The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-08-09

q a great many people makes an annual
,tsit to the springs an absolute neces-
ity: but take your Bible along with
and take an hour for secret prayer
vary day. though you be surrounded by
uf,aw and s~aturnalia. This may be
last summer II 30 make 1T a fit
yestibule Of Heaven
Another temptation around nearly all
our watering places Is the horse-racing
business. We all admire the horse.
There needs to be a redistribution OF
c~oronets among the brute creation. For
ages the lion has been called the king
beasts. 1 knock of Its coronet n
nut the crown.u upon the horse, In every
wav nobler, whether In shape or spirit
or ~saQscity or intelligence or affection
or usefulness
Job sets forth his strength, his beau
tv. his majesty. the painting OF his nos
trils. the paving Of his hoof, INT his
enthusiasm for the battle. What Rosa
Bonheur did for cattle, and what Land
seer did for the dog, Job, with mightier
nenciI. does for the horse. Eighty-eight
times does the Bible speak OF him.. be
comes into every kingly possession, n
into every great occasion and into every
triumph. 1t is very evident that JOB
and David and Isaiah and Ezekiel and
Jeremiah and John were very fond OF
the horse. He came into much OF their
imagery. A red horse-that meant war;
a black horse-that meant famlne; a
paie horse-that meant death; a white
horse-that meant victory.
As the Bible makes a favorite OF the
horse, the patriarch and prophet and
the evangelist and the apostle, stroking
his sleek hide and patting his
neck and tenderly lift ng his exquisiteiy
formed hoof. and listening with q thrill
to the champ Of his bit, SO all great
natures in all ages have spoken OF him
in ecomiastic terms.
But we do not think that the speed OF
the horse should be cultured at the ex-
pense Of human degradation Horse
races Of olden times were under the ban
Of Christian people, and in our day the
same institution has come up under fic-
titious names and it Is called a Sum
mer meeting" almost suggestive OF
positive religious exercises. And 1t Is
called an Agricultural fair" sugges-
tlN0 Vi oNoEH tulhk JndO 10 iApAoNAh "
the art of farming. But under these
deceptive titles are the same cheating
and the same betting the same drunk
enness and the same vagabondage and
the same denominations hat were to be
found under the old horse racing system.
1 never knew Q q yet who could
give himself to the pleasures OF the turf
for Q long reach Of time and not be bat
tered in morals. They hook up their
spanking team and put on their sport
ing cap and light their cigar and take
the reins and dash down tho road to
perdition. The great day at Saratoga
and Long Branch and Cape May. and
| nearly all the other watering places Is
the day Of the races The hotels are
thronged, nearly every kind Of equipage
IL taken up at an almost fabulous price,
| and there are many respectable people
| mingling with jockeys, and gamblers,
| and libertines, and foul mouthed men
| and fiashy women. The bartender stirt
up the brandy smash. The bet runs high
The greenhorns, ~supposing all is fair
put in their money soon enough to LOSE
it Three weeks before the race takes
place the struggle is decided and the
men in the secret know on which steet
to bet their money. The two men OF
the horses riding around long before ar
range who shall be beat
Leaning from the stand or from thu
carriage are men and women 30 alb
sorbed in the struggle Of bone ant
muscle and mettle that they make
grand harvest for the ~pickpockets, WIFI
carry of the pocket books and porte
monnaies.
All, my friends, have nothing to d.
with horse racing designations this sum
mer. Long ago the English Govern
ment got through looking to the tnr
for the dragon and light cavalry horse
They found the turf deprecistes tn
stock, and it Is yet worse for men
Thomas Hughes, the member Of Parlia
ment and the author, known all tn
world over, hearing that q new turf on
terprise was being started in this couI
try, wrote q letter, in which he sale
Heaven help You then; for of all tn
cankers of our ola civilization there
nothing In this country approaching
unblushing meanness, in rascality holt
ing its head high, to this belauded n
stitution Of the British turf"
I go further, and speak Of anothe
temptation that hoyers over the watel
ing places; and this il the Semptatio
to sacrifice physicist ssrength. Th
modern Bethesda was meant to reeupe
ate the physical health, and,.yet no
many come from the watering place
their health absolutely destroyed! Ne
York and Brooklyn idiots boasting
having imbibed twenty glasses of COZ
gress water before breakfast Familit
accustomed to going to bed at te
o'clock at night, gossiping until n
two o'clock in the morning. Dyspe
tics, usually very cautious about the
health. mingling ice creams and lemon
and lobster salads and cocoa nuts unit
the gastric juices lift up sli their yoic'
of lamentation and protest Delica
women and brainless young men cha
SEEING themselves into vertigo and ca
alepsy. Thousands of men and wome
coming back from III watering .plac
In the autumn with the foundations la
for ailments that will last them all the
life long.
Another temptation lowering arour
the watering place Is to the formatiC
of hasty and lifelong alliances. TT
watering places are responsible for mo
Of the domestic infelicities of this cou
try than all the other things combine
Society ID so artificial there that 40 su
Judgment of character Jan be forme
: Those who form cOmpanionships am
' such circumstances go into a lotte
where there are twenty blanks to o.
= prize. In the severe tug of life y
: want more than glitter and splas
| Life Is not q ball room where the mu'
decides the step, and bow and pran
and graceful swing Of long trail O
Z make up flor strong common sense. Y,
Q may as well go among the gaily-paint
2 yachts Of a summer regatta to find W
vessels as to 60 among the light spr
Of tho summer watering place to fl
r character hat can stand the test Of t
o great struggle of human life.
Il II there Is any man in the eommuni
that excites the contempt OF every IN
n and woman, II is the soft-handed, so
II headed fop. who, ~perfumed until I
n air Is actually sick, spends his sunni
d in taking killing attitudes, and wavi
q sentimental adisus, and talking
II finitesimal nothings, and finding
n heaven In the set Of lavendar kid glo
n Boots as tight as an inquisition, t
l. hours Of consummate skill exhibited
B. the tie OF q flaming cravat, his CONVEX
ton made up of ''Ah's'' and 'O's" q
"He-hee's." 1t would take 800 of tn,
If stewed down to make a teaspoonful
It calves foot Jelly. There is only
h counterpart 70 such . man as that, q
that Is the frothy young woman at