St. Paul daily globe., 1886-02-08

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father feels when his children are sliding
down hill. frisking. shouting and carrying
on as only party Of careless. light-hearted
children can. he looks on with a peaceful
ioy in his heart and a smile plays over his
face as he exclaims, THAT is orthodox, for
these children are serving God with glad
ness and the whole community within a
radius of half mile can testify that they
are making joyful noise. And this is the
way the Father in heaven looks down upon
us larger children when, throwing of our
anxieties and cares, we go in for few mo-
ments of innocent and healthful recreation.
And knowledge of His favor and smile
adds a new charm and Zest to all such ex-
hilaratlng sports.
A broad study of life will show that the
amusement element is deeply laid in human
nature, and IN ali nature il fact from the
inhnitesimally small to the Infinitely great.
drop OF water beneath the microscope
exhibits animalcula playing tag and engag-
ing in many other infusorlal games. EX-
anime these atoms and you will find them
quite jolly set in. their way. Here is JOY
at the very bottom of nature. If you pass
from tiny drop TO mighty ocean. you md in
the latter the Sportlve whale and the friSky
porpoiSe. On land amusement comes TO its
climax. a kitten is the embodiment of
good-humoTed mischief, the kid spends
most OF its time in gamboling; the monkey
just lives for pleasure. All animals engage
in sham fights, in fact mock battles form a
large share of their play. Seals coast upon
the ice. and otters learned to toboggan on
snow banks in winter and mud banks in
summer, long before man thought of imitat-
ing their sport. The world is~full of fun if
you have a mind to look for it. Amuse-
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dence of health and good spirits. There is
something wrong about the man who has
no play in him. He is an invalid, or be is
overwOrked, or he is an intellectual mon
strosity or a religious fanatic. The average
man is fond Of amusement and he ought to
have it, for with it life is more endmable
and work more enjoyable.
But what nd Of amusement shall he in
dulge in? Some amusements like drinking.
gambling and playing the debauche are
utterly vicious and destructive of character.
These therefore are 10 be let alone. Other
amusements like dancing and theater-going
are reckoned among the questionable
amusements and Hlese we shall consider At
some future time. Tonight we treat of
purely innocent amusements and especially
such as are most legtimately called recrea-
tionS, namely
OUT OF DOOR SPORTS.
All such pastimes l enjoy and recommend
them to all, both male and female. We
who live i'm the cities are systematically
injuring ourselves because we fail to take
a suitable amount of exercise. Physically
we are egregious sinners and need TO think
more about the salvation Of the body. The
average business man in the great city goes
from his house TO his Office in street car,
and from his Office to his house In another
car. breathing bad air both ways and takes
most of his exercise i'm swallowing strong
coffee or smoking tobacco. He is nervous.
dyspeptic fellow who can bolt a meal in
i've minutes which an Englisnman could
not dispose of in less than half an hour, and
he can transact more business in one hour
than a German would think of doing in a
day; but what kind of a body has he? The
average Johnny Ball could whip three like
him. and ii our friend from Germany should
accidentally sit on him, there would be
little or nothing left. Physically speaking
he reminds one of dried herring. He enjoys
the industrial treadmill in which he slaves,
and you cannot coax him away from it.
Ask him TO break away week and hunt
ducks and he would prefer TO remain at
home and hunt dollars. Rather than skin
rabbit or deer in the woods. he would
! prefer to skin his fellowmen in the city.
Poor, deluded incorrigible. He grows old
and weakened b. the time he is 40. Now,
this is not the kind of man God likes to see,
but it is the type our modern mammOn-
ridden civilization is tending TO produce.
Under these circumstances l welcome
any kind of a craze which will drag people
out of their homes, workshops or country
houses into the fresh air and keep them in
state of pleasurabe muscular excitement.
Especially desirable is this in winter, when
the inclination to stay indoors is great and
the ventilation in our houses is poor.
About the only sport the people engage in
during winter is sleighriding. That is good
as far as it goes. People are compelled to
take the air, but sleghriding is cold work
and the system suffers no healthful waste
in muscular eXertion. Everyone moreover
cannot afford to drive fast horse. Now
tobogganing is
A DEMOCRATIC SPORT,
and any one who can summon the courage
can take part, and by the time he has
drawn his toboggan to the top of the hill he
is in a warm and hilarious condition physi-
cally speaking. When he goes home he is
not inclined to hug the stove, he goes for
the pantry. TobOgganing is an amusement
moreover in which women can participate.
and which will put roses in their cheeks
without the aid of rouge. 1t is death on
dyspepsia and knocks out the melancholy
inside of ten seconds. 1t is a noble manly
sport, and l recommend it to young and
old, both in the name of health and re-
ligion. When beneath the electric lights
see the long line of interested spectators
and watch the. descending companies as
they flash by like meteors, when hear the
ringing laughter and drink in the general
contagiOn of good spirits. thank God, say,
for tobOgganing, that drives dull care away
and draws the people from the theater and
dramshop. God smiles on such scenes, and
if we are truly his children we can serve
him as well by sitting on a toboggan as
kneeling on haSsock.
Zone serious objection to this toboggar
craze is that poor people cannot afford to
patronize the slides, and they are the ones
of all in the community who need such
amusement most to relieve the drudgery
and monOtony of life. If private capital is
net willing to buy up the slides once a week
and invite the whole community. the city
authorities ought to establish free slides
where the shop-worn girl and
TIRED WORKER
might indulge to hearts content And in
order that they may have the time to slide
let them shut uD every shop and manu-
foctory at o'clock Saturday afternoon. Ht
that plays more on Saturday will pray more
on Sunday. That's my doctrine.
From this point Mr.. Scudder proceeded
to characterize two classes of Christians
One who took no interest in amusements OF
any sort and always went around with Ions
faces and felt like Withdrawing from tn,
busy active world. The other went in fOl
all kinds of innocent amusements, were
cheerful and genial in disposition and die
much for the extension of religion by thei
ability to serve the Lord with gladness
He did not like people of the first stamp