Parents have a responsibility resting on them in this respect, of which they should not lose sight.  They cannot be surprised that their children imitate their examples.  With all the dangerous associations and tendencies of card-playing, would they have their children acquire a passion for it?  What wise parent can make such a choice for his son?  Ah, how many a young man has become a gamester, a black-leg, an inmate of the prison cell, because, in the home of his childhood, he acquired a love of the card-table.  He but imitated the practice of parents, whose duty it was to set him a better example, and was led to the path of ruin!

If, from its influences, card-playing, even for amusement, is improper for gentlemen, I conceive it much more so for ladies.  A woman—­and more especially a young woman—­seems entirely out of place at a card-table.  The associations are so masculine—­they bring to mind so much of the cut-and-shuffle trickery, vulgarity and profanity—­so many of the words and phrases of that hell, the gaming-table—­that for a lady to indulge in them, appears entirely opposed to that modesty and refinement, which are so becoming the female character.  I trust all young ladies of discretion will shun the card-table.  I am confident every woman, who possesses a proper sense of the dignity and delicacy which form the highest attractions of the female character, will avoid a practice which is made an instrument of the most despicable uses, and to which the most vile and abandoned constantly resort.

    “Daughters of those who, long ago,
       Dared the dark storm and angry sea,
     And walked the desert way of woe,
       And pain, and trouble to be free!

     “Oh, be like them! like them endure,
       And bow beneath affliction’s rod;
     Like them be watchful, high and pure—­
       In all things seek the smile of God.”

The same caution I have uttered in regard to card-playing, I would apply to all games of hazard and chance.  The young should never indulge in them, even for amusement.  Although they may be able to see no harm in them as recreations, yet the influences they exert, and the associations into which they lead, cannot but exert a deleterious influence.  They can do no good.  They may lead to the most dire results!

Another amusement in which the youthful frequently engage, is Dancing.  This is the most fascinating of pastimes.  And it might be made the most proper, healthful, and invigorating.  In the simple act of dancing—­of moving the body in unison with strains of music—­there can be no harm.  It is a custom which has been practised in all ages, and among all nations, both civilized and barbarous.  The very lambs in the green and sunny meadow, and the cattle on a thousand hills, in many a fantastic game, exult and rejoice in the blessings a kind Providence bestows upon them.  It is one of Nature’s methods of attesting the consciousness of enjoyment.