Chess has become far more general than it formerly was
because it is better understood. Old fashioned notions that it
was too serious and necessitated an unreasonable absorption of
time, are passing away. A well-known amateur, whose games
please the public much and are greatly admired in Professor
Ruskin's letters has played many of his best specimens within an
hour, some in half that time. This same player states that he
recurs with great interest, though melancholy in its character,
to some games, he has played with those afflicted in various ways,
on account of the solace and consolation as well as pleasure it has
been found to afford him! The excellent contests some blind boys
made against him with their raised boards; the enjoyment
they expressed and felt, as conveyed to him by the master of the
Asylum, is vivid in his remembrance. Chess has proved highly
beneficial to such of the lower classes, as have been fortunate
enough to resort to it, in place of more exciting and expensive
indoor games. The mental exercise called into play is of the
most healthy character; and those who interest themselves in the
welfare of their less fortunate brethren may benefit them
and society, by assisting to diffuse a better knowledge of its
advantages for those at present uninterested in it.
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