The times., 1894-10-26
An Enjoyable Occasion.
From the Press.

The third annual supper and reception
given by the Woman's Auxiliary to the
committeeman and workers of the Y. M
@. A. last Friday evening was enioyed by
all present.
"Salubrious Substance Served at Seven
by the ladies fully sustained their reputa.
ton for giving excellent suppers. The
"Post Prandial Preparations" unde,
charge OF chief perpetrator President
Shattuck, possessed unusual merit and
together with the musical matters melo.
diously manipulated" by @. G. Duff and
his male chorus, proved both interesting
and profitable.
The first toast, "The Triangle" by the
"triumvirate" was responded to by Mes
srs. Waite, Campbell and Balch. The
trst spoke OF the Importance of the ply
sicial side OF mans nature. Mr.. Camp
bell spoke OF the great need of education
al development of young men, while Mr..
Balch dealt with the spiritual side of the
Y. M. @. A. work.
A novel feature of the program was
that the toasts and the names of those
who responded were so worded as to baf-
file all attempts to know before hand
what the toasts were about or who was
to respond.
'arhe gathering of the Clans" by q
Highland Scotchman" was happily re-
sponded to by @. G. Duff.
"The City's Wealth." by "Cents-us
Taker" called for Supt j. w. Simmons
After some pleasantries in introducing
!, his theme, Mr.. Simmons spoke of wealth
as capable of various applications. The
political economist makes it correlative
with value. He considered character to
be strong and worthy element of value,
and that the citys best element of wealth
was in its young men who are endowed
with strong principles of integrity and
honesty under all circumstances. With
out it material values shrink and depart;
with it, business prospers and increases.
Some illustrations were cited and the
application was made that the best invest
ment for young man was honesty of pur-
pose and an intense interest in all he un-
dertakes. All else may fade or be forgot
ten, but character is like granite-it en-
dures and stands as monument of what
the person was.
"Ships That Pass in the Night" by "an
experienced pilot" was responded to by
Rev. w. b. Matteson. Mr.. Matteson ask
ed the privilege, after the fashion of the
old minister, of taking an early departure
from his text. He had been led to reflect
much upon the relation of the church to
existing social conditions, and especially
of the relation of the church to the Y. M.
G. A. as possible instrument in the So
luton of social problems. The church is
fast outgrowing the thought that its
whole duty is summed up in the hymn,
Rescue the perlshlng. care for the dying, :.
Snatch them In pity from sin and the grave.
To rescue the.perishing, to drag men out
of the floods of iniquity in which they are
carried away, to "pluck them as brands
from the burning" is and must always
remain an essential part of christian
work. Christ came to save the lost. But
more and more christian people are ask
ing of themselves whether it be not pos
sible to prevent men from being carried
away in such floods; whether it were not
better to put out the fire rather than SIM
ply pluck out few brands. The possi-
bility of changing existing conditions
through the principles of the gospel so
that they shall be less prolific of evil and
may even become conducive to good, this
is the supreme question of the hour. 1t
is idle to save the one sheep that has
gone astray if while in pursuit of that the
door of the fold is left ajar for the ninety
and nine to wander away. How to pre-
vent rather than remedy is the supreme
question. To the answering of this ques-
ton christian churches are devoting no
little attention. 1t resolves itself largely
into the possibility of the substituting for
the present evil associations and immoral
conditions, amidst which SO large por-
tion of the children and youth of our
christian land grow up, other associations
and conditions that are not evil and inn
moral. Most evil is but the perversion
or the exaggeration of what is good. The
first steps in vice are commonly taken i'm
the attempt to crafty desires and ambi-
tions which are in themselves legitimate.
Men have as their divine birthright the
desire for knowledge-an intelligent
gratified such intellectual cravings lead
to the highest and noblest characters;
but if it may not feed upon bread it will
be fain to satisfy itself with husks. Fed
with bad and impure literature, a per-
verted mind sinks into grossness and evil
thinking. A good public library is an
invaluable agent OF social reform. No
deficiency is so much regrettable in our
own city as the lack of q well-equipped
public library.
The craving for amusement is natu-
raj and in itself an altogether innocent
desire. 1t is not only innocent but in its
proper qualification source of strength
and moral force. The attitude of the
church had too long been that of mere
negation. Don't do this, don't do that;
, it isn't right to do this, it is certainly
wrong to do that. DIR. Rainsford, of New
York, brought himself into considerable
notoriety and disrepute a few years ago
by urging that in opposition to the ordi-
nary liquor saloon the church should
open and conduct under associations 9th
erwise pure and elevating a "church sal
loon" in which beer and light wines
should be sold. The proposition called
forth storm of disapproval under which
the proposition passed from sight. And
yet it is not clear that DIR. Rainsford did
not come very close to the mark. The
saloon is the club, the forum, the social
meeting place of certain large element of
population. Leaving out the beer and
light wines, no proposition rests on bet
ter basis of common sense than to wean
the people from grosser pleasures by pro-
viding them with those that are better