Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-08-20
AT LAST.
A STORY FOR BOYS.

Mrs. STOWE i'm the Hearth and Home
concludes her -Four Scenes in the Life of
Country Boy" who went to the city,
with the following scene and moral:
At last! at last There are precipices
at the end of the rapids, in such courses as
our boy" has been running, more dread
full than Niagara
Better, far better the short agony of
that wild race down the roaring rapids,
and that one dizzy plunge, that finishes
all, than those worse plunges that destroy
all that young man has to hope for in
life, yet leave him living
There are dreadful hours when men
live only because they cannot die.
What weeks of bewildering wretched-
ness this poor fellow has been through
wi Ia since we saw his haggard, eager face
~ at the gaming table!
Since then he has been desperately
striving to regain his foOthOld, but strv-
ing, alas in that false, treacherous way
that the devil opens to those he would be-
tray. He is hOpelessly involved, and the
tempting whisper is ever at his ear ::
WIN, and pay back i" One fortunate
throw may redeem ALL He hears among
the lobby members of the gambling house
OF those who have won dazzling piles of
money after hard runs of ill-luck. He is a
teller in bank, and tempting oppOrtuni-
ties offer every day to take the money that
Will give him one more chance. Not to
stedt-nO indeed-but to borrow. Did the
devil ever ask well-brought-up youth to
to turn his luck with, and he will put it
all back before the time for settling ac-
counts. Borrowing of the bank, he calls
1t; and he curses with hard words the
false friends that will not help
him. Nobody cares for him, he thinks
and he must care for HIMSELF and so,
from time to time, he keeps on borrowing
He could not stand this kind of life were
it not for his daily drinks of brandy
s- Inat makes things look brighter and more
hopeful, and dulls his senses to the roar
OF the coming cataract
But the time of settlement of bank ac-
counts is coming, and still his luck does
not turn Pray to God ?-he dare not
and the devil only laughs at his cries. He
thinks OF the agony of detection, of the
shame and disgrace impending. What
snail ne do? The whisper comes: Forge
cteque" Why not He can initiate
writing cleverly, was alwaysa skillful pen
man. He will oit He does it and here,
to-day the artist shows him standing, pale,
agonized, detected, before the board, who
are met to examine the accounts of the
bank
AASAC oeuheo tIlC SdIlC DOy tLdt lcIC his
country home, so well-meaning, so beloved,
and so happy. Behind him stands the de.
tective and the handouts, at the door the
prison van, while the President of the
board holds up the forged cheque
Where are the respectable friends who
hrst helped him to wear off his country
greenness at select little suppers?
They were perfectly shocked at such
revelations of depravity. Who would
have thought of his turning out such
scamp? What mess he has made of it (!
The fellow was fool-a weak headed
fool! I"
Yes, he was weak headed and weak
hearted and he tried to walk where the
strongest heads often turn; and you be-
guiled him to walk there. You laughed
before him at the idea of total abstinence.
You boasted before him of your manly
powers OF touching and tasting every
thing and never getting upset. You united
his boat, and helped him paddle into the
rapids, and then stood safe on the shore
to see him go down. You never did any
thing to hurt yourself! No, and you never
will. But how many will be lost by being
beguiled to do what you can do safely, and
they cannot do at ALI
Come now, boys, let us settle one or two
things as absolute certainties when you
start in life: ir9
He who ntuer drinks, neoer will be drunk
That's sO-isn't it? He who sometimes
drinks, may be.
He who aecer goes into gambling sa-
loon never will gamble, and he who never
CANDLES never loses; but
He who goes to O5seroe may gamble, and
he who CANDLES will surely lose.
In all these things is it not best not to be-
gta and would not our country boy have
done better to have started with firm po-
sitive No! instead of the treacherOus
Wen see 7"
tie has seen, and seen great deal too
much; and, in nine cases out of ten that
sort of seeing ends in this way.
Beware ofinnocent beginnings in wrong
ways, and remember the old text we start
ed with
- There is a way that seeneth right unto
man, but the end thereof are the ways of
DEATH" 8aA @