The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-03-25

in whose outer circle your boat now
dances. making merry with the 0hirllng
waters: But YOU are beng drawn in,
and the rentle motion will become ter
rifle agitation. You cry for help. In
vain, You pull at the oar to put back,
hut the struggle will rot avail ! You
Will be tossed, and dashed, and ship
wrecked, and swallowed in the Whirlpool
that has already crushed in its wrath ten
thousand hulks.
7 saw a beautiful home where the bell
raoc violently late at night. The son
had been off in sinful indulsences: His
comrades were bringing him home.
They carried him to the door. They
rapn the bell at one O'Clock in the morn
mo. Father and mother came dowp.
They were waiting for the wandering
son. and then the comrades, as soon as
the door was opened, threw the prodl-
cal headlong into the doorway, crying.
s.Tbere he is, drunk as fool. Ha, ha!"
When men 60 into amusements that
tEey cannot afford, they first borrow
what thew canDot cam, and then they
steal what they cannot borrow. First
thev % into embarrassment, and then
into lying, and then INTO theft; and when
man Gets as far on as that, he does
rot stop short of the penitentlary. There
is not q prison in the land where there
are not victims Of unsanctliled amuse-
mentS.
How brightly the path of unrestrained
amusement opens. The young man
saws, Now l am off for good time.
Never mind economy. III get money
somehow. What fine road! What a
beautiful day for ride! Crack the
whip, and over the turnpike ! Come,
boys, fill high your glasses. Drink !!
Long lie. health, plenty Of rides just
like thisv Hard-working men hear the
clatter OF the hoofs, and look up and
say, why, I wonder where those tel-
lows Get their money from! We have
to toll and drudge. They do nothing!"
To these gay men life is thrill and an
excitement. They stare at other peo-
pie. and in turn are stared at. The
watchchain iingles. The cup foans.
The cheeks flush. The eyes flash. The
midnight hears their guffaw. They
swagear. They jostle decent men OIL
tie Sidewalk. They take the name OF
God in vain. They parody the hymn
they learned at their mothers knee aid
to all pictures Of coming disaster they
cry out, WHO cares !" and to the coun-
sci of some Christian friend, "Who are
vou.'' Passing along the street some
night. you hear a Shrek in grog-shop,
the rattle of the watchmar.s club, the
rush OF the police. What IS the matter
now? Oh, this reckless young man has
teen killed in crog-shop light. Carry
him home to his fathers house. Pa
rents will come and wash his wounds,
and close his eyes IN death. They for
give him all he ever did, although Ae
cannot in his silence ask it. The prodl-
cal has cot home at last. Mother will
90 to her little garden, and get the
sweetest flowers, and twist them into a
chaplet for the silent heart Of the way
ward boy, and push back from the
hloateu brow the long locks that were
once her pride. And the air will be rent
with the agony. The great dramatlst
saws. How sharper than a serpent's
tooth it is to have thankless child"
1 90 further, ana say those are un-
christian amusements which become the
chief business of a mans life. Life IS
an earnest thing. Whether we were
born in a palace or hovel whether we
are affiuent or pinched, we have to woik.
If you do not sweat with toll, you will
sweat with disease. You have soul
that is to be transfgured 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. Ina 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 alleviatlons and helps.
The arm Of toll is the only arm strong
enough to bring up the bucket out Of the
deep we'll of pleasure. Amusement is
only the bower where business and phil
lanthropy rest while on their way to
stirring achievements. Amusements
are merely the vines that grow about the
anvil ST toll, and the blossomlng Of the
hammers. Alas! for the man who
spends bis life in laboriously doing moth
ing, his days in hunting up lounging-
places and loungers, his nights in seek
ing out some gaslighted foolery! The
man who always has on his sporting
i cket. ready to hunt for game in tne
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.
A man who does not work, does not
know how to pray. If God had inten.
ded 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 merely the or.
chestra playing while the great tragedy
of live piunges through its five atcs-ln-
fancy. childhood, manhood, old age, and
death. Then exit the last earthly op-
pcrtunity. Enter the overwhelming re-
alities of an eternal world!
l 60 further, and say that all those
amusements are wrocg which lead into
bad company. Ii you 60 to any place
where YOU have to associate with the
intemperace, with the uuclean, 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 de-
stroyed. They will give not one cent
to support your children when you are
dead. They will weep not one tear al
your bur Al. They will chuckle over
your damnation.
had a friend at the West-a rare