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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. 5