The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-03-20

has already crushed IN Its wrath N,UOO
hulks.
Still further: Those amusements are
wrong which lead you into expenditure
beyond your means. Money spent in
recreation is not thrown away. 1t is all
folly for us to come from place of
amusement feeling that we have wasted
our money and time. You may by it
have made an investment worth more
than the transaction that yielded you
hundreds of thousands of dollars. But
how many properties have been riddled
by costly amusements.
The first time | ever saw the city-it
was the city of Philadelphia was a
mere lad. | stopped at a hotel. and
remember in the eventide one of these
men piled me with his Internal art. He
saw l was green. He wanted to show
me the sights of the town. He painted
the path of sin until it looked like en-
erald. but was afraid of him. | showed
back from the basilisk-I made up my
mind he was basilisk. l remember
how he wheeled his chair round in front
of me. and with concentrated and dia-
bolical effort attempted to destroy my
SOUL but there were good angels in the
air that night. 1t was no good resolu-
ton on nv part, but it was the all en-
comprising grace of good God that de-
livered me. Bewarel beware. o, young
man. There is a way that seemeth
right unto man. but the end thereof is
DEATH" The table has been robbed to
pay the club. The champagne has
fcheated the children's wardrobe. The
carousing party has burned up the boys
primer. The table cloth in the corner
saloon is in debt to the wife's faded
dress. Excursions that in day make a
tour around a whole months wages: la
dies whose lifetime business is to go
shopping: large bets on horses have
their counterparts In uneducated chill
drer, bankruptcies that shock the mon
ey market and appal the church, and
that send drunkenness staggering across
the richly figured carpet of the man
sion, and dashing into the mirror and
drowning out the carol of music with
the whooping of bloated sons come home
to break their old mothers heart. |
saw beautiful home where the bell
rang violently late at night. The son
had been Off in sinful indulgences. His
comrades were bringing him home.
They carried him to the door. They
rang the bell at o'clock in the morning.
Father and mother came down. They
we're waiting for the wandering son. and
then the comrades, as soon as the door
was opened. threw the prodigal head
long into the doorway, crying out:
There he is, drunk as fool. Ha, hal
When men 90 into amusements that
they. cannot afford they first borrow
what they cannot earn and then they
steal what they Cannot borrow. First
they 90 into embarrassment and then
into lying and then into their theft,
and when a man gets as far on as that,
he does not sop short of the peniten-
tiary. There is not prison in the
land where there are not victims of un-
, santified amusement.
, Merchant of Brooklyn or New York.
is there a disarrangement in your ac-
counts? Is there leakage in your
money drawer? Did not the cash ac-
: counts come out right last night?
will tell you. There is young man in
your store wandering off 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 bright the path of unrestrained
, amusement opens. The young man
says: Now | am off for good time
Never mind economy. I'll get money
somehow. What fine road. What 8
beautiful day for a ride. Crack the
whip, and over the turnpike. Come
g, 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 fel
lows get their money from. We have
t to toll and drudge. They do moth ng.
To these gay men life is "a thrill and an
: excitement. They stare at other PEG
pie and in turn are stared at. The
/ watch chain jingles. The cup foams
The cheeks flush. The eyes flash. The
midnight hears their guffaw: They
swagger. They jostle decent men of
the sidewalk. They take the name Of
God in vain. They parody the
; hymn they learned at their mothers
knee, and to all pictures OF coming dis
aster they cry out, "WhO cares" and
to the counsel of some Christian friend.
"Who are yOu?" Passing along the
street some night you hear a shrek in
grog shop. the rattle of the watch.
mans club. the rush of the police. What
is the matter now? o. this reckless
young man has been killed in a grog
shop fight. Carry him home to his
mothers house. Parents will come
down and wash his wounds and close his
eyes in death. They forgive him all he
ever hid. although he cannot in his ST.
lence ask it. The prodigal has got
home home at last. Mother will go to
her little garden and get the sweetest
flowers. and twist them into chaplet
for the silent heart of the maynard boy.
and push hack from the blOated brow
the locks that were once her pride. And
the air will be rent with the agony. The
great dramatist says: "How sharper
than serpent sNooth it is to have a
thanklesS child"
had a friend at the west-a rare
friend. He was one of tie first to well
come me to my new home. To fine per-
sOnal appearance he added 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 thousand arts. They sliced up
on his social nature and he could not
stand the charm. They drove him on
the rocks like ship full winged, shiv-
ering on the breakers. used to ad-
monish him. would say, ''Now wish
you would quit these bad habits, and
become a Christian" 90" he would
reply. Il would like to; would like to:
but l have gone so far I don't think
there is any way back" In his repent
ance, he would go home and take hi