Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1893-01-07

more and more to the front, to the dis
enlargement of the amateur. To excel
in billiards, in cricket, in golf, tennis,
or any of the myriad games played with
balls of various size and material, more
time must be filched from serious bust
ness than can by any means be afford.
ed by those who have to earn living
To become proficient in the spot-stroke
postulates an apprenticeship at least
as severe and as prolonged as that
of any skilled handicraft, and
the extraordinary perfection attained
by those classed as gentlemen" cricket
ers, as distinguished from players"
implies that for them it is the business
of life and not mere relaxation. The
tendency of all games in this age OF
wealth and leisure is to turn players
into athletes, and in these, as in serious
work, amateur is Synonymous with
immature"
Yet games are of such excellent use
in themselves, not only as a recreation
from strain, but as safety valves for the
dangerous or miscellaneous forces in hu.
man nature, diverting the thoughts
from unhealthy tendencies and chasten.
ing the frames into symmetry and grace,
that it were a pity if room were not
kept for people who can never aspire tc
professional proficiency. They are po'
tent safeguards against two of the
most deplorable deformities to which
human nature is liable-dullness in the
hard worked and vanity in the idle;
each of which brings many a man and
woman into a tragic degree of ridicule
Some young people are so constituted
as to feel no inclination to games, but
very much the reverse; their minds are
of such fiber as to retain elasticity
without having recourse to syste-
matte diversion. That they are not
Oh .acters of small capacity which
exhibit this trait may be shown by
quoting two we'll known instances
of men highly distinguished in
widely different careers. The duke of
Wellington could never be induced
when at school to throw any spirit in to
the sports of other boys; he preferred
wandering about alone to the engrosS-
ing occupation of football or cricket.
Rousseau consumed days and nights in
close study in an attempt to master the
game of chess; but, though he perse-
vered in repeated endeavOrS they all
came to nothing, for as often as he sat
down to a game all that he had learned
went out of his head. But such in
stances are exceptional, and in most
characters hard work, unrelieved by
competitive games, is apt to produce
''grooviness"-and supertluous leisure,
stupidity. 1t is difficult to imagine a
young woman fond of lawn tennis fall
ing prey to the morbid self-conscious-
ness which consumed the Comtesse de
Senecterre, whom Tallemant DIES Reaux
describes as beautiful but very fool
ish woman. One of her fancies was to
have pillows of every size in her bed
even for her thumbs-for she prided
herself on her beautiful hands and
slept with them open, to keep the
joints small. Athletes, it is true, are
peculiarly prone to vanity, but the form
that vice assumes in them is that of the
pride of life, by many degrees more
pardonable than the deliberate self-love
of Incidence.
1t is long descent from games which
| exercise mind or body to those of pure
chance, yet these have as firm hold
upon human inclination as if they pos
sessed merit in themselves. No more
| piteous impression can be made upon a
mind capable of reflection than is left
by a visit to the tables at Monte Carlo.
| after year, the same crowds gather
round them, blind to the beauty of sap
phire sea and glorious sunshine, con.
tent to swelter and scramble and
wrangle-for what? Well, they are
under thrall of one of two motives
two deplora BILE motives; one the lowest
the other the saddest that can be con
| ceived. For the first is avarice-of al
lust the most obscene, of all passions
the most disastrous. Valor, self-devo
ton, truth, humanity, may $50 complies
is human naturc) cocXist with much
that is evil in n character, but avarice
taints the whole being; unlike othe1
desires, it is never satisfied, it is never
at rest; nothing sweet can flow from
the source which it has polluted Lee
there be no mistake or palliation abou
this: Avarice is the primary lure to the
Casino, Take away the gold and wh'
would be so childish as to play fol
counters or sweetmeats? The othe
and subsidiary motive which collects {
crowd round the tables is the desire o
idle men to rid themselves of that mos
precious ion-time-which, one,
it is gone, can never be recalled, thu
loss of which is ever the cause of fruit
| less regret
acknowledge comes, but wisdom tar
ries;" but here even knowledge seems
to be set at contempt. Crowds of edu
Gated people, with ready access to al
the stores of knowledge laid up through
the laboriOus ages for present use, af
firm the contemplate creed of luck
Never was there a god so false, neve
one before whom so many bowed tn
knee in profound and ignorant faith
1t would be lost labor to combat tn
belief-almost universal and wholly in
eradicabIe among mblers-in an in
scrutable influence upon human occa
} sion, capable of being offended o
propitiated. 1t differs in no respec
from idolatry; for civilized, well edu
i Gated people behave just as the paga
does in regard to the Great Spirit; tn
souls of his ancestors, or the deifie
powers of nature. 1t is, in fact, kin
D of lusorial animism. Don't disappoin
your luclt!"-the gamblers carLina