BROTHER GARDNER ON AMUSEMENTS.

Kumara Times, Issue 1570, 8 October 1881, Page 2

BROTHER GARDNER ON AMUSEMENTS.

" Several letters have come to me | doorin' de pas' week axin' me to define my posishuh on dis queshun of aniusemeuts," said the old man as the lamps were turned up. " libery once in a while dar am a yell fur reform, an' sartin men an' women weep an' wail ober de gineral wickedness of de world. De church pitches into de theatre, de prayer meetin' wacks away at dancin,' an' de Sunday school teachers tells de leetle boys dat de circus am nex' doah to perdishun. It has bin my opinynn for de las' fifty y'ars dat dis was a wicked world. It was created far a wicked world. The Lawd wanted it dat way, an' He made it to please hisself. De scriptures state that wickedness shall abound in every co'ner of de land; dat men shall murder an' rob, an' women go astray; dat chil'ren shall deny their parent, an' brudder turn agin brudder. All such fings am predicted an' to be 'spected an' looked far, an' nobody has any grounds to howl an' weep. If dis war a good world we should have no need ot preachers, deacons, an' Sunday school teachers. Preachers will tell you dat man am imperfect, an' dat the Lawd made him go astray, and jjet they will turn aroun' an' wonder dat he am not goodness biled down. Deed, gem'len, but de only better world than this is heaben itself. You have got to hunt for wickedness to fin' it. You have got to prejudge the case if you can make wickedness out of de jokes of a circus clown or de plot of de ordinary drama. If I had to praise God by ondin' fault wid de world He made an' de people He put yere, I'm afraid it would be faint praise. De preacher who can't go to de theatre widout feeliu' wicked had better stay away. If he wasn't on the hunt to fin' wickedness he would'nt s.ee it any mo' dan de rest of us. Me an' de old woman kin go out an' dance Virginy reel fur fo' hours, an' come borne wid clar consciences fur family prayers. We kin sot down to keerds, an' not forget to be honest au' charitable an* forgivin.' We kin go to a circus an' come home an' fank God dat our lives have been spar'd anoder day, an' dafc we am still left to confort de sick an' forgive de errin.' If gwine to such places makes a preacher feel dat Satan has got a mortgage on him, den he'd .better stay home. No man airnest in de good cause wants to fight agin human natur.' Man am a social bein.' He likes to be pleased an' amoosed. Make a tombstone of him, an' he'll soon hate hisself. When I see a man who claims to be too good to watch a circus percheshun pass 'long de street, I neber work for him widout do cash in advance. • Wheu I fin' a man who am down on amoosements, I doan woik far him at all. A y'ar ago, when me an' de ole woman was j"ng Ul ' ober to de circus, we met a man who said he war gwine straight to Texas. Ha said he would sooner see his son in his coffin dan in a circus, an' he scart de ole lady most to death. I kept track of dat tombstone, an' in less dan six months he left town widout paying his gas bill, water tax, butcher, or grocer, an' he am no exception in his class. Look out fur solemn-faced men. Be war' of the men who ween ober de wickedness of a world made so by de Lawd fur reasons ot hi.i own. Have no truck wid men who'neber taff. A man widout faults am a man widout reason. A mau widout wickedness am a man widout a.'gyuient."—Detroit Free Press.