Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-03-20
saw a beautif,Il home. where the bell

prc1lgal nc1QiOnS iutO Sne doorway. Ctyih@s
There he is, drunk as q fool. Ia, ha.'
When men go into amueements they cannot
afford they first borrow what they cannot
earn and then they steal what they cannot
borrow First they go into embarrassment
and then into lying and then into theft;
and when man gets as far on as that ne
does not stop short of the penitentiary.
There is not prison in the land where there
are not victims Of unsanctihed amusements.
Merchants OF Brooklyn or New York. is
there a disarrangement in your accountsi
| Is there leakage in your money drawer!
| Did not the last account come out right last
nights will tell you. There is a young
man in your store wandering oil into bad
amusements. The salary you give him may
meet lawful expenditures, but not the sinful
indulgences 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 says
Now am off for good time. Never mimi
economy. I'll get money somehow. what
A fine road What beautiful day Tor a
ride Crack the whip, and over the turn
pikel Come, boys fill high your glasses
! Drink Long life, health, plenty of rides just
ike thisl Hard working men hear the ciat-
ter of the hoo.s and look up and say: why,
| wonder where those fellows get their
money from? We have to toll and drudge.
vhey do nothing" To these gay men life
IS a thrill and an excitement. They stare az
other people and in turn are staredat. The
watch chain jingleS. The cup foams.
The midnight hears their guHaw.
they swagger. Tley jostle decent men
of the sidewalk. They take the name
If God in vain. They parody the hymn they
earned at their mothers knee and to all
pictures of coming disaster they cry olt
'Who caresI' and to the counsel Of some
Christian friend, "WhO are you|
Passing along the street some night yoI
| near Shrek in grog shop, the rattle of
The watchman's cub, the rush of the police.
What is the matter now? On, this reckless
young man has been killed in a grog shop
| light. Carry him home to his fathers house.
Parents viii come down and wash his
wounds and close his eyes in death. They
forgive him all he ever did, although he can
not in his silence ask it. The prodigal mas
cot home at last. Mother will go to her
little garden and get the sweetest flowers
and twist them into chaplet for the silent
,leart of the Maynard boy, and push back
from the bloated brow the long locks that
we're once her pride, and the air viii be rent
With the agony. The great dramatist says:
How sharper than a serpents tooth 1t is TO
lavea thankless child
go further, and say these are Unchristian
amusements which become the Chief business
If q mans life. Life is an earnest thing.
Whether we were born in palace or howell,
whether we are affluent or pinched, we have
% work. If YOU do not sweat with toll, you
will sweat with disease. You have soul
that is to be TRANSPORTED amid the pomp OF
Judgment day and after the sea has sung
its last chant and the mountain shall have
come down in an avalanche of rock, you
will live and think and act, high on throne
where seraphs sing, or deep in dungeon
where demons howl In world where there
50 much to do for yourselves, and so much
% do for others, God pity that man who has
nothing to do.
Your sports are merely means to an end.
They are alleviations and helps. The arm Of
toll is the only arm strong enough TO bring
I'D the bucket out of the deep well Of pleas
ure. Amusement is only the bower where
business and philanthropy rest while on their
way TO stirring achievements. ADJUSTMENTS
are merely the vines that grow about the
anvil of toll and the poisoning Of the ham
mers. Alas for the man who spends his Hte
/ in laboriously doing nothing, his days In
hunting up lounging places and loungers,
/ his nights in seeking out some gas lighted
fooleryl The man who always has on his
sporting Jacket, ready to hunt for game IN
/ the mountain or fish in the brook, with no
/ time to pray or work or read Is not so we'll
/ off as the greyhound that runs by his side, or
! the hy bait with which he whips the stream.
A man who does not work does not know
| how to play. If God had intended us to do
| nothing but laugh He would not have given
us shoulders with which to lift, and hands
with which to work, and brains with which
/ to think The amusements OF life are mere
/ " the orchestra playing while the great
| tragedy of lie plunges through its five acts
infancy, childhood, manhood, old age AMI
death. Then exit the last earthly emporium
ity. Enter the overwhelming realities of an
I eternal world!
90 further, and say that al those amus~
ments are wrong which lead into bad COM
pany. II you 90 to any place where YOU
! have to associate With the incorporate, with
the uncean, with the abandoned, however
well they may be dressed, in the name OF
! God quit it, They will deSPoil your nature.
! They will undermine your moral character.
They will drop you when you are destroyed.
They will give not one cent to support your
children when you are dead. They will weep
not one tear at your burial. They Will
chuckle over your damnation.
| had friend at the west-a rare friend.
He was one OF the first to welcome me to his
new home. To fine personal appearance ne
added a generosity, franknesS and ardor OF
nature that made me love him like brother.
But saw evil people gathering around him.
/ They came up from the saloons, from the
gambling hells They piled him with thou
sand arts They seized upon his social ma
ture. and he could not stand the charm.
They drove him on the rocks, like ship full
winged. shivering on the breakers. | used
to admonish him. | would say, Now
wish you would quit these bad habits and
become a Christian" "Oh, " he would reply,
a would like to. Iwouid like to, but have
gone.so far don't think there is any way
back" In his moments of repentance he
would 20 home and take his little girl OF
eight years. aud embrace her convulslvely,
and cover her with adornments and strew
around her pictures and toys and every thing
that could make her happy; and then, as
though bounded by an evil spirit, he would
20 out to the enhaming cup and the house OF
shame, like fool TO the correction OF the
stocks.
/ was summoned to his deathbed.
FASTENED. ! entered the room. l found him
TO my surprise lying in full every day dress
on the top of the clothes. put out my nan Z.
He grasped it exctedly and sail, ''Sit down,
Mr. Talmage, right here" | sat down. He
saiG: Last night [ saw my mother, VINO has
been dead twenty years aud she sat just
where you sit now. 1t was no dream. | was
wide awake. There was no deusion in the
matter. | saw her just as plainly as l see
YOU. Wife, l wish you would take thoss
strings off of me- There are strings spun
all around my body. l wish you would
take them off Of me" | saw it was de-
lirium.
oh" replied his wife, my dear, there is
nothing there there is nothing there He
went on, and said Just where you sit, Mr..
Talmage, my mother sat. She said: Henry,
do wish you would do better got out OF
bed, put my arms around her, and said,
Mother, l want to do better l have been
trying TO do better Won't you help me to
do better? You used TO help me- No mis-
take about it. No delusion. saw her-the
cap. and the apron, and the spectacles, just
rs she used to look twenty years ago; but
do wish you would take these things away.
They annoy me so. can hardly talk.
Won't you take them away l knelt down
and prayed, conscious OF the fact that he did
not realize what | was saying got up.
said. "Goo1-by; hope your will BE- better
soon" He said, 'GOod-by, good-by."
That night his soul went to the God who
gave it. Arrangements were made for the
obsequieS. Some said, Don't bring him in