
wages; ladies whose lifetime business 1t
is to "gO shopping have their counter
parts in uueducated children, bankrupt
cies that shock the money market and ap-
pail the church, and that send drunkenness
staggering across the richly figured car
pet Of the mansion, and dashing into the
mirror and drowning out the carol of
music with the whOOping of blOated sons
come home 10 break their old mothers
heart. When men 90 into amusements
that they cannot afford they first borrow
what they cannot earn and then they steal
what they cannot borrow. First they 20
into embarrassment, ana then into lying,
and then into theft; and when a man gets
as far on as that he does not stop short of
the penitentiary. There is not a prison
in the land where there are not victims Of
unsanctitied amusements. How often /
have had parents come to me and ask me
to 90 over to New York and beg their boy
of from crimes that he had committed
against his emplOyer-the taking of
funds out of the employers till or the
disarrangement of the accounts. Why?
He had salary enough to pay all lawful
expenditure, but not enough salary to
meet his sinful amusements. And again
and again | have gone and implOred for
the young man, sometimes alas the petit
tinn all unavailing. Merchant of New
York is there disarrangement in your ae-
cOuntsi Is there leakage in your money
drawer? Did not the cash account come
out right last night? l will tell you.
There is a young man in your store wan
dering off into bad amusements. The
salary you give him may meet lawful ex-
penditures, put not the sinful iBdulgences
in which he has entered, and he takes by
theft that which you do not give him in
lawful salary.
How brightly the path Of unrestrained
amusement opens. The young man saws:
"Now | am OFF for a good time. Never
mind economy. I'll get money somehow.
What fine road What beautiful day
for ride! Crack the whip and over the
turnpikel Come, boys, I'LL high yeur
glasses. Drink LoRg lite, health. plenty
OF rides just like thisr' Hard working
men hear bhe chatter Of the heOis and look
up ans say: "Nhy, | wonder where those
fellows get their money from. We have
10 toll and drudge. They do nothing.v
To these gay men life is a thrill and an
excitement. They stare at other people,
and in turn are stared at. The watch
chain jngles. The cup foams. The
cheeks flush. The ewes fash The mid
They iostle decent men Off the sidewalk.
They take the name of God in vain. They
parody the hymn they learned at their
mothers knee; and TO all pictures
Of coming disaster they CRY
out: "Who cares" and 10 the counsel
OF some Christian friend: "Who are you ?"
Passing along the street some night YOU
hear a shrek IN a grOg-shop, the rattle of
the watchman's club, the rush of the po-
lice. What Is the matter nOwy Oh, this
reckless young man has been killed in
grOg-shOp fight. Garry him home TO his
fathers house. Parents will come down
and wash his wounds and close his eyes
in death. They forgive him all he ever
did, though he cannot in his silence ask
it. The prOdigal has got home at last.
Mother will 20 TO her little garden and get
the sweetest flowers and twist them into
a chaDlet for the silent heart OF the way
ward boy and push back from the blOated
brow the long locks that were once her
pride. And the air will be rent with the
fathers cry: sob, my son, my son. my
poor sOnl Would God | had died for
thee, Oh, my son, any sOuw
You may judge of amusements by their
effect upon physical health. The great
need OF many good people ~ physical re-
cuperatiOn. There are Christian men
who write hard things against their i'm.
mortal souls, when there is nothing the
matter withthem butan incompetent liver.
There are Christian peoplp who seem IN