Download or read book Social Activities for Men and Boys (Classic Reprint) written by Albert M. Chesley and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-06 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Social Activities for Men and Boys What is it to be social? It is to appreciate the meaning of life. It is to realize that we are set here in this world, not for houses, lands, gold, silks, praise, authority, fame, but for character. You may make a great stir about socials in your Association, but unless the warm heart of Christ is in them, your socials will be more like the water of Labrador than the water of life. Unless, to win men to the Master, you are willing at least to try to forget self, to lose self-consciousness in service, you cannot be social. Sociability does not consist in forms and trappings, but in the spirit. Forget yourself; remember Christ; seek to win souls for him. The test of a social committee comes, not in the social, but the day after; not in the Sunday meeting to which you may have welcomed the stranger heartily, but on the street and in the cars Monday morning. Oh, we need to learn how to smile, - not on our lovers, our friends, the dear ones in our homes, - we know that already; but on the peevish, the cross, the sullen, the ugly. We need to learn how to talk, - not with the friendly, the well-informed, the responsive, - we know that already; but with the stupid, the rude, the uncultured and coarse. We need to learn how to shake hands, - not with soft hands, and white hands, and warm hands, and strong hands, - we know that already; but with soiled hands, and cold hands, and hard hands, and flabby hands. We do not pray half enough over our socials, either while we are planning them or while we are carrying them out. To converse requires sympathy more than anything else. True conversation takes us out of ourselves, immensely widens our experiences, deepens our knowledge, and adds to our lives the lives of those we meet. Social - to save! To save from what? Well, from loneliness, for one thing. Social - to save from discontent. Social - to save from uselessness. Take the awkward boobies and transform them into wide-awake gentlemen. Develop latent talent and energies. Social - to save from gloom. Ah, who has greater need of our cheery brotherhood than the depressed young people, the discouraged, those whose tempers have become soured? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.