The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-06-30

biuow OF reverberating laughter. They
seem a. II nature had built them byI
contract and made q bungling Job al
II. But, blessed be God. there arsl
people in the world VINO have bright
faces and whose life IL . song. An an
them. a paean Of victory. Even their
troubles are like the vines that crawl
up the sides Of . great tower on the
top Of which the sunlight sits and the
soft airs of summer hold perpetual car
nival. They are the people you like
to have come to your house. They ara
the people like to haze come to my
house. Now. 1t IL these exhilarant and
sympathetic and warm-hearted people
that are most tempted to pernicious
amusements. In proportion a. ship
is swift 1t wants a strong helmsman.
in proportion as horse is gay 1t wants
a strong driver, and these people Of
exuberant nature will do well to look
at the reaction OF all their amusements
II an amusement sends you home at
night nervous so you cannot sleep. and
you are slept out, but because your
duty drags you from your slumbers,
you have been where You ought not to
have been. There are amusements
that send a man next day to his work
bloodshot, yawning. stupid. nauseated,
and they are wrong kinds Of amuse-
ments. There are entertainments that
give a man disgust with the drudgery
OF life, with tools because they are
swords, with working aprons because
they are not robes, with cattle because
they are not infuriated bulls Of the
arena. N anv amusement sends You
home longing for life Of romance ami
thrilling adventure. love that takes poi
son and shoots itself, moonlight adven-
lures and hair breadth escapes, you
may depend upon it that you are the
sacrificed victim Of unsanctified pleas
ure. Our recreations are intended to
build US UP, and II they pull Us down
as to our moral or as to our physical
strength you may come to the conclu-
sion that they are obnoxious.
Still further. those amusements are
wrong which lead into expenditure be-
yond your means Money spent in rec
reation 10 not thrown away. 1t is all
folly for W. TO come from place Of
amusement feeling that we have wasted
our money and time. You may by
1t have made an investment worth more
than the transaction that yielded you
800 or $1,000. But how many proper
ties have been rddled by costly anus
ments? The table has been robbed to
| pay the club. The champagne has
! cheated the children's wardrobe. The
oarouslng party has burned up the
boys primer. The tablecloth Of the
corner saloon - in debt to the wife's
faded dress Excursions that In a day
make tour around whole months
wages, ladies' whose lifetime 1t Is to
"go shopping" have their counterpart
In uneducated children, bankrutcies
that shock the money market and ap-
pail the church and that send drunken
ness staggering across the richly figu-
red carpet of the mansion and dashing
into the mirror, and drowning out the
carol OF music with the whooping Of
bloat ed sons come home to break their
old mothers heart. When men go into
amusements that they cannot afford
they first borrow what they cannot
earn, and then they steal what they
cannot borrow. First they so into EN-.
barrassment and then into theft, and
when a man gets as far on as that lie
does not stop short OF the penitentiary.
You may Judge Cf amusements by
their effect upon physical health. TIL,
need OF many good people Is physical
recuperatlon. There are Christian men
who write hard things against their
immortal souls when there Is nothing
the matter with them but an incompe-
. telt liver There are Christian people
, who seem TO think that 1t Is a good
sign to be poorly, and because Richard
, Baxter and Robert Hall were invalids
, they think that by the same sickness
they may come to the same grandeur
of character. | want to tell Christian
r people that God will hold you response
, BILE for -our invaldism If It is YOU
own fault and when through right ex
ercise and prudence you might be ath
p letic and we'll The effect Of the bod,
> upon the soul you acknowledge.
/ Again. judge Of the places OF amuse
$ ment by the companlonship into whicl
4 they put you. II you belong to an or
= ganizaton where YOU have to associ
r ate with the Incorporate, with the un
h clean, with the abandoned. howeve
e well they may be dressed, in the nam
= OF God quit 1t. They will despoll you
:. nature. They will undermine your ma
= raj character. They will drop yo
9 when you are destroyed. They wi
e not give one cent TO support you
4. children when you are dead. They wi
. weep not one tear at your burial. The
g will chuckle over your damnation. Br
a the day comes when the men who hav
k exerted evil influence upon their fel
If lows will be brought to judgment
II Scene. the last day. stage, the rock
10 ing earth Enter dukes, lords. king