rapids of Niagara, and think to stop when you come to the brink of its falls, than hesitate a moment now. Or, if you are only a looker on as yet, girt round with the temptation, but still innocent of the first offence, I say to you:

"Play thou the man, and win thy crown;
Nor halt on this enchanted ground."

The call is loud and emphatic on all who love our country, to see well lest it be sunk in degeneracy and death, through the neglect, not only of a business morality, but of that morality, aye, and that religion too, so deeply implicated in our national recreations. Our institutions engender habits of excitement and excess; they affect not only our affairs and avocations, but our very amusements. So intense is the spirit of our people, that they either plunge into business with their whole soul and strength; and often destroy or impair their health from over exertion; or, if they pause for relaxation, it is sought in the same extravagant haste and ardor. Hence we need constant lessons of moderation, if in our work, not less in our pleasures.

The example of some of the elders among us is fearful. At a watering-place in our country this very season (1864), you might see a $4,000 dress on a lady of fashion. And "what the women spend in dress,"

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says an observer, "the men spend in 'liquoring up,' in horses and in gambling. The hell' here is very elegantly kept and patronized by gentlemen.' We heard of several young men, who, in the vernacular of the place, fought the tiger' so persistently as to be entirely cleaned out,' and were obliged to borrow of the bank to get home. One person lost $6,000 in a single evening with the greatest nonchalance."

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Our young men put their trust in swift horses; and the boys of this age catch the contagion of the day. We have a race of "fast boys," who can sport the cane, and puff the cigar, and,- sad to tell,- can roll from their lips the chilling oath as boldly as their seniors. We see in many of them already, the germs of a reckless adventure and a proneness to gaming. A writer of our time gives in evidence that he witnessed at Saratoga young lads at bowling and billiards, putting down their stakes as gravely as their fathers. When I see parents pressing their sons forward in so many ways, and encouraging them, or not staying them, in their irreverent and lawless courses, I feel that the home circle and the whole community too, must one day rue the result.

This subject is interwoven with the complex fabric of social virtue, purity, and happiness. In our zeal for labor, traffic, and accumulation, we should hear the wise exhortation of Milton. "Because the spirit

of man cannot demean itself lively in this body without some repeating intermission of labor and serious things, it were happy for the commonwealth if our magistrates, as in those famous governments of old, would take into their care, not only the deciding of our contentious law cases, but the managing of our public sports and festival pastimes.'

The topic of this chapter is not too light to engage the attention of the legislator and Christian. Why should the friends of religion think recreation a kind of neutral ground, with which they have no special concern? So long as the best portion of the community pass by this subject, as unworthy of their attention, or as too delicate for allusion, vice will continue to decoy the young into her paths, under the guise of amusement. In visiting some of the hospitals at Washington, I was glad to see that the entertainment of the invalid soldier was not always forgotten. At the Campbell Hospital especially, I found a library which contained books to amuse as well as instruct. Sermons and tracts are good in their place; but a sick man needs, at times, other mental diet; and cheerful books are a rare tonic. Nor did I object to the private theatricals of the building; although many stand aghast when they see this provided for the poor soldier. They had rather leave him to the temptation of the saloon, the billiard-room, and the gambling

table outside of the hospital, than indulge him in this harmless recreation within its walls. Let Christian people examine, weigh, decide, and act in this matter, and the fountains of pollution will be stopped. Provide pure recreations for young and old, and the sinful ones will perish of themselves.

We are morally bound, as to labor for our subsistence and that of our families, so to seek for ourselves and all for whom we are responsible, and that, too, at every period of life, the means of rest, exhilaration, and renewal, both of body and mind. Take, then, bodily exercise; take it liberally; choose appropriate recreations; and do it with deliberation, not as a thing you are to snatch occasionally, or pursue with doubts and misgivings; but, so it be innocent and invigorating, — accept it as a welcome relief, with a calm mind, a clear conscience, and with thanksgiving to God. Do not waver, and do not delay; but believe, as you ought, that all true relaxations are not only consistent with, but determined by, religion. Whatever recuperates your mental energies, confirms or preserves your health, relumes the eye, and spreads a cheerful light on your path, and disposes you to duty, that is right before God; and it is, or should be, approved and encouraged by all good men.

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VII.

FEMALE SOCIETY.

WORK on the relations and duties of young

men would be incomplete, did it contain no allusion to the society of the opposite sex. He who created man in the beginning, formed him in his own likeness, fashioned for him this earth, provided it with all that can gratify the senses and call forth the soul; and then gave him dominion over all he had made. But one thing was wanting. He saw that his nature would be but imperfectly developed, and his happiness far from complete, if he were now left alone.

To pass by all subordinate considerations, for reasons of high social, intellectual, and moral importance, it was the dictate of both wisdom and goodness which led the Almighty to make a helpmeet for man.

"Woman," as another well says, "educates man in that most essential, but most neglected part of his nature, the instincts. Good women seldom fail here. Full of intuitive perceptions themselves; alive in thought, will, and aspiration, with its subtle and celes