The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-03-18

They jostle decent men off the side
walk. They take the name OF God in
vain. They parody the hymn they
learned at their mothers knee; and to
all pictures of coming disaster they cry
out "Who cares!" and to the counsel OF
some Christian friends, "Who are your"
Passing along the street some night,
you hear shrek in grog shop, the
rattle of the watchman's club, the rush
of the police. What is tn matter nowp
o, this reckless young man has been
killed in grog shop fight. Carry 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 sweet
est flowers and twist them into chap
let for the silent heart of the wayward
boy, and push back from his bloated
brow the long locks that were once her
pride. And the air will be rent with
agony The great drnmatist says, "How
sharper than serpent's tooth it is to
have a thankless child"
I go further, and say those are un-
christian amusements which. become
the chief business Of mans life. Life
is an earnest thing. Whether we were
born in palace or howell; whethe we
are affiuent or pinched, we have to
work. II you do not sweat with toll,
you will sweat with disease. You have
a soul that is to be transfigured amidst
the pomp Of a 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 is so much to do for yourselves,
and so much to 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 up the bucket out Of
the deep well Of pleasure. Amusement
is only the bower where business and
philanthropy rest while on their way to
stirring achievements. Amusements
are merely the vines that grow about
the anvil Of toll, aad the blossoming of
the hammers. Also for the man who
spends his life in laboriously doing
nothing, his days in hunting up loung-
ing places and loungers, his nights in
seeking out some gas-lighted foolery?
The man who always has on 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 well off as the greyhound that runs
by his side, or the fly bait with which
he whips the stream.
man who does not work does not
know how TO play. II God had intended
us to do nothing but laugh he would
not have given us houlders with which
to lift, and hands with which to work,
and brains with which to think. The
amusements of life are merely the or
chestra playing while the great tragedy
Of life plunges through its five acts-in-
fancy, childhood, manhood, old age and
death. Then exit the last earthly OPP
portunity. Enter the overwhelming
realities Of an eternal world.
go further, and say that all those
amusements are wrong which lead into
bad company. II you go to any place
where you have TO associate with the
intemperate, with the unclean, with the
abandoned, however well they may be
dressed, in the name of God quit IL.
They will despoil 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. They will chuckle over
your damnetion.
had frie nd at the west--a rare
friend. He was one Of the first TO well
come me to my new home. To fine per-
sonal appearance, he added a generos-
ity, franlsness and ardor of nature that
made me love him like a brother But
saw evil people gathering around him.
They came up from the saloons, from
the gambling hells. They piled him
with thousand arts. They seized upon
his social nature, and he could not stand
the charm. They drove him on the
rocks, like a ship full-winged, shivering
on the breakers. | used to admonish
him. would say, "Now wish you
would quit these bad habits, and be.
come a Christian" "O," he would re-
ply, 81 would like to; would like to;
but have gone so far 1 don't think
there is any way back" In his mo-
ments Of repentance, he you'd go home
and take his little girl of eight years,
and embrace her convulsively, and cover
her with adornments, and strew around
her pictures and toys, and everything
that could make her happy; and then,
as though branded by an evil spirit, he
would 60 out TO the enhaming cup and
the house Of shame, like fool 10 tho
correction OF the stocks.
was summoned TO his death bed /
hastened. entered the room, found
him, to my surprise, lying in full every
day dress on the top Of the couch. l
put out my hand. He grasped II ex-
citedly, and said, "Sit down, Mr.. Tai
mage, right here" l sat down. He
said: Last night l saw my mother,
who has been dead twenty years, and
she sat where You sit now. II was no
dream. was wide awake. There was
no delusion in the matter saw her
just as plainly as / see you.-Wife, 1
wish, you would take these strings of
OF me. There are strings spun all
around my body. ] wish you would