The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-01-04

the blood Of the lion or the tiger or the bear,
| while his disposition will change and become
fierce, cruel and unrelenting. The body has
a powerful effect upon the soul.
There are good people whose ideas OF
Heaven are all shut out with clouds Of tobac'
CO smoke, There are people who dare to
! shattar the physical vase in which God has
put the jewel of eternity. There are men
| with great hearts and intellects in todies worn
out by their own neglects-magni6cent ma
| chinery, capable Of propelling an Etruria
ETY. North river propeller. Martin Luther
was so mighty for God, first, because he had
noble soul, and secondly, because he had a
muscular development which would have
enabled him to thrash any five Of his
prosecutors, if it had been Christian so to do
Physical development which merely shows
itself in fabulous lifting, or in perilous rope
walking, or in pugilistic encounter, excites
only our contempt; but we confess to great
admiration for the man who has great
soul in an athletic body, every nerve, muscle
and bone Of which is consecra.ed to right
uses. Oh, it seems to me outrageous that
men, through neglect, shonld allow their
physical health to 60 down beyond repair. A
hip which ought, with all sail set and every
for eternity, employing all its men in stopping
up leakages! When you may, through the
gymnasium, work of your spleen and your
querulousness and one-hah Of your physical
and mental ailments do not turn your back
upon such grand meaicament.
Still further: commend to you a large
class Of parlor games and recrea:ions. There
is a way Of making our homes hundred
fold more attractive than they are now.
Those parents cannot expect to keep their
children away from outside dissipations un-
less they make the domestic circle brighter
than anything they can find outside of it. Do
not, then, sit in your home surly and unsym-
pathetic, and with half condemnatory look,
because Of the sportfulnesS Of your children.
You were young once YOURSELF let your chill
dren be young. Because your eyes are dim
sportfulness in those upon whose eye there is
the first lustre, and in whose foot there is
the bounding joy Of robust health. thank
God that in our drawing-rooms and in our
parlors there are innumerabe games and
sports which have not upon them the least
taint Of iniquity. Light up all your homes
with innocent hilarities. Do not sit down
with the rheumatism, wondering how
children can 60 on so. Rather thank God
that their hearts are so light and their
laughter is so free, and that their cheeks are
so ruddy and that their expectations are so
radiant The night will come soon enough,
and the heartbreak, and the pang. and the
desolation-it will come soon enough for the
dear children. Rut when the storm actually
clouds the sky it will be time enough for
you to haul out YOUR reef tackles. Carry,
then, into your homes not only the innocent
sports and games which are the inventions Of
our own day, but the games which come
down with the sportfulness Of all the past
ages-chess and charades, and tableau1 and
battledore, and calisthenics, and lawn tennis
and all those amusements which the young
people Of our homes know so we'll how to
contrive. Then there will be the parlor soci-
alities-groups of people assembled in your
homes, with wit and mimicry and joviality,
filling the room with joy from the door to
the mantel and from the carpet to the CELL
ing. Oh! is there any exhilaration like
score Of genial souls in one room, each one
adding q contribution Of his own in lividual
nerriment to the aggregation of general
hilarityl
Suppose you want to go abroad in the city,
then You will find the panorama and the art
You will find the Metropolitan Museum and
the Historical Society rooms full of rare curl
osities, and scores Of places which can stand
plainly the test Of what is right and wrong in
amusements You will find the lecturing
hall. which has been honored by the names
Of Agassiz in natural history, Doremus i'll
chemistry, Boynton in geology, Mitchell in
astronomy, John B. Cough in moral reform,
and scores and hundreds Of men who have
poured their wit and genius and ingenuity
through that particular channel upon the
hearts and consciences and imagiHationS OF
men, setting this co...cry fifty years farther
in advance than it would have been without
the lecture platform.
I rejoice in the popularization Of outdoor
sports. / hail the croquet ground and the
fiSherman's rod and the Sportsman's gun. In
our cities life is so unhealthy and unnatural
that when the census taker represents n city
as having SOC, 900 inhabitants, there are only
400, 600, since it takes at least two men to
amount to one man, so depicting and unnery-
ing and exhausting is this metropolitan life
We want more fresh air, more sunlight, more
of the abandon of field sports cry out for
it in behalf of the church of God Us w>li as in
behalf Of secular interests l wish that this
winter our ponds and our rivers and our
Capitoline grounds might be all awake with
the heel and the shout of the swift skater.
wish that when the warm weather comes the
graceful oar might dip the stream AMI
the evening It'd, be resonant with
splitting the crystalline bilow. We
shall have the smooth and grassy lawn, and
we will call out people of all occupations anil
professions, and ask them to join in til. bali
players sport You will come back from
these outdoor exercises and re 'r2ationiw II,
strength III your arm, ann co.or III your
cheek, and flash in your eye, and courage
in your heart. In this great lattle that l.
opening against the kingdom Of darkness wc
want not only consecrated soul, hut y
strong arm and stout lungs and n mighty
muscle. bless God that there are en- r'"n"
recreations that have not on them any taint
of iniquity; recreations in which we may
engage for tho strengthening of the body,
for the clearing of the intellect, for the lllu-
mination Of the soul,
There is still another form Of recreation
which I commend to you, and that is the
pleasure of doing good. have seen young
men weak and cross and sour and repelling
in their disposition, who, by one heavenly
touch, have wakened up and become blessed
and buoyant, the ground under their feet and
the sky over their heads breaking forth into
music "Oh," says some young man in the
house to-day, II should like that recreation
above all others, but have not the means"
My dear brother. let us take an account of
stock this morning. You have large estate,
If you only realzeit Two hands. Two feet
You will have, perhaps, during the next year,
at least $40 for charitable contribution. You
will have twenty-five hundred cheerful looks,
if you want to employ them. You will have
five thousand pleasant words. if you want to
speak them. Now, what an amount that is
to start with.
You 20 out tomorrow morning and you
see case Of real destitution by the way
side. You give him two cents. The blind
man hears the pennies rattle in his hat, and
he says: THANK you, sir; God bless YOU"
You pass down the street, trying to look in
different; but you feel from the very depth
Of your soul a profound satisfaction that you
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