The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 23, 1900, Page 2

THE DAY CALL. PUBLIC - - o o AMUSEMEANTS == BY REvERE~ND TR s Sarrer Srocoszmr. & s amusing. Even people é ery am ng in publie are . otherwise A < fessional buffoon once sald, make laugh &t = e e ye - ws v te . C [ of nature ry antagonism t the true policy slon to any class, age or condition of life, But parallels between the pastimes of \ youth and those of maturity will bear watching. For example, suych tria ot speed, strength, skill and endurance among boys as racing, wrestling and the iike, are legitimate enough because they are not necessarily ralizing in their But there a i effects, conte betwean men" which cannot be placed in the same 4 R category. Coursing, horse-racing and progress in well-being of our re, body and soul. ons of amusement change ars of those who have re- beneficent offices. To the young its various agencies are so many methods of expression for superfluous physical energy and exuberant animal spirits; to those who are passing througn the more sedate stages of life it affords relief from the stress of business and the strain of care. In early life therefore its modes of expression are apt to be spon- taneous and natural, and in after years its appliances tend to become more or less artificial, but in each case where the purpose is good the results are beneficent in proportion as excesses are avolded. The day has gone by for prohibiting, say, chess and whist to the older folks at home while commending the pastimes of marble, top and ball among the children outside. There s no moral code confining rational forms of recreation and diver- boxing may, perh be literally classed as pastimes, but “the turf” represents an outlawed pastime because of its con- nection with gambling, while “the ring” is doudbly outlawed by the same connec- tion added to its intrinsic brutality, More- over “the ring” and “the turf” are not lezitimate nastimes in any true and re that can y being harnessed ed or defied. In I or periodical amuse- aid rather than to are not of rellet ss a worthy sense. ' They certalnly commonly resorted to by 'w from the strain and stress of busir care, on the part of people who usual live livas that ae conducive to the gen- eral well-being. On the contrary, they are too often “promot=d” by an unho alliance between the sooty scum and the dirty dregs of soclety. -There may be an accidental difference, but there is a very essential affinity between the man of no morals with gn empty head and a full purse and the same kind of a man en- dowed with an empty purse and a rooted disinclination for honest work. This alll- ance, under the title of “sporting life,” is not only ‘@ perpetual peril, but it is an ever-present, fretting. festering curse to socie The ailure- ment wbich it affords is the hellish coun- wholesome amuse- women and children es resort for casual € of all those nts to which men, and re order come the dance, the con- the as forms of amuse- i, which vary in thelr moral aspects ts. And in this conne e ignore those ng g and the cake- popularity’ of cake- cocn songs is deemed by some gn of depraved moral instincts art of the lower orders of soclety. case quite as bad as some Would it not be more ofrect to regard the fancy in question as a sort of passing joke? I claim no in- faliibility of judgment in.such things, but I would rather laugh this matter off than too sericus! Like comic songs, they are dirty, the coon song and the walk may be taken as mere musemerts by those to whom they ap- vou and me, let us say, they are ly, but to many others . and, therefore, amusing. sorts to make a world, and pas: e coon present s imagine? ake it S that will probably be true even in the millennium, when artistic taste ana moral preference may be more nearly uniform than they are now. The blending of musfe, motion and so- cal intercourse in ‘the dance is a peren- nial soures of enjoyment to the young. In various forms it s of ‘world-wide payu: larity, and about as old as the history '0! the race. To the moralist the dance is pne of the most threadbare of sub ts, and vet, lke the making of ‘books, it |o one of those things to which “‘there is no’‘end.” The Puritans renounced it but to the descendants of the Puritans t seems no inherent evil in it, but the reverse. here rathe: This is partly because :u: standards of judgment regarding the reja- tions of the spiritual and the materfal In human nature have changed, and partly because, with the spread of enlighten- ment, the world has grown better. The incidental evils connected with dancing, however, are much the same as they al- ways bave been, and they require to be guarded!against with just as lance in this city as elsewhere. hers the guardianship of pa thelr children i{s liable to be ser fault. Promiscuous intefcourse people, whether in dancing academ at dances 'd under the aegis that soclety, is ever a thing of p in this way the innocent I leads to the ruin The devil in the and the seducer is ever p: seeking whom he may dev port be trpe, some of the f mothers of this city cahnot be toc 'y watchful over their girls—and t The Scarlet Woman has not been - gether improved either on.or off the face of the earth, neither have.all incipien developed demons of the Durrant béen hanged yet. For adults certainly the most popular, as well as the most fully and vario discussed o ot z o alipens ment, Is t play; but its popular springs in part, of course, from ot reasons n its amusing qualitles. S ‘dbriet al as can be made to It he however, must be confined to the play as an ag of public amusement. When 20 regarded is its influence good, bad or indifferent? This question can only ba answered approzimately and in the light of varying considerations., The Puritans nsmitted their £ _the is in some quarters fense for a church member t theater. Quite recent Stage Helped Public Morality?” the t unqualified approval of the s uttered by the chalrman a prominent clergyman. volumes, testifying allke to the i spirit of the stage and the titude of the church. On the h must be reckoned the v ge sentiment and on the part of abandonment of the ¢ impure suggestion wh but too common, in sentiment and changes are In the they are as yet inc cause of faults on both si perhaps, dram of Bible history r ed on the stage, on a fs fact mplete. course, than has n 4 mergau, aro he p mind any widesp ¢ incong: ity. But whe a day shall be slow ¢ largely upon pl the theatrical sentiments « souls, and I take hold of the sta, of drivel and fu ample living pr the play-goir what is good but it prefers theatrical m the sense surely the this respect i full houses a It is the fiaver of = ple as thor amusement time has com atrical prof na £ of this, e of to-da he good in mor to, Aot pure sugge aters in this this. The moral aspe simp! than t about to it will n dance or go to a theater; a cer which, on the religious side of 1 will learn to t t forces fleshly nature to subserve the of the spiritual, rather than to to fight a s the flesh as the f he other h perils ren ne of all the upper ha ey of we she matters to gé Whatevér age b. Amusem ald be ab! pursuits p iritual which ain business. theater going, card play smok- ing, d 1g or any other of the various asides of life becomes a passion or a ruling habit the result is evil, not good. An essential quality of trus manhood i@ self-controk ing.