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

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next day TO his work bloodshot, yawn-
ing, stupid, nauseated; and they are
wrong kinds of amusement. They are
entertainments that give man disgust
with the drudgery of life, with tools be-.
cause they are not swords, with work.
ing aprons because they are not robes,
with cattle because they are not in
furiated bulls of the arena II any
amusement sends you homo longing for
life of romance and thrilling adven-
ture, love that takes poison and shoots
itself, moonlight adventures and hair
breadth escapes, you may depend upon
1t that you are the sacrificed victim of
unsanctified pleasure. Our recreations
are intended to build us up; and if they
pull Us down as to our moral or as to
our physical strength, you may come to
the conclusion that they are obnoxious.
There is nothing more depraving than
attendance upon amusements that are
full of innuendo and low suggestion.
The young man enters. At first he sits
far back, with his hat on, and his coat
collar up, fearful that somebody there
may know him. Several nights pass on.
He takes off his hat earlier, and puts his
coat collar down. The blush that first
came into his cheek when anything in
decent was enacted comes no more to
his cheek. Farewell, young mani You
have probably started on the long road
which ends in consummate destruction.
The stars of hope will go out one by one
until you will be left in utter darkness,
Hear you not the rush of the maelstrom,
In whose outer circle your boat now
dances, making merry with the whirl-
ing waters? But you are being drawn
in, and the gentle motion will become
terrible agitation. You cry for help. In
vainl You pull at the oar to put back,
but the struggle will not avail You
will be tossed, and dashed, and ship
wrecked, and swallowed in the whirl-
pool that has already crushed in its
wrath ten thousand hulks.
Young men who have just come from
country residence to city residence will
do well to be on guard and let no one
induce you to places of improper
amusement. 1t is nightly alluring
when a young man, long a citizen, Of
fers to show a new-com all around.
Still further; those amusements are
wrong which lead you into expense be-
yond your means. Money spent in recre-
alton is not thrown away. 1t is all folly
for us to come from place of amuse-
ment 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 hun
dreds Of thousands of dollars. Blu how
many properties have been riddled by
costly amusements
The first time ever saw the city-it
was the city Of Philadelphia was
mere lad. stopped at hotel, and
remember in the even-tide 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 1t looked like
emerald; but was afraid of him. l
showed back from the basilisk-I made
up my mind he was basilisk. re-
member how he wheele his chair round
in front Of me, and, with concentrated
and diabolical effort, attempted TO de-
stroy my soul; but there were good
angels in the air that night. 1t was no
good resolution on my part, but It was
the all-encompassing grace Of good God
that delivered me. Beware! beware! oh,
young man. "There is way that seem.
eth right unto a man, but the end there
of is death" The table has been robbed
TO pay the club. The champagne has
cheated the children's wardrobe. The
carousing party has burned up the boys
primer. The tablecloth Of the cor1er
saloon is in debt TO the wife's faded
dress. Excursions that in a day make
a tour around a whole months wages;
ladies whose lifetime business is TO "go
shopping;" large bets on horses have
their counterpart in uneduoatod chill
dren, bankruptcies that shock the money
market and appal the church, and that
send drunkenness staggering across the
richly figured carpet of the mansion,
and dashing into the mirror and drown
ing 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 indulgeuccs.
His comrades were bringing HIM home.
They carried him TO the door. They
rang the bell at one o'clock in the
morning. Father and mother came
down. They were waiting for the wan
dering son, and then the comrades, as
soon as the door was opened, threw the
prodigal headlong into the doorway,
crying: "There he is, drunk as u fool.
TIA, ha!' When men go into amusements
that they cannot afford, they first Dor
row what they cannot earn, and then
they steal what they cannot borrow
First they go into embarrassment, and
then into lying, and then into theft
and when man gets as far on as that
he does not stop short Of the pcniten.
tiary. There is not a prison In the land
where there are not victims of unsancti-
fed aAnuscments.
Merchant Of Brooklyn, or New York,
Is there disarrangement in your ac-
counts? Is there 4 leakage in your
money drawerp Did not the cash 40
count come right last night2 | 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
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