The
command "we that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves," was in those days not reversed. Had the
drama and the dance continued to be regulated by the rules of
temperance, health, and Christian benevolence, as in the days of our
forefathers, they would not have been so generally banished from the
religious world. And the question is now being discussed, whether they
can be so regulated at the present time as not to violate the laws,
either of health or benevolence. [Footnote: Fanny Kemble Butler remarked
to the present writer that she regarded theatres wrong, chiefly because
of the injury involved to the actors. Can a Christian mother contribute
money to support young women in a profession from which she would
protect her own daughter, as from degradation, and that, too, simply
for the amusement of herself and family? Would this be following the
self-sacrificing benevolence of Christ and his apostles?]
In regard to home amusements, card-playing is now indulged in, in many
conscientious families from which it formerly was excluded, and for
these reasons: it is claimed that this is a quiet home amusement, which
unites pleasantly the aged with the young; that it is not now employed
in respectable society for gambling, as it formerly was; that to some
young minds it is a peculiarly fascinating game, and should be first
practiced under the parental care, till the excitement of novelty is
past, thus rendering the danger to children less, when going into the
world; and, finally, that habits of self-control in exciting
circumstances may and should be thus cultivated in the safety of home.
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