The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1899-08-26

called an agricultural fair suggest
iye Of everything that is improving in
the AT Of t2rning. but under these de-
eepdve titles Are the same cheating.
and the same betting. and the same
drankenness and the sane vsgabOEd-
Age. All the sane s~bominAton that
were TO be found under the old horse
racing system.
I never knew . man yet who could
give himself 70 the pleasures Of the turf
for a long reach Of time and not be bat
tered IN morals. They hook up their
spanking team and put on their sport
ing cap and light their cigar ane take
the reins and dash down on the road
to ~Periiu0n, The great day at Sara
togA and Brighton Beach and Cape May
and nearly all the other watering places
Is the day Of the races The hotels are
thrOnged, every kind of equiPAge is
taken up Al an almost fabulous price,
and there are many respectable people
minging with jockeys and gamblers
and hberines and foul-mouthed men
and hAShy women. The bartender strs
up the brandy smash The bets run
high The greenhornA, supposing al
Is fair. put in their money Don enough
to lose Il. Three weeks before the
race takes place the struggle is decided,
and the men in the secret know on
which sieed to bet their money. The
men on the horses riding around long
ago arranged who shall win. Leaning
from the stand or from the carriages
are men and women so absorbed in the
struggle Of bone and muscle and mettle
that they make a grand harvest for the
pickpOckets, who carry of the pocket
books and the portemonnaies. Men
looking on see only a string Of horses
with their riders flying around the
ring. But there is many a man on that
stand whose honor and domestic hap
piness and fortune-white name, white
foot, white Fanfare in the ring,
racing with ineoriety and with fraud
and with profanity and with ruin
black neck, black foot, black flank.
Neck and neck 90 the horses in that
moral EPSON White horse Of honor;
black horse Of ruin. Death says: II
will bet on the black horse" Spec
tator Y - will bet on the white
horse" The white horse Of honor a
little way ahead. The black horse Of
ruin, Satan mounted, all the time gain
ing on him. Spectator breathless.
They put on the lssh. dig in the spurs.
There! They are past the stand. Sure.
Just as / expected. The black horse Of
ruin has 0 the race, and all the gal
leries Of darkness "buzza! huzza!" and
the devils come in TO pick up their
wagers. All. my friends, have nothing
TO do with horse racing designations
this summer.
Another temptation lowering around
the watering place Is the formation OF
hasty and lifelong alliances. The wa
tering places are responsible for more
OF the domestic infeAeities of the coun-
try than nearly all other things com
bined. Society Is so artificial there tina,
no sure Judgment Of character can be
formed. They who form companion
hips amid such circumstances go into
a lottery where there are 20 blanks TO
one prize. In the severe tug Of life you
want more than glitter and splash. Life
is not a ballroom where the music de-
cideS the step, and bow and prance and
graceful swing Of long train can make
up for strong common sense. You
might as well go among the gayly-
painted yachts OF a summer regatta to
find a war vessel IS to go among the
light spray Of the summer watering
place to find character that can stand
the test Of the great struggle Of human
life. In the battle Of life you want a
stronger weapon than a lace fan or a
croquet mallet The load Of life Is
go heavy that in order to draw ii you
want q team stronger than that made
up Of a masculine grasshopper and a
feminine butterfly. II there is any man
in the community who excites my con-
tempt and who ought to excite the con-
tempt Of every man and woman, 1t
is the soft-handed, soft-headed dude,
who, perfumed until the air il actual
ly sick, spends the summer in striking
killing attitudes, and waving senti-
mental adieux, and talking ~infnitesimal
nothings, alnd finding his heaven in
the set Of q lavender kid glove. Boots
as tight as an inquisition. Two hours
Of consummate skill exhibited in the
tie Of a flashing cravat. His converse
D ton made up Of "Ahsl" and "ohsl'
and ale hest"
: There is only n counterpart 30 sucf
! a man as that, and that Is the frothy
q young at the watering places
o her conversation made up Of French
c moonshine; what she has In her heaC
c only equaled by what she has on he.
> back; useless ever since she was born
O and TO be useless until she is dead, un
less she becomes an intelligent Chris
j tian- We may admire music and fai
/ faces and graceful step; but amid tn
u heartlessneSs and the initiation and tn
u fantastic influences Of our modern wa
= tering places beware how you max
. lifelong covenants.
Another temptation lowering al
around our watering places Is intoxl
ID eating beverages. ! am told that II !
D becoming more and more fashionabl
- for women to drink. l care not hoy
Al well a woman may dress, II she ha
IL taken enough Of wine to flush be
% cheek and put q ~glassiness on her ey'
"a she is drunk. She may be handed int
e. a $500 carriage and have diamond
enough 10 sstound the Tiffanys-she
=. drunk. She may be a graduate Of tn
~ best young ladies' seminary and tn
81 daughter OF some man in danger {
III being nominated for the presidency
she is drunk. You may have a large
re vocabulary than have, and you ma
Is say In regard TO her that she is "col
y yiyial" or she is "merry" or she is "fei
I'd tive" or she is ~"exhilarated," but yo
cannot with all your garlands Of We
ID biage cover up the plain fact that
Ia an old-fashioned case Of drunk.
Now, the watering places are full
ID, temptations to men and women TO III
ut pie. AT the close Of the tenpin or bi
lard game they tipple. Al the close
'e- the cotillon they tipple. Seated {
nd the piazza cooling themselves of the
tpple. The tinged glasses come arouI
re, with bright straws and they tippl
IN First they take light Wines" as tn,
TO call them, but Light wines" are hea'
enough to debase the appetite. The.
is not a very long road between char
lie payne at five dollars a bottle and viii
al ky at ten cents Il glass. Satan has thr
Ike or four grades down which he TAX
an men TO destruction. One man he TAX
", up and through one spree pitches hi
wv into sterGal darkness. That Is Il ra
III case. Very seldom indeed can you fl
ig- u man who viii be such q fool "a thl
ma Satan Will take aunfher man 10 a grad