Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-12-13

mood and made others laugh too. Blu
if you must have an exciting cause, let
me give you one or two or three. Gull
tivate the acquaintance of little chill
| dren. Did you ever hear such uproar-
| Gus laughter anywhere as comes from
| the playground? Did you ever hear
such peals of jollity as bursts every
| day from the bosoms of eXuberant
| childhood? oh, how it alleviates the
| cares of manhood just to listen and join
in their rollicking sport! And then the
| sayings of c~hildren-why, they are fun
| nier than Mark Twain and Josiah AL
lens Wife and Jerome X. Jerome all
put together. A little girl came to her
/ mother after a visitor had gone and
| said: Mama, l do like Mr.. AS stories
| so much" Why asked the mother.
Because" was the naive answer, they
! have no morals" Another little girl
/ went home from church on a Sabbath
and told the household in great glee that
the minister was going to cruelty her
little brother the next Sabbath. "Cruci-
fy him. Oh, no; you NEAR sanctify
him." said a sister. mo, cruelty him."
persisted the younger one, and the fact
/ was hat the minister had announced
infant baptism. I heard of a little boy
once who wanted to say seven prayers
on Sunday so as to get them off his
hands for the other days of the week.
And I have told some of you before of
the urchin who prayed, Lord, make me
a good boy: and if at first o don't
succeed, try, try again. If your ac-
quaintance with children does not make
your old soul young and your longitude
nal face break into latitudinarian smiles
and laughs, then you are hard to reach.
You cannot help singing to yourself:
Men are only boys grown tall,
Hearts don't change much after ALL"
Learn to love nature. Cultivate the
friendship of the birds and domestic an
imals. See the beauty Of flowers and
trees and forest and mountain and
stream. I do not mean that these things
will necessarily make you laugh, but
they will make you happy and cheer
full. And yet I have often laughed out
right at the FRANKS Of kittens and pup
pies at play and at the antics of lambs
and ever young pigs. Have you never
lain in bed on a bright spring morning
and listened to a bird MARBLE forth it's
tuneful music in the maple tree by your
window? How soothing and exhilarat-
ing it was! And then another bird came,
and still another, and another, all join
ing in the heartsome chorus, until there
was a whole family of birds holding
family worship together. Where is the
man or woman who can so down stairs
disgruntled and peevish after such a
concert as that?
Have music in the household, vocal
music and instrumental. Sing, ever If
you do make some discords and are not
in any sense a prima donna. Sing any
how, merrily, cheerily. Don't keep the
organ covered or shut up, or the piano.
Do not let it be silent for a week or even
for a day; and if you cannot have these
Instruments, have an accordion or a
mouth-organ or a Jew's-harp, some
thing. The soul must have music or it
will look cross and feel cross and speak
cross. When you are young. perhaps,
you will prefer a schottische or a two
step or a march or a comic song and
when you are older you will like best
the Sonata Pathetique" or Portuguese
hymn or "Balerma" or Retreat" But
however that may be, all ages, from ba-
byhood to decrepitude, are made happy
by the harmonies of sweet sound. Chill
dren, flowers and music We're Luther's
three weapons against the devil Of mel
ancholy and disbursement. Let us try
them.
Of course. there are others. There are
lectures and entertainments and good
stories and games and sports and ath-
letics and gymnastics and books and
papers and pictures and what not. BY
all means, have pictures on the walls of
the home. If you cannot have crayons
and ~engravings and etchings and paint
ings in oil and water colors, then have
chromos and illustrations from our Pc
riodicals and advertisements. Anything
is better than bare walls. And I know
some one has been saying to himself,
"How about the so-called prohibited
MISUNDERSTANDING and card playing,
and theater going, which so many of our
churches either forbid or discourage?
Well, you notice I have referred to these
last, and, to be frank with you, I think
that is where they belong. They are too
often harmful instead of helpful. But
to be still more frank, I will say that, in
judgment, it is the abuse of these
rather than their use that is to be seri-
ously protested against. INDUCED in
moderately, g%uardedly, they need not
be a hindrance or a harm. What I am
to emphasize is that human nat
ure requires diversion and recreation
and amusement, and thai the religion of
except where there is excess and in
jury. There are times when we must |
unbend, for a little while, the stiff har-
ness of our accustomed tasks, and relax
the strain of responsibility and lubri-
cate the joints of life, and I, for one, am
glad that Solomon has told us so plain
Iy, and the rest of the Bible indorses his
that there is "a time to
My dear friends, I have had a most
purpose this morning in every |
word that I have spoken. I hope I
have not ever seemed to be trivial or
frivolous. I want you to believe, with
me, hat the faith of Christ denies you
Joy or healthful pleasure. Mirth and
laughter are among the best ingre-
dents. Realizing this, I want you men
to O through life as a band of mu-
sic moves down a street, sending out
n1aoS,,ro ~ axorx,hody n ~ axyarxy cida |