The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1896-04-03

| ClOS6. w Ill6 luIS las oi'Vh
been dragged into the uses of supersti-
tion and dissipation, we all know it
may be the means of high moral Gull
ture Oh, it is grand thing to have
our children brought up amid the sound
of cultured voices and amid the melody
of musical instruments.
I There is in this art an Undesirable
fascination for the household. Let all
those families who have the means to
afford it have flute or harp or piano OF
organ. As soon as the hand is large
enough to compass the keys teach it
how to pick out the melody. Let all our
young men try this heavenly art upon
their nature Those who have gone into
it fully have found in it illimitable rec
reation and amusement. Dark days,
stormy nights, seasons Of sickness, bust
ness disasters, will do little toward de-
pressing the soul which can gallop Off
| over musical keys or soar in Jubllant
Law. 1t will cure pain. 1t will rest IA
tigue 1t will quell passion. 1t Will re-
vive health. 1t will reclaim dissipation,
1t will strengthen the immortal soul In
the battle of Waterloo, Wellington saw
that the highlanders were falling back.
He said, "What is the matter there?
He was told that the band of music had
ceased playing, and he called up the
pipers aud ordered them to strike up an
inspiriting air, and no sooner did they
strike the air than the highlanders were
rallied and helped to win the day. Oh,
o6 in the conflicts
of life, try by the force OF music to rally
your scattered battalions.
am glad to know that in our great
cities there is hardly night i'll which
there are not concerts, where, with the
best musical instruments and the sweet
est voices, people may find entertain
ment. Patronize such entertainments
when they are afforded you. Buy season
tickets, if you can, for the Philharmonic
and the Handel and Haydn societies.
Feel that the 81. 90 or So that you spend
for the purpose of hearing an artist play
or sing is a profitable investment. Let
your Academies of Music roar with the
acclamation of appreciative audiences as
sembled at the concert or the oratorlo.
A Sound Body.
Still further, l commend, as worthy
of their support, the gymnasium. This
institution is gaining in favor every
year. and know of nothing more free
from dissipation or more calculated to
recuperate the physical and mental en-
ergies. While there are a good many
people who have employed this institu-
ton there is vast number who are lg
norant of it's excellencies. There are
men with cramped chests and weak
sides and respondent spirits who through
the gymnasium might be reused up TO
exuberance and exhilaration of life.
There are many Christian people de-
spondent from year to year who might
through such an institution be benefited
in their spiritual relations. There are
Christian people who seem to think thai
it is goJd sign to be poorly, and be
cause Richard Baxter and Robert Hall
were invalids they think that by the
same sickness they may come to the
same grandeur of character L want to
tell the Chr hean people of my congre-
CATION that God will hold you respon-
sible for your invalidism if it is your
fault and when, through right exercise
and prudence, you might be athletic
and WE'LL The effect of the body upon
the soul you acknowledge. Put a man
of mild disposition upon the animal
diet of which the Indian partakes, and
in a little while his blood will change
it's chemical proportions. twill become
like unto the blood of the lion or the
tiger or the hear, while his disposition
will change and become fierce and un-
relenting. The body has powerful eff
feet upon the soul.
There are good people whose ideas Of
heaven are all shut out with clouds OF
tobacco smoke. There are people who
dare to shatter the physical vase III
which God has put the jewel of eternity.
There are men with great hearts and in
tellects in bodies worn out by their
own neglects-magniticent machinery,
capable Of propelling "a Majestic across
the Atlantic, yet fastened in a rickety
North river propeller. Martin Luther
was SO mighty for God, first, because he
had noble soul, and, secondly, because
he had a muscular development which
would have enabled him to thrash any
five of his prosecutors if it had been
Christian so to do. Physical develop
ment VIII ch merely shows itself in fabu
lous lifting, or in perilous rope walk
ing, or i'll pugilis;ic encounter, excites
only our contempt, but we confess to
great admiration for the man who has a
great soul i'll an athletic body. every
nerve, muscle and bone of which is con
secrated to right uses. Oh, it seems to
me outrageous that men, through neg
lect, should allow their physical hellth
to go down beyond repair-a ship which
ought, with all sail set and every man
at his post, to be carrying a rich cargo
for eternity, employing all its men in
stopping up leakages When you may,
the gymnasium, work off your
spleen ard your querulousness and one
half of your physical and mental all
ments. do MT turn your back upon such
a grand mediCament.
Innocent Hilarities.
Still further, | commend to You a
large class Of parlor games and recrea
tons There is way of making cur