Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-07-17

bondage and the same nominations that
were to be found under the old horse-rac-
ing system. never knew a man vet who
could give himself to the pleasures of the
turt 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 light their cigar and take the
relns and dash down the road toperdition.
nne great day ut Saratoga and Long
branch and Cape May and nearly oil the
other neutrality-suspicious. is the day of the
races. The hotels are %thronged; nearly
every klnd of equipage is taken up at an
allhos1 fabulous price; and there are many
respectable people mingling with jockeys
una gamblers n libertines and foul
mouthed men and lashy women. The bar
lender stirs up the brandy-smash. The
bets run high. The g%reenhorns, supposing
ell Is fair, put in their money, soon
enough to lose it. Three weeks before the
race takes place the struggle is decided,
ana the men i'll tho secret know on which
steed to bet their money. The two men on
tne horses riding around long before ar
ranged who should beat. Leaning from
the stand or the carriage are men and
women so absorbed in the struggle of bone
and muscle and mettle that they make a
grand harvest for the pickpockets, who
carry Off the pocket-books and portmon-
nales. 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
f1ank-are in the ring, racing with inc
briefly, 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: "I will
bet on the black horse" Spectator says:
~ will bet on the white horse" The
white horse of honor a little way ahead.
The black horse of ruin, Satan mounted all
thetime, gaining on him. Spectator breath
less. Put on the lash. Dig in the spurs.
There! They are past the stand. Sure.
Just as 1 expected it. The black horse of
ruin has won the race and all the galleries
of arkness cry "Huzza! huzzaw and
the devils come in 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 dragon and light cavalry horse. They
found the turf deprec;ates 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 letter, in which he
said: Heaven help you,f then; for of all
the cankers of our old civilization 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
sportsman writes: "How many fine do
mains have been shared among these
hosts of rapacious sharks during the last
two hundred years! And, unless the sys-
tenn be altered, how many more are
doomed to fall into the same gulfw The
Duke of Hamilton, through his horse
racing proclivities, in three years got
through his entire fortune of 10000; and
1 will say that some of you are being I'M
dermined by it. With the bull-ights OF
Spain and the bear-baitings of the pit
may the Lord God annihilate the infamous
and accused horse-racing of England and
America!
PRESERVE YoU PHYSICAL STRENGTH.
I go further, and speak of another
temptation that hovers over the watering
places, and this is the temptation to sac
ritice physical strength. The modern Be-
thesda was intended to recuperate the
physical health, and yet how many come
from the watering-places, their health ab-
solutely destroyed! New York and Brook
lyn idiots boasting of having imbibed
twenty glasses of Congress water before
breakfast; families accustomed to going tc
bed at ten O'Clock at night g%ossiping until
one or two o'clock in the morning; dyspep'
tics, usually very cautious about their
health, mingling ice-creams n lemons
and lobster salads and c%ocoanuts until the
gastric juices lift up all their voices OF
lamentation and protest; delicate womer
and brainless young men chasseZing them
selves into vertigo aud catalepsy; thou.
sands of men and women coming bacl
. from our watering-places in thu
!. autumn with the foundations laid fol
ailments that will last them all their lif,
i. long. You know as well as 1 do that thi!
is the simple truth.
, FERTILE IN DOMESTIC INFEL1C1TIEs.
Another temptation lowering aroune
3 the watering place is to the formation o
hasty and lifelong alliances. The water
f %ing-places are responsible for more of tn
domestic infelicities of this country thai
all other things combined. Society is S
l artificial there that no sure judgment o
character can be formed. Those VIII
3 form companionships amid such circum
S stances 20 into a lottery where there ar
Q twenty blanks to one prize. In the sever
1 tug of life you want more than glitter an
splash. Life is not a ballroom, where til
i, music decides the step and bow an
r prance, and graceful swing Of long trai
can make up for strong common sense
Q You might as well go among the gayly
painted yachts of a summer regatta t
S find war vessels as to go among the ligh
spray of the summer watering-place t
find character that can stand the test c
g the great struggle of human life. All,
Il the battle of life you want a stronge
c weapon than a lace fan or q croquet ma
let! The load of life is SO heavy chat i
order to draw it you want a team stronge
thar one made up of a masculine grass
: hopper and a feminine butterfly. If ther
- , T., tho oomm1nitv that excite