Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1916-02-29

sound. A foolish mothers foolish
prohibition of cards in the house
gave occasion for the statement that
to give reason for the mo /" was
far more effective than mere dog
matte prohibition. The outstanding
proof of the correctness of DR.. Cor
don's position is the fact that the
huge audience was wholly with him
the while he toppled over sundry
idols in its social life. Everybody
knows that youth is lillier to re-
spond to rational appeal than it is to
blank-Thou shalt not. Safety
first, was the cry, here as all through
| the address. The question of the
wilful waste of time, the unbreak-
able fascination of card games OF
chance, the fact that the euchre, deck
| is the prime implement of the gamb-
! lers artful art and that the tolls OF
the gambler Were all but impossible
| to break, were forcefully illustrated
| by tragic chapters from the we'll
known book Of human experience.
With shrewd good humor DR.. Cor
don advised people not to play cards
until they were thirty years of age,
when character would be formed and
H. !, ~, would 1,a CT .-I
On the question Of the social
dance, DR.. Gordon was rational and
convincing, He said that the pros
and cons Of the vexed question af-
fected the young man rather than
the young woman. The physical
touch and the postures of the dance
fire passions in youth which are
more dormant or under better con-
troll in girl or woman. The ground
of his convincing argument was that
the soul might have a chance in
young people, His statement that,
the dancing master controlled all So
cia1 and even church functions was
SO true that it seemed like photo
graph of local conditions. He called
lattention to the indubitable fact that
the social dance is naturally linked
|up with the white slave traffic. The
|social glass and the social dance
were the ready weapons of all assas-
sins of queenly souls. The curious
taboo of certain present day popu-
lar dances by the dancing masters
in convention assembled was most
terrible Indictment OF these forms Of
popular pleasure, for these very pro-
fessional dancers had given the
world the progeny they now sought
to restrain or disown.
On the theater, DR.. Gordon uncon-
sciously assumed the role of a proph-
ct. Frank recognition of the di-
vinity and the universality Of the
dramatic. instinct characterized DR..
|Gordon's 81 attitude toward the play
house. The best and most successful.
preachers are dramatic. 1t is shame
that the church has allowed amuse-
ments to become wholly commercial
lied. When amusement is divorced
from money making the standard of
morals will be raised. DR.. Gordon
strongly blamed ministers for dis
cussing questions of medieval the
ology at conferences and ministerial
gatherings instead of frankly facing
the amusement question in their
home parishes. The audience great
ly enjoyed drive at the medieval
type of mind which Initiates itself
by sending into the Gordon ques-
ton drawer quibbling questions as to
form and ceremony in religious ritz
ual-questions not only. silly but a
thousand miles away from any sort
of practical religion and everyday
living. Or. Gordon hardly thinks
that the movies are ideal, but he
gives them credit for having helped
to put the saloon on the run. u The
solution of the theater problem
would be a community play-ho
socialized in the interest Of the high
est elements of moral and religious
life.
DR.. Gordons compliments to my
lady Nicotine We're hugely enjoyed
and appreciated. He said common
sense things about smoke and smok-
ers. Tobacco was said to be thought
a mild stimulant. But in the name
Of God, nobody on the American
continent needs to be stimulated, at,
least not until after sixty years of
age! Even at that age, the doctor
declared, No man need stimulants if
ne knows how to take care of him
self. Charles Haddon Sturgeon has
universally been quoted in favor of
he smoking habit. But he died early
because he had a tobacco heart. He
said he could smoke to the glory of
God, but the fact is that he died for