The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1891-02-06

! ceSSltleS, so soon does the work OF man come
as saving element in his discipline.
paper collar or a stove-pipe hat upon q
South Sea Islander may be but visible to-
ken of his conversion, a searching for some
thing better than he has known. 1t seems
as though the first thing to be done is to in
| fuse into mans consciousness the fact that
he is capable of the higher enjoyment and
nober life which the best men of our times
have attained. The more this thought be-
comes the living thought of community the
less becomes the necessity for an organ
izatiOn for aims giving.
| We hear so often the fact bewailed that
our churches cannot reach our poor. In
| general let q man respect himself and his
God enough to become an attendant at q
church, the Lord takes care of him by fitting
him to take care of himself and he soon
takes his place among the better class of
citizens, so that really we cannot have the
degraded poor of us though he may he
| with us.
Work is divinely sent antidote for most
of the evils of this life. Though it may not
always cure it seldom fails to alleviate. If
q man will not work neither shall lie eat.
! Nature is q stern mother to her children and
does not spare the rod in teaching them this
wholesome lesson. 1t is as foolish for ma
tions as for individuals to run counter to
natural laws and though punishment may
| be delayed it will assuredly come sooner or
| later and our punishment is upon us. A
| vast army of tramps preambulate the coun-
| try, working south i'm winter and north in
summer begging and thieving they wander
from community to community, careless of
the future, demOraized and degraded spec
linens of humanity. Besides these there
are crowds of men out Of employment for
various reasons and through their idleness
becoming necessarily dangerous class of
citizens. Now it seems to me that the city
or nation can better afford to furnish work
for these idlers than to support them as
criminals. AS one suggestion could not our
city be cleared of mud and idlers at the same
time by judciOus management.
We know that all work and no play will
make the coming Jack dull boy. Walter
Besant in his 'All Sorts and Conditions of
Men" made strong plea for the class who
earn just enough to keep the wolf from the
door and to whom life becomes ''dem'd
demnltion grind. The whole book is q
sermon ''The necessity of pleasure, the de-
sirableneSs of pleasure and the beauty of
pleasure" He builds in imagination q
Palace of Delight for the joyless people of
East London, which has materialiZed into
the Peoples Palace of which the January
Cosmopolitan gives a fine description.
1t is said that all roads lead to Rome
believe that if my paper had been upon
Free Coinage or Darkest Africa / should
have cOntrivcd to reach the point where
now am, the desirableness of pleasure. Be
ing one of the silent majority who are to be
seen but not heard have never had an Op-
portunity of presenting an idea which has
grown with my growth.
While we have been looking out for the
health education and morals of coming gen.
eratiOnS we have done nothing TO make sure
future pleasure. Here is an opportunity for
immortality that soon will be lost. You
have all noticed how fast the shady walks
and lovers lanes of the beautiful groves in
and about our city are being converted into
city lots upon which are crowded little
houses painted yellow with square win
dow in the gable end towards the street.
They represent homes, the sweetest thought
in the human heart, but they are in the
wrong place. Do you know that even now
there is no place for the vast crowds of
young people To walk but Oak Hill, think
of being positively obliged TO court your
best girl over tombstone, or worse yet,
your second wife under the weeping willow
that shades your first wife's grave. Must
the children's teeth be set on edge because
the father likes sour grapes. Next Sunday,
after good sermon and dinner, take a
stroll over the city with thS thought in your
mind.
First there is the lovely grove about the
Second Ward School and it seem desecration
that a single one of the beautiful trees
should be cut down. We could not grow
them in many generations. Central Park
| has nothing finer. Then look ut the grove
about the Fourth Ward school, can money
replace it after ii is gone? Think what
can be made with gravel walks. electric
| lights, bands discOurslng sweet music, and
seats beneath the shade for talking age and
whispering lovers made. Then go down to
| the river and follow its bank and try to inn
agine a Riverside Park, with a grand grav-
clled drive from Washington street to Oil
yer. This may be impracticable, but with
notifications / don't believe the bright spots
of our Indian camping grounds are vanish
ing. The gift Of 500 by the council for
the beautifying of La Fayettee Park shows
that the proverbial thought pebble has been
dropped. 1t was my grandfather who g.tve
that square of ground. La Fayette Park as
breathing place in the heart of our city.
See to it thai future children have ilustri-
Gus grand parents to remember.
A man may not be able to choose his
| father and mother, but he can see to 1t that
his descendants have ancestors Of whom
they are proud.