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AMUSEXENTS OF THE PEOPLE. 7
she is aping her betters. How can good erupinga be better
spent than in aping your betters? How is real civilieation to
bo attained if the mere necessaries of life are to be good
enough for the bulk of tho people?
Among the means towards B higher civilieation, I unhesitatingly
assert that the deliberate cultivation o€ publio
amnsement is a principal one. Surely we may accept as an
axiom that the zrvemgo man or woman requires an avorage
amount of recreation. At least it is not for our richer classes
to say nay. The life of a young n~an or a young woman in
aristocratic circles is one continuous round of varied amusements.
Are wo to allow that what is to them the perfection of
existence is to have no counterpart whatever among the poor
drudges of the farm or factory ? Is it not all the more requisite
that when there are few hours in tho meek to spare for recreetion,
those hours shouId bo sweetened in tho most wholesome
and agreeable may 1 And as, by the progress of acienco and
invention, those vacant hours aro gradually prolonged, it
bccornes mom and more rcquisite that provision should be
made for their harmless occupation. The old idea of keeping
people moral by keeping their noses to the grindstone must be
abandoned. As things are going, people will, and, what is
more, they ought to have all possible means of healthy
rccrcntion. The qucst,ion is, tho Free Library and the Nowsroom
versus tho Public-house; and, as my mor0 immediate
subjcct, tho mell-conducted Concert-room z'cr82~8 the inane and
vulgnr Music-hall.
There is, indeed, a brighter sido to this question than I
have yet mentioned. All that I bsvo been saying was more
true of our population twenty or thirty years ago than it is
now. What I shall advocate is mainly suggested by thinge
already accomplished in one part of the country or another.
I claim no originality for my remarks, unless perhaps it be that
of treating the subject more seriously than is usual, and of
insisting that popular amusements ere no trivial matter, but
rather one that has great influence on national manners and
charecter.
The erection of the Crystal Palace forms Bn epooh in thie