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CHAP. XXV.

ON AMUSEMENTS.

If it be not pro

THE mind, but especially, the youthful mind, stands in need of amusement. vided with relaxation, it acquires insensibly, a tone of severity, and austere reserve, which renders its intercourse with society less pleasing, as well as less instructive; while by being kept constantly stretched in one direction it loses power and elasticity; it receives a peculiar set form, and is no longer capable of extending its inquiries wherever intellect may roam, and religion guide. The tone and tension of health require for their preservation, alternate contraction and relaxation, and are disturbed by the violent efforts of excessive action, as well as by the perfect stillness of indolence.

Amusement should relax; but it should not be such, either in its nature, or its degree, as to dissipate; it should recreate, not unhinge; in the one case it will refresh, while in the other it must debilitate. Recreation again, is not idleness, than which, nothing can be more tedious and insipid, or more destructive to activity and energy of mind. There is nothing to which it is

naturally more repugnant, or which exerts a more fatal influence on its faculties, than to have nothing to do; for although the love of ease, may be predominant in the human bosom ; yet it is averse from a state of indolence, because inaction is not only not ease: it is positively painful, to avoid which, as well as the curse of selfreproach, it will be occupied, and apparently interested by the pursuit of the merest trifles; for, engaged it must be, or at the least, it must seem to be so. Exertion is necessary to its peace; and this tendency will form a prominent indication for regulating the amusements of childhood. Thus, long intervals of listless inactivity, are not to be permitted; much less are they to be held up as a bonus for present activity and exertion; this would be to encourage idleness, and to give it such a hold upon the mind, as that it will never again readily quit; it would be sustaining indolence as the reward of activity, an inconsequence, which cannot but be prejudicial; and it would be teaching the child to esteem that as a great good, which it ought to dread and deprecate as a paramount evil. A period of idleness, is one of security, of danger, and of liability to the influence of temptation; it is one in which evil dispositions and affections are likely to be called into action; it is an interval of employment, a pause of animation, which suspends mental industry, enervates intellectual power, and renders future instruction, a task much more difficult and arduous. The mind

must be unbent but not enfeebled; it must in its moments of completest relaxation, preserve such a degree of tonicity, as shall enable it whenever called upon, to resume instantaneously all its plans, to call about it all its energies, and to put forth all the vigour of its strength. A spirit of idleness once produced, is not easily removed; it is the deadly nightshade of the soul; its poison lurks concealed under a beautiful berry; and the unsuspicious and unwary, greedily swallow the destructive fruit; the calm of the narcotic steals upon them, and while they suffer from its influence, they flatter themselves all is well, and are unsuspectingly amusing themselves with gaudy trifles, on the very verge of destruction, surrounded by dangers imperceptible to their palsied eye, and increasing in intensity, exactly in direct proportion to the fatal security of the victim. It may sometimes happen, that instruction may be blended with amusement; the former however must be of a light kind; neither will its impression be durable; but it may be useful from being obvious, and from the frequency of its

recurrence.

After all, the power of amusement to convey instruction is not of an extensive nature: there can be no such thing as amusing the mind into knowledge, the acquisition of which requires labour, earnestness, and diligence. However the natural difficulties of the way may be smoothed by a judicious instructor, still it will always remain a steep ascent, and will ever demand effort.

This exertion will not be, made by the young mind under the idea of amusement; for so soon as the pursuit of knowledge necessitates labour, it ceases to amuse; hence its sphere of active good will be circumscribed, and its utility will be trifling.

But amusement may do harm; and although under any circumstances it may not be productive of lasting benefit, yet it is above all desirable that its object should be that which is pure, and which will engage the mind actively, though it do not interest it excessively: it should be such as to employ the intellectual powers, to demonstrate the evils arising from want of occupation, and to prevent those which are the consequence of the unemployed vis inertia. One grand object of amusement should be to promote the health, and the development of the animal powers, particularly of the muscular system, and of the organs of sense.

The grand basis of amusement having been pointed out, no harm can result from entering into the several games which are suited to the different ages of infancy, and adolescence; provided always that these be innocent in their immediate consequences, in their remote associations, in their obvious tendency, and in their ultimate results. This principle may be safely admitted, and suffered to take its course, only that its operation must be watched; that which is harmless in itself, must be guarded from excess; and that which is unobjectionable in its season and in

its place, must be saved from improper application. It does not do, however, to becloud the hour of amusement with an atmosphere of restraint; the cheerfulness and vivacity of youth must be indulged; within due bounds it must be permitted its native sportiveness; the sedateness of maturity is not desirable in the young; only the buoyancy of their spirits must be repressed when it becomes boisterous, and the violence of their mirth must be preserved within the limits of decorum. If the natural hilarity and gaiety of this spring-tide of life, the time of the " singing of birds" be morosely checked, such a mistake will terminate in the production of a character unamiably reserved; or of one which, from a proud feeling of dependence and restraint, runs into the opposite extreme, and delights to revel in every untried scene of riot and dissipation.

The desire for amusement cannot be wholly extinguished, neither is it desirable, if it were possible, but only that it should be kept within just bounds; that it should not be permitted to engross too much time or attention; that it do not distract the mind and unfit it for study; that it be not offensive to the will of God, or opposed to his commands, or injurious in its influence, directly or indirectly, to the moral character.

There is also considerable danger of not observing a proper balance between business and recreation; the mind stands in need of both these states, and much of its energy will depend upon their nice and accurate adjustment to its power;