The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-01

clerks, and the beholders are his friends,
and the music is his bellows, and the fid-
dlers are the ministers Of the devil. For
as when hogs are strayed, if the hogs
herd call one all assemble together, so
when the devil calleth one woman TO sing
in the dance, or 20 play on some musical
instruments, presently all the dancers
gather together" This indiscrIminate
and universal denunciatiOn Of the eXer-
else came from the fact that it was ut
terly and completely Geprayed.
But we are not TO discuss the customs
of the Olden times, but customs now. We
are not TO take the evidence of the ancient
fathers, but our own conscience, en-
lightened by the word of God, IS 10 be the
standard. Oh, bring no harsh criticism
upon the young. | would not drive out
from their soul the hilarltles of life. ] do
not believe that the inhabitants of ancient
Wales when they stepped to the sound Of
the rustic harp, went down 10 ruin. be
heve God intended the young people to
laugh and romp and play. ] do not be
heve God would have put eXuberance in
the soul and eXuberaDce in the body if
he had not intended they should in some
wise exercise il and demonstrate it. If
mother join hands with her children and
cross the floor TO the sound of music, see
no harm. If group OF friends cross and re-
cross the room to the sound of piano well
played, l see no harm. If a company, all
of whom are known TO host and hostess
as reputable, cross and recrOss the room
to the sound Of musical instrument | see
no harm. / tried for q long while to see
harm in it, ] could not see any harm in
1t. never shall see any harm in that.
Our men need to be Kept young, young
for many years longer than they are kept
young. Never since my boyhood days
have / had more sympathy with the
innocent hilarities of life than
have now. What though we have felt
heavy burdensi What though we have
had to endure hard knocks Is that ny
reason why we should stand in the way OF
those who, unstung of life's d" isiortunes,
are full of eXhilaratiOn anC. gIeel GOD
bless the young They W u have to wait
many long yeOr DefOT Chey hear me say
anything that would repress their ardor
or clip their wings Or make them believe
that life is hrra acd cold and repulsive.
1t is p~'-. ! tell them, Judging from my
ON experience, that they will be treated
great deal better than they deserve.
We have no right to grudge the innocent
hilarities to the young.
AS we 60 on in years let US remember
that we had our gleeful times; let us be
able to say, 1--WE had our good times, let
others have their good times" Let us
willingly resign our place to those who
/ tDetllullX
give them everything my house, my
books, my position in society, my herit-
age. After twenty forty fifty years,
we have been drinking out of the cup of
this lie, do not let US begrudge the pass
ing Of il that others may take drink.
But while all this is so, we can have no
sympathy with sinful iudulgencies, and I
am going to speak in regard to some of
them, though l should tread on the long
train of some popular vanities
What are the designations of social life
to-day, and what are the dissipatiOns of
the ball rooml In some cities and in some
places reaching all the year round, in
other places only in the summer time and
at the watering places. There are dissi-
pations of social life that are cutting a
very wide swath with the sickle OF death,
and hundreds and thousands are going
down under these influences, and my sub
jet IN application Is as wide as Christen-
dom The whirlpool of social dissipa-
ton is drawing down some of the bright
est craft that ever sailed the sea-thou-
sands and tens of thousands of bodies and
souls annually consumed in the conflagra-
tion of ribbons.
Social dissipation is the abettor of
pride, 1t Is the instigator of jealousy, il
is the saCrifiCial altar of health, it is the
detiler of the soul, it is the avenue of lust
and it is the curse of every town on both
sides of the sea. Social dissipation 1t
may be hard to draw the line and saw
that this is right on the one side, and
that Is wrong on the other side. 1t is not
necessary that we do that, for God has
put throne In every mans soul, and |
appeal to that throne to-day when a
man does wrong he knows he does wrong.
and when he does right he knows he does
right, and TO that throne which AL
mighty God lifted in the heart of every
man and woman | appeal
As to the physical ruin wrought by the
dlsslpations of social life there can be no
doubt. What may we expect of people
who work all day and dance all night2
After while they will be thrown on So
ciety, nervous, exhausted imbeciles
These people who indulge in the suppers
and the midnight revels, and then 90
home in the cold, unwrappcd of limbs
will after while be found to have been
written down in Gods eternal records as
as much suicides as if they had
taken Their life with pistol, or a knife,
or strychnine.
How many people have stepped from
the ballroom into the graveyard! Con-
and swift neuralgias are close
on their track. Amid many of the glitter
ing scenes of social life, diseases stand
right and left and balance and chain. The
breath of the sepulchre floats up through
the perfume and the froth of deaths Inns
bubbles up IN the champagne ! am told
that IN some of the cities there are pa
rents who have actually given up house
keeping and gone TO boarding that they
may give their time illimitably to social
dlsslpatlons. have known such cases. [
have known family after family blasted
IN that way IN one of the other cities
where l preached. Father and mother
turning their back upon ali Quiet
culture, and all the amenities of home.
leading forth their entire family in Che
wrong direction. Annihilated, worse
than annihilated-for there are some
things worse than annihilation. l give
you the history of more than one family
when / say they went on in the dissipa-
tons of social life until the father dropped
INTO lower style of dissipation. and after
awhile the son was tossed out into society
a nonenlty and after awhile the daughter
eIoped with French dancing master.
and after awhile the mother, getting on
further and further in years, tries to hide
the wrinkles but fails in the attempt
trying all the arts Of the belle. an Old
hlrt, poor miserable butterfly without
any wings
If there is anything on earth beautiful
10 me II Is an aged woman. her white
locks flowing back over the wriuklpd
DroW-loCkS not white with frost. as the
poets say, but white with the blossoms of
the tree of life, in her voice the tender
ness OF gracious memories, her face a
oenedlcton. As grandmother passes
through the room the grandchildren pull