River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-05-08

man MS Work. Is IL not just III ILLS
connection that we may be justified in
finding fault with the professional
sport, the man who gives UP his whole
life to pleasure? When the main thing
In college and university life is ath-
letics are we not justified in protest
ing that life's main purpose is being
lost sight of? Play and amusement is
but side issue in life; when it be-
comes the whole thing, then 1t is
harmful and sinful, no matter whether
the amusement in question be In the
forbidden category or not; then even
an innocent amusement becomes NOR
ally bad. Amusement is to work what
whetting the scythe is to harvesting;
he who never stops to create an edge
tolls hard and cuts but little, while
he who whets the scythe all day cuts
none. If the mother enjoys amuse.
ments more than she does her chill
Gren the wife more than her domes
tic duties, the husband more than his
hSme, the man more than his labor
and the student more than his books
then amusements are harmful and
wrong
Ii. The true Christian will see to it
that his amusements are really recre
alive, and not dissipative.
A man may lie so long in a bath
that he comes out of it exhausted. or
he can take plunge or shower and
come out better prepared for the du,
] ties of life. So is it, with amusements:
IL
/ ate. Having a good time is not always
recreation; it may be just the oppo-
site. The amuSements of the Christian
should build up the whole man-pnys-
ically, mentally, morally and spirit
ually.
/. The Christians pleasures will
recreate physically. The body of the
Christian is a temple of the holy ghost.
| Therefore he must keep his body in
as good, clean, pure and healthy a
condition as possible. The body needs
relaxation; it needs rest from the
strain and tension of life; it needs
new blood, new nerve tissues; it needs
to be better fitted for the real tasks
that lie within it's sphere of labor. Bad
ercise.s Some people do not have
enough body ito cover the mind with
decently." There may be time when
it is my duty to play rather than pray,
to romp rather than read, to take a
good brisk walk rather than prepare
good talk.
The test the Christian must apply
to his pleasures is: do they recreate
and restore the waste tissues of the
body? Excess in athletics is not rec
reation. Young men have died from
overstrain in running; girls have been
ruined for life by excessive rope
| jumping. Many pleasures dissipate
the powers OF the body instead of
recreating them.
Apply such test to certain forms
of popular amusements; the theater,
the dance, the card party. Do they
recreate, or do they dissipate? Do they
violate the laws of physical health by
their late hours, their impure atmos-
phere, their mode of dress and con-
duct, or are they perfectly consistent
with the observance of the laws of
good health and hygiene? If these
amusements violate the laws of health,
then, until such times as they can be
brought within the realm of recreative
pleasures, the Christian must place
them on the forbidden list.
q The pleasure of the Christian
should recreate mentally. The physical
must not be developed at the expense
! of the mental Giantism must not
supplant intellectualism. Mind is
greater than body, as Gladstone and
Bismarck are greater than John l..
| Sullivan or James Jeffries. The Chris
tian must ask himself, therefore,
What effect do my pleasures and
amusements have upon my mind, my
thought, my thinking? Do they build
up, ennoble. purify. sanctify, or do
they debase, defoul, besmirch. de-
bauch? Is my thinking higher, nobler,
more God-like because of the pleas
ures in which I engage?" All things
are not to be judged by the eye; the
mind discerns also. Shakespeare
seeaks of the man who hath body
flied with a vacant mind, gets him to
/ rest crammed with distressful breaG'
! The Christian is to Judge his amuse-
nhents by this standard. Apply this
| principle to literature? What books
! do we read? If the Christians mas
ter should inquire: What readest
| thou?" what would be our reply? Be
ware lest our minds become diseased
| by the reading of light and trashy lit
| erature.
| Judge the theater by this standard.
| Someone has said: "The laugh of the
theater is the laugh that speaks of
the vacant mind" Are we purer in
| thought, more virtuous in our dreams,
sweeter in our imaginations; have we
more earnest views of life; is the
mind sensualized or spiritualized by
attendance upon the theater?
Apply this test to the card table.
Does this popular amusement furnish
recreation to the mind? With its pas
sion. its tenseness, its excitement, its
late hours, does the game of chance
rest and quicken the faculties for the
Iabors of the next day? Does not the
game rather dissipate than Eecreats
| the mind?