Rational Enjoyment

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RATIONAL ENJOYMENT.

Those who were present at the German fete, yesterday, at Myrtle avenue Park, in which the Williamsburgh Sangerbund participated, must have felt very strongly, if they never entertained the thought before, that other nations, especially the Germans and French, understand far better than ourselves the true method of relaxation and enjoyment.

At one time upon the grounds at the Park, there must have been six or seven thousand people present, but in that vast number there was no quarrelling or fighting, little or no drunkenness, and no disturbance of any kind except the “skylarking” of a few unruly boys, and those not German. The general beverage in use was lager-bier or some other mild and innocuous drink; the younger portion of the community indulged in playful games and innocent amusements; and the elder ones, with their wives and babies (the blessed babies are inevitable at a German celebration) looked on and enjoyed the fun, interchanged convivial and friendly talk with each other, or invested their spare cash at the tempting booths that were scattered through the grove. All was peaceable, rational and enjoyable. The police had nothing to do but look on serenely and cogitate on the intricate problem as to whether the Teutonic beverage is or is not intoxicating. Doubtless they made up their minds to the contrary before they left the grounds.

Suppose, now, that six or seven thousand of our own nationality should attempt to assemble on some festival of this kind. What would be the consequence? In the first place every other booth would be a grog-shop, and fighting rum and Jersey-lightning would disappear with maniacal rapidity. Then there would be loud swearing and disputing. Then there would be a general “plug-muss,” in which noses would be broken, knives drawn and perhaps life lost. There would be none of the restraining influence of woman—we never dream, when we go on a pleasure trip, of taking wives and children with us—and there would consequently be lost one of the greatest possible safeguards against dissipation and riotous conduct.

No doubt we are the greatest nation on the face of the earth—no doubt we can make the despots of Europe shake in their shoes (see the Fourth of July orations) with one wave of the stars and stripes—no doubt our good opinion of ourselves is justified by all the facts in the case, but for all that, we should not be above taking a hint on some social matters of which other people possess a better idea than ourselves. This subject of social amusements is one on which we are, confessedly, not posted. Let us be candid and confess that as we are too closely and absorbingly business-like in our work, we are altogether too fast, furious and reckless in our amusements. We are in hopes that those German festivals will teach our people a wholesome lesson, and that, in time, they will find out that dissipation is not recreation, and that pleasure is, properly speaking, a simple unbending or relaxation, and should never be made an exhausting toil.

Apropos of our German friends, the N.Y. Times of this morning makes the following sensible remarks:

The German element in our immigration has always been the most valuable, and, as long as the present facilities are available to foreigners for casting in their lot with us, there is no element with which we can less afford to dispense. The virtues which make nations great, are, happily for mankind, those which make homes happy. Industry, temperance, frugality, and love of order, make not simply good husbands and fathers, but good citizens as well, and none of the many tribes who have contributed their quota to the settling of this continent, can boast a greater share of all these than the Germans. Moreover, they are the only portion of the foreign immigration who, from the moment of their arrival in the country, take a decided stand for free labor. None have done more for the cause. They bid fair to win Western Texas to it one day; they have already all but won Missouri. They supply, in short, that class of men which we most want from abroad—the class which places household virtues in the first rank, or expends its patriotic fervor in paying its road tax, sending its children to school, obeying the law, and cultivating it farms.