eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in 
Ais labor. 
God.’’—Ecclesiastes 2: 24. 
Commentators have strained both language and logic 
to show that the ancient philosopher did not mean the 
plain inference of these words. But some modern critics 
are bold enough to say that he recognized the wisdom of 
what is termed worldly pleasure. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, ‘‘don’t be afraid of the 
truth.’’ But we are. If, however, there is a wisdom in 
the pleasures of life let us not be afraid of the truth. 
The sin of worldly pleasure was once canonical. The 
church put taboo tags upon every worldly pleasure, a 
ban upon even the sweet, wholesome frolics of God’s 
erown up children, for that is all we are. The church 
held to its professions, confessions, and one-sided dog- 
matic, ecclesiastical processional, and on the other side 
went the world with its business, ambitions and pleas- 
ures. HKach went its own way. The church and the 
world never mingled. 
The church and the world blends today. This is a fact 
apparent and recognized. The line between the two is 
obliterated and none but an ecclesiastical egotist now 
draws the line. In fact the world rather than the chureh 
insists on drawing the line. 
In the larger unfolding of humanity and the universe 
there is a conviction growing that other things than sim- 
ply religion are good, and things once considered sinful 
are recognized as beneficial and good. 
We are beginning to see that we cannot reform or re- 
generate tle world by emasculation. All reforms some-. 
how fall into the fatal process of mere emasculation. At 
first the church started in to leave the world severely 
alone. It was so easy to draw a line and come out from 
among the sinners. The process of reform goes a step 
further and wages a bitter war of emasculation. It 
fights the saloon. That is not so hard. We see an evil 
and hack away at it, an easy process. But it is hard to 
get men to resist. the evil and replace it with a pure 
pleasure. 
Let us consider a few of what has been termed the 
grosser pleasures, leaving the higher pleasures for a 
future consideration. 
There is the pleasure of the dance. It is easy enough 
_ to denounce that. But to dance is instinetive. All chil- 
dren dance. The feet of the young move instinctively, 
_ the body is rhythmie with vibrant life and music touches 
_ the electric button. - 
Dancing is said to excite the passion. Well, what of 
| it? Something is going to excite the passion. Why not 
cut out everything that will excite the passion? - Why 
hot cut the jugular vein? That will effectually cool 
everything. It is an easy thing to emasculate passions, 
just kill them. Sex-attraction is natural, universal, 
_ineradicable, legitimate, divine; inherently and intrin- 
_ Sically good or God would not have created it. We pre- 
sume to take issue with the Creator on moral good and 
ae A 
evil. As far as young and unmarried people are concerned 
1 see no reason why refined dancing should be evil. The 
_ energy and exhilaration of youth craves expression in 
_ pleasurable movement, in the free play of limbs, the dis- 
Mir aaiue 
This also I saw, that it was from the hand of 
k NORTH SHORE BREEZE 13 
The Philosophy of the Pleasures of Life 
Minister of Orthodox Congregational Church Charitable in His Views of the World 
. [EXTRACTS FROM SERMON BY L. H. RUGE, SUNDAY, AUG. 14, 1910] 
Text: “There is nothing better for a man than that he should play of graces, the expenditure of nerve currents. All 
this is certainly a need that can be beautifully and 
safely expressed in dancing and instead of putting all 
forms of dancing in the catalog of damnable sins let us 
see if refined grace of movement may not be a legitimate 
pleasure. 
There is the pleasure of the drama. The dramatic in- 
stinct cannot be crushed. The drama is life with the 
mask off. We read the story of the human heart on the 
stage in a continuous movement. We see ourselves as 
others see us and we are moved and_ fascinated 
to see our very soul there. The chureh today is 
wisely tolerant of the drama, in facet it pathetically 
tries to imitate it in its entertainments. Praise what is 
good and denounce what is bad as in everything else. 
There is the ever-growing pleasure of club life of all 
sorts. The woman’s club movement has been severely 
criticised, but as it has become a permanent institution 
to be recognized let us see what can be done to make 
this institution one of the great pleasures of the world, 
as it is already productive of real good. 
A men’s club is a feature in every community. In some 
instances it is supplanting the saloon. In England it is 
actually transforming towns of drunkenness and licen- 
tiousness into safe and decent communities. Men go 
there to read, write a letter, chat, smoke, play cards and 
enjoy it. In these clubs all forms of dissipation and in- 
decency are never tolerated. This is better than mere 
emasculation. 
As all enjoyment of life depends upon physical health, 
outdoor sports and recreations to develop this are essen- 
tial, and have in themselves become the greatest pleas- 
ures of all. 
The pleasure of pure idleness in moderation is no evil. 
Every one with any sense makes a break for all outdoors. 
t is said, ‘‘the devil never takes a vaeation.’? So much 
the worse for the devil, poor devil. And why should we 
fellow the devil’s example? 
Let us get away to the pleasure haunts of nature. Let 
the medicinal tonic of all outdoors penetrate the pores of 
the body. The greatest discovery of the nineteenth cen- 
tury was the discovery of the sunshine and storm, the 
wind and the sea. Let the ardent sun kiss you and the 
storm buffet you and the wind and the sea caress you. 
Ruddy, sunburned cheeks and arms are a badge of 
health. Take off more clothes. Civilized clothing is 
almost a crime; overcoats, especially fur-lined ones, are 
assassins. The pallor of death and disease is under the 
bundle of deadly stuff that enswathes us. I see bodies 
that come down for the first time to dip in the sea as 
ghastly looking as a cellar-grown plant. 
A traditional giant wrestler is said to have reinforced 
his youth and strength every time he was thrown to the 
earth. So we renew, reinforce our youth and strength 
every time we rest on the bosom of our old mother earth. 
She soothes, rests and refreshes all her tired children 
that come to her, 
I should like to elaborate the pleasures of travel, but 
this is worthy of individual attention. There is a great 
charm in going from place to place, in seeing the wonders 
of the world God-created and man-made over. Even a 
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