Demoralizing Influence of Pleasure-Seeking.
By Editor
A FEW weeks ago a telegraphic dispatch made the simple announcement that one of the jockeys on the Brighton track had been thrown from his horse and killed. Afterward the details were given by a correspondent of a New York paper. The letter shows, although not written for that purpose, the heartlessness which is begotten by a love for amusement. It seems that the managers of the track insisted that thirty-one horses should start together, so that it might be said that the greatest number of horses ever started together had run at Brighton Beach. In the consequent wild rush and jam, one jockey, a lad sixteen years old, was crowded from his horse and trampled upon and his skull crushed. Says the correspondent:— “The dead body of the boy was carried into the stable. Then everybody on the grand stand knew Moran was dead, and many a woman's handkerchief was brought into use. The poor mother sat there as still as a pillar of stone could be. The news was too sudden and shocking for her. The darling that she had kissed a few hours before, was cold in death. Then came the reaction with her, and that was too sad to be described here. The indignation against the management of Brighton Beach was intense, but it did not last long on the race-course. In a few minutes men and women were betting just as wildly as ever, jockeys were weighing out for the next race, the bell was calling the horses to the post, and amid it all lived the sorrowing heart of a mourning mother bending over the form of the boy who would never caress her in life again.” The one who writes the above, thinks that the managers of the track, who are to blame for the boy's death, ought to get up a benefit for his mother. By all means; have another race, and let her have the proceeds. And this is in the nineteenth century, in the midst of the highest civilization the world has ever known. It may be the highest civilization, but it reminds us very strongly of the civilization of Rome in the days of her gladiatorial shows, when the death of a man added to, rather than diminished, the sport. We repeat, that a love for pleasure for its own sake begets heartlessness. It could not be otherwise, for selfishness is at the root of all mere pleasure-seeking. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves.”