Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1869-03-12
Letters to Our Young Readers.

Letters % mr Young Readers.
Ny YoUsa READERS Just as the
PAPER came to hand containing the first OF
this series of le!tets IN which We were re-.
minded Of our promise TO try to interest
and profit YOU by furnishing solae Interest
ing point from history, We were engaged
in reading, in Rollins Ancient History, an
account Of PtoIemy Philadelphus. And
so, as we do not intend to confne ourselt
to any regular order, ip presenting you with
these historical gleanings, we concluded to
begin with the aboye character. What
arrested our attention particularly, concern
ing this man, was his nsme. Ptolemy
Softer, which in the Greek means Saviour,
was the father of the man of whom wo
are writing. The father was one Of four
who divided ..dhe Kingdom Of Alexander
the Great among themselves He had, as
bis portion, Egypt, Lydia, Arabia, Ccelo
syria and Palestine. N ow before you read
any further get your map and look out
those countries. About two years before
Ptolemy Softer died he appointed .as his
successor 10 the throne Ptolemy Philadel-
phus. But what about his name? Well,
here is what struck us: PhiIadeIphus is
from two Greek words, and means "a
lover Of bis brethren;'' but this man
" charged two of his brothera With forming
designs against his life, and then caused
them to be put to death" A strange way
to love our brethren, surelyl But as l am
writing these articles for the benefit of my
little readers, but also for those who, while
yet in a state Of youth, are approaching
manhood and womanhood, T will here say
that this man "received the Surname OF
Philadelphus agreeably 10 figure of
speech called antiphrasis," which il the
use Of words ip a sense opposite to their
proper meaning,
So, then, he was called lover of his
brethren, because he vas murderer of
them. But it would have been far better
had he been called P.olemy Phoneudel-
phus and then all would have known that
he was murderer, and that of his own
brothers. - So
This habit Of calling things by their
wrong names has in almost every in.
stance bad effect. It makes the guilty
less conscious of the enormity of their sin
and is very likely to pervert the public cou:
science. =
Thus, when man in charge of some
great trust, say an officer of bank or of
government, cheats the party whose agent
he is, Of the small item of fifteen, twenty
i've, fifty or hundred thousand dollars,
he lie politely called defaulter. To call
him rogue, thief, which be is, aud the
wotst kind, is thought to be loo harsh, it
might burt his feelings and be reflection
on tie large circle Of first families to which
be is related.
Had poor man been defaulter, that is,
had he stolen to the amount Of fifty dol
lars, "stop thief" would have been on every
body's tongue, aud he must needs be ar
rested, tried and penitentisr,ed. The safety
Of property aud the we'll being of society
demanded that the thief be- punished.
But the poor defaulter " no las stolen only
fifty thousand or such matter, ought not
to be disturbed. It might disgrace (l) the
man to call him thief and have him tried.
And because Of this false name given to
his crime. he nor the community have a
proper sense Of the nature of bis offence.
Whenever we see such cases we think,
'auother Ptolsny Pbiladelphus." The
wrong name is given to bis act and fearful
evil to the Individual and publ: conscience
ia the rpsnlt =" =: .:... .,
Little crimes are avoided because they
are attended with odium and punished,
hence an effort is made to get into some
position in which "big thing" can be
made of it, and then it is no longer steal
ing, simply a default.
My young friends, We would warn you
against any such false notions. Remem-
Der if you would have pure conscience
and an upright character, you must learn
to call things by their right names. '''