Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-03-21


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 unre-
strained amusement opens. The young
man says: Now am off for good
time. Never mind economy. I'll get
money somehow. What a flno roadl
What q beautiful day for ridel Crack
the whip and over the turnpike! Come,
boys, fill high your glasses. Drink
Long life, health, plenty of rides just
like this!' Hard working men hear
the clatter of the hoofs, and look up
and say: "Why, / wonder where those
fellows get their money from2 We
have to toll and drudge; they do moth
ing" To t.lcsc gay men life is thrill
and an excitement. They stare at other
people, and in turn arc stared ut The
watch chain jinglcs. Tho cup foa,ns.
Tho checks flush. The eyes fash The
I3niidnigl it leArs heir gnffaw; = They.
:sWag they jostlosd decent men of,
]. the Sidewalk They take tlle:l,aino Of
God in vain. They parody the hymn
they learned ct their mothers knee,
and to al pictures of coming disaster
they cry cot. WHO carcs!" and to the
counsel of some Christian friend, who
arc your
Passing along the street some night,
you hear shrek in q grog shop, the
rattle of the watchmaa's club, the rush
of the police What is the matter now2
Oh, this reckless young man has been
killed in q grog shop fight. Garry him
home to his fathers house. Parents
will come down and wash his wounds
and close his eyes in death. They for
give him all he ever did, although he
cannot in his silence ask it. The prod
| igal has got home at last. Mother will
go to her little garden and get the
sweetest flowers and twist them into
cllaplet for the silent heart of the way
ward boy, and push back from the
bloated brow the long locks that were
once her pride. And the air will be
rent with the agony. The great dram
atist says, GLOW sharper than scr
pent's tooth it is to have a thankless
child.
LIFE IS REAL-AMUsEMENT But REST.
I 60 further, and say those are I'M
christian amusements which become
the Chief business of mans life. Life
is an earnest thing Whether VIC were
born in u palace or hovcl, whether We
are aflucnt or pinchcd, VIC have to
work. IL you do not sweat with toll
you will sweat with disease. You have
soul that is to be TRANSPORTED amid
the pomp of q Judgment day. anil after
the sca has sung its last chant and tho
mountain shall have CONC down in an
avalanche of rock, you will live and
think and act, high on a throne where
seraphs. sing or deep in a dungeon
where demons howl In world where
there is SO much to do for yourselves
| and so mitch to do for others, God pity
that man who has nothing to do.
Your sports are merely means to an
end. They are allcviations and helps.
The arm Of toil-is The only arm strong
| enough to bring up tho bucket out of
the deep we'll of pleasure Amusement
is only the bower where business and
philanthropy rest while on their way to
stirring achievements. Amusclncnts
arc merely the vines that grow about
the anvil of toll and the blossoming of
the hammers. Alas for tho man who
spends his life in laboriously doing
nothing, his days in huntiur; up loung-
ing places and loungers. his nights in
seeking out some gas lighted foorery!
The man who always has OH his sport
ing 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 fly bait with which
lie whips tho stream.
A man who docs not work does not
know how to play. If God had in
tended US to do nothing but laugh he
would not have given usshoulders with
which to lift, and hands with which to
work, and brains will, which to think.
The amuscmcnts of life arc merely the
orchestra playing while the great trag-
edy of life plungcs through its five acts
infancy, childhood, manhood, old
age and death. Then exit the. last
earthly opportunity. Enter the over
whelring realities of an eternal world.
I go further, and say that all those
amusenents are wrong which lead into
bad company. Ifyou 60 to any place
where you have to associate with the
Incorporate, with the unclcan, with
the abandoned, however we'll they may
be dressed, in the name Of God quit it.
They will dcspoil your nature. They
will undermine your moral character.
They will drop you when you are de-
stroyed. They will give not one cent
to support your children when you are
dead. They will weep not one tear at
your burial. Troy will chucfle over
your damnation.
THE SOCIAL NATURE ATTACKED.
had q friend at the west-a rare
friend. lie was one of the first to well
como me to my new home. To fine
personal appearance he added gencr-
osity, frankness and ardor CT nature that
made me love him like q brother. But
I saw evil people gathering around him.
They came up from the saloons, from
the gambling hclls. They piled him
with Thousand arts. They seized upon
his social nature. and he could not
4. Il. 4 1,f,., m,