Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students - Ellen G. White

ody. There is nothing to strengthen the intellect,
nothing to store it with valuable ideas for future
use. The conversation is often upon trivial and
degrading subjects. ...
Expertness in handling cards often leads to a
desire to put his knowledge and tact to some use
for personal benefit. A small sum is staked, and
then a larger, until a thirst for gaming is acquired,
which leads to certain ruin. How many has this
pernicious amusement led to every sinful practice,
to poverty, to prison, to murder, and to the gallows!
And yet many parents do not see the terrible gulf of
ruin that is yawning for our youth.
Among the most dangerous resorts for pleasure
is the theater. Instead of being a school for morality
and virtue, as is so often claimed, it is the very
hotbed of immorality. Vicious habits and sinful
propensities are strengthened and confirmed by
these entertainments. Low songs, lewd gestures,
expressions, and attitudes, deprave the imagination
and debase the morals. Every youth who habitually
attends such exhibitions will be corrupted in
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