WHAT GOOD? by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 11, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 15.

WHAT GOOD?

By Editor

The Question of Skating-Rinks.

THE question which the mere nominal professor asks concerning questionable things is, "What harm is there in them?" The very question shows the negative life of the asker, and indicates that his object in the life which he possesses is comfortable ease rather than unselfish service; is present enjoyment rather than noble character-building.

Just now, all through the country, is the skating-rink "fad," in some places, a "craze." The exercise appeals to the young Christian, and there are never wanting human appeals from acquaintances and companions to confirm any lingering desire to take part. The question has been asked us, and we wish to examine it.

What good is it physically?

What good is it financially?

What good is it mentally?

What good is it socially?

What good is it morally? This fairly covers the field.

1. Physically.—"It is exercise," we are told. Yes, but is it exercise under conditions which make for health? It is exercise in a crowded hall, soon filled with the unwholesome exhalations of many steaming human bodies, inhaling an atmosphere laden with carbon dioxide, the fumes of tobacco and whisky, and the effluvia and impurities consequent on the gathering of such a crowd in such a place. Exercise is almost invariably taken to excess, as the mad indulgence of the sport has often demonstrated. This exercise is often continued till late hours, and it leaves the exhausted system in a splendid condition for the propagation of germs of influenza, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. It robs the most nervous temperaments—those who naturally go to excess in such a sport—of needed sleep, and so tends to make them nervous wrecks. It leads those who are heated to indulge in iced refreshments or drinks, rarely or never beneficial. The skating-rink is therefore of no benefit to its devotees physically.

2. Financially.—It is absolutely no financial benefit to its patrons, whatever it be to its promoters. It can be a place which easily robs the young man of limited wages of all his hard earnings; and when the fad is over he has a pair of worn or broken skates, and an education which will never commend him to a single wise business man. The promoters, the saloons, the purveyors of drinks, the doctors, and perhaps, prematurely, the undertakers, are the chief beneficiaries of the rink. The patron is always poorer.

3. Mentally.—No one thinks, save the low-grade intellect, that the rink would be a profit mentally. It does not require a great mentality to operate a pair of roller skates on a smooth floor. The professors and graduates of the rink will never, because of the acquired art, be known in the halls of fame, or add luster to the renown of their Alma Mater.

4. Socially.—We are not among those who would mark the boundaries of social divisions by the dollar, the eagle, or the bond, or by any ancient coat of arms. The true "hall-mark" of a gentleman or lady is moral character and good behaviour; and the best code of etiquette is the Golden Rule. No young man who cares for himself ought to choose other companions. No true, pure young woman would wish to. The social companion of the parlor ought to be on the same level, of the same brand, as the social companion in amusement. Do fathers and mothers, ambitious for their sons and daughters, believe for one moment that their standing in good society will be helped or established by the associations at the rink?

5. Morally.—What is its moral benefit? What parent wants to throw his pure daughter or growing son into a human mass of all kinds and characters, all on an equality by virtue of the fee paid at the door?

Oftentimes the best and most graceful performer in such a place is the most disreputable in character. It is easy for such a one to gain strong influence over an impressible boy or girl who are there with all restraint thrown off. Vice and low conversation and action become familiar, the nice sense of morality and modesty is lost, and the first step is taken in a downward career, which often ends in life-long disgrace and degradation. Places like the rink, invariably given to excess and broadest license, ever level down, never up.

In the light of these considerations, what candid man or woman will not agree with us that the skating-rink is of no physical, financial, mental, social, or moral good. It is therefore a good place to let alone. Let reason and right principle settle that forever, and the enlightened mind and conscience will ever find something better in every way.