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and therefore, 'he was willing to surrender his right
of eating meat for the higher right of not offend
ing their consciences.
There are people who say there is no harm in
cards, there is no harm in the dance, there is no
hard in the theatre. Grant that what they claim is
true, the question is, what direction do these
things take ? Do they point to a life of purity or
a life of sin? Is their tendency upward or down
ward? There is no man, however much in love
with these things he my be, but will admit that
their tendency is downward.
Work and Diversion.
Another rule to be kept in mind is the due rela
tion between work and diversion. We have al
ready considered the necessity for diversion, but
we must not forget the necessity for work. It is
just as much a command to work as it is to rest.
We have no more right to dissipate in our diversion
than we have to overwork. Any amusement that
takes up too much of one’s time and that unfits
him for the highest duties in life, must be pro
hibited.
Dr. Dale, of Birmingham, England, one of the
greatest and mightiest preachers of the g’ospel on
this side of the water, in defining recreation, says:
“The object of all recreation is to increase our
capacity for work, to keep the blood pure and the
temper kindly and sweet.”
A good question for one to ask when he faces
the question of his pleasure is this: How does it
affect me ? Does it give me a disgust for the
drudgery of life? Am I disgusted with tools be
cause they are not swords; with work aprons be
cause they are not robes, with cattle because they
are not bulls of the arena? How am I affected by
yielding to this pleasure-seeking nature of mine?
The man who is not wholly given over to the lust
of the flesh can generally decide the wrong in a
given line of pleasure by the way it affects his
own heart.
Many people are committing sin by indulging in
pleasures which in themselves are not sinful nor
point in the direction of sin, but they sin by yield
ing themselves too extensively to them. They take
up too much time in their diversion. It unfits them
for the sterner realities of life. Our young people
especially should be careful at this point. It is
very easy to form a habit.
The other day a friend of mine told me a good
story on Capt. Howard, who has for years run from
Atlanta to Montgomery. Capt. Howard used to
live in Montgomery and was a deacon in the Baptist
church. He had always been noted for putting
men off his train when they failed to pay their fare.
One Sunday morning the captain was assigned to
take up a collection in his church. About half way
down the aisle he handed the plate to a drummer
who shook his head. Capt. Howard at once turned
around to reach for the bell cord. The drummer
looked very much disturbed, and the congregation
laughed.
This was the force of habit, and it is just as easy
to form a habit in one way as another. Overin
dulgence in amusements and pleasure will establish
one in idleness.
In Harmony With the Essential.
Man is made up of three parts, body, soul and
spirit. All amusements that are to be tolerated
must be such as are in harmony with this trinity
of man’s nature. Sometimes there is overdevelop
ment of the physical man. This is brought about by
overindulgence of the physical or by over-exercise.
It is said that a man in an eastern city began to
develop his physical strength by lifting a calf on
the day of its birth and continued by lifting it every
day thereafter until it became a full grown cow.
This man became a giant, but there was nothing
else to mark him but his “giantism.” Intellec
tually and spiritually he had no distinction what
ever. Great athletes, pugilists and the like are al
most always developed at the expense of their intel
lectual and spiritual nature.
The same objection may be raised as to the over
development of the intellectual man. This fact is
being recognized more today than ever before in our
country. Now every college has its gymnasium
where scientific gymnastics are practiced which have
The Golden Age for September 13, 1906.
tibout kesolved themselves into inter-collegiate
games.
It is also true that the spiritual may be developed
at the expense of the physical and intellectual. This
is the way fanatics and bigots are made.
No Christian has a right to close himself up in
his spiritual shell and neglect the other phases of
his life. What the Christian church wants is
to realize that the spiritual is the center, that it is
the dynamo that generates the power which is to
control the intellectual and physical man. The
physical, the intellectual and the spiritual must be
kept each in tune with the other in order to make
harmony.
The business of the Church is to see that this
is done. It is to provide for all three of these
departments of man’s nature. We have no right
to turn over the work to the great singers, the
great ministers and the great readers. The church
wants to provide for the best development along
these lines possible. Likewise we have no right
to turn over to the world such physical exercise as
looks to the development of the physical man. We
want to hold all these things within reach of the
church, purge them from all their impurities and
make them clean and wholesome. There is noth
ing that touches humanity that does not become a
part of the interest of the church. The kingdom
of Jesus Christ is big enough and strong enough
to control everything that is for humanity’s good,
whether it be in the realm of fun and frolic, or re
ligion.
It is said that at the battle of Alma when one of
the regiments was being beaten back by the Rus
sians, the ensign in front stood his ground as the
troops retreated. The captain shouted to him,
“Bring back the colors.” But the reply of the
ensign was, “Bring up your men to the colors.”
The dignity and strength of the church of Jesus
Christ can never for one moment consider lower
ing its standard to the amusements and pleasures
that are provided by the world and tainted with
sin. One of two things must be: Either the church
must provide for the amusements of its people, or
they will go to the world to get them. Shall this
be done? I say, “Nay.” Let us hold fast our
banner and demand that the amusements and pleas
ures of the world shall come up to the standard of
the church and be purged by its cross, and equaled
by its standard.
Ponce De Leon Park —Pure and Pleas
ant Pastimes.
Atlanta people are fortunate in having within
her very gates a resort where the “gentle breezes”
of the summer-time may be wooed with a sense of
perfect security from all possibility that liberty may
become license or that even the most delicate moral
sense might be shocked or distressed. Many other
cities have many “summer gardens,” many out of
town resorts, country clubs, or the like, but how
many of them can claim what is true of Ponce de
Leon Park, Atlanta? That not a single intoxicant
of any sort is sold on the grounds—that not a ques
tionable character of either sex is permitted to enter
the grounds, or to remain there after entrance'
That women and children are as free to spend a
pleasant evening hour beneath the shaded trees or
among the terraced walks of Ponce de Leon as they
are to pass the hours in their own home? It is
a step forward for a people and for a city to boasi;
such a resort, and Atlanta may well be proud of it.
Further, it means that people are ready to welcome
clean, pure amusement whenever it is afforded, for
the patronage of Ponce de Leon could not well be
largei’. Street cars are taxed to their utmost, even
the seats of the Park are often at a premium and
the various amusements are filled with a merry
and enthusiastic crowd.
Innocent amusements, too, and young and old
mingle in the general “fun and frivolity” common
to such a place.
The performances at the pretty little Casino are
clean; the merry motion of the circle swing, appar
ently defying laws of gravity, is the strongest
intoxicant to be had on the grounds, unless, in
deed, one finds it even more exhilarating to be
whirled along the toboggan slide or to sail over the
waters of the Old Mill.
Again, there is a splendid Carousel, with gaily
caparisoned horses, whose harnesses flash with bril
liant jewels and whose luxurious coaches seem to
mock memory with the recollection of the plain lit
tle “flying horses” of our youth! This gorgeous
Carousel is run by electric power, and an inspiring
band accompanies the tpps—does any one remem
ber the poor old mule of the old “flying (?) horse”
machine which irradiated the Sunday School picnics
of the long ago ?.
“But,” objects the purist, “one may gamble at
Ponce de Leon!” So one may, it is true, alas!
But is it “gambling” to throw rings over a rack
to win (?) a possible knife or cane, or yet to mer
rily roll balls into round holes (carefully arranged
to prevent the balls too frequent entrance), while a
good humored crowd stands round and admires?
Innocent enough sport, we think, and but a merry
interlude to the other diversions of the place. Pen
ny-in-the-slot machines are plentiful, while an
“Electric Theatre,” which is merely a vitagraph,
holds a “continuous performance.”
“A Tour of the World” is taken in an exact
imitation of a Pullman car, which indulges in all
the noise and moi ion (including a colored porter and
a loud bell) of a veritable train, until one actual!v
acquires cinders in the eye and “feels the motion”
of the train after viewing a series of passing pic
tures skillfully arranged to represent scenery en
route!
Soda water and ice cream may be had, but “soft
drinks” are the inviolable rule—and what a differ
ence it makes in the pretty Park! Compare it, if
you will, to a similar resort which provides “cock
tails” or “whiskey straights,” and at once the en
vironment undergoes a complete transformation. No
longer do little children feel at homo and free; no
longer do women and girls ever think of “getting
on a car for a ride to Ponce de Leon” without even
remembering the lack of a male companion. Yet
at Ponce de Leon no woman solely alcne is permit
ted to enter—the rule is as sweeping as that against
liquor, and it keeps the place fit for a real pleasure
resort.
The people want pleasure and they must have it;
offer it wholesomely and they prefer it so—offer it
otherwise, and it is accepted too; unthinkingly, per
haps, and this means that it is the duty of those
who are in position to do so to think for the masses
and to protect and shield their fellow creatures from
the shadow of the temptation from which we daily
pray for “deliverance.”
The splendid progress of Chicago after the city
recovered from the Great World’s Fair, held there
in 1893, seems to have excited the emulation of
foreign cities, even though similar conditions have
not prevailed as yet in St. Louis. It is the wish
of the German Government to hold a world’s fair
in Berlin, Germany, in 1912, and it is planned to
have all other expositions excelled by this one.
William E. Curtis, correspondent from London
for the Chicago “Record-Herald,” gives some start
ling statistics as to the number of paupers sup
ported in England. He says that the Government
maintains 728,422 paupers in alms houses and in
relief agencies in towns and villages. Bad as this
showing is, however, it is said to have been worse
in former years, and optimists hope that eventually
this class may gradually decrease, although just
how 'this is to be accomplished is not suggested by
students of political or social economics.
We are only just beginning to appreciate the
wonderful resources of the great West, but in the
opening, on July 15th, of the Shoshone Reservation
in Wyoming, an opportunity is afforded to the peo
ple of the East to enter a territory vastly rich in
minerals, lumber and oils, to say nothing of the
agricultural advantages which will follow judicious
irrigation. It is estimated by the Department of
the Interior that from 265,000 to 300,000 acres
may be reclaimed by irrigation, and already many
hundreds have registered for homes in this new
land beyond the Rockies.
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