The Shasta courier., 1869-06-12
SHASTA COURIER.
A Short Lecture to Young Men.

ooou ohAHSo, -Nd>pJ, duu iOtS OF Olner
fools-no, I mean funny men-and Of
course want to be in fashion; so, as young
men need lecturiug about as much as any.
thing know Of, l will begin with them.
And firstly: Don't begin the world
with the idea that there is certain ouan-
tity ofwild oats to be sown to get the ground
ready for crop of tame ones. You have
most of you seen that tall, rank weed with
a yellow blossom which bears after the
blossom, burr of what are called "beg-
gar's lice' Pass by them, and they fall
off and stick to your clothes, and stick,
and stick and if you by dint of hard brush.
ing and prickled fingers, succeed in ridding
yourself Of them, they most likely have
gone where the next passer-by will be
troubled by them. And their sprawling,
ungainly stalk has taken as much vitality
from the earth as a strawberry vine or a
rose-bush would have done. 1t is like
wild oats, just as uugainly, just as dis
agreeable to your friend, and just as need
less. No more so.
Secondly: Don't swear. The truth is
good enough without it and falsehood is
none the better with it. Two-thirds of
the sensible people have feeling that
story which needs confirming by an oath is
like house which needs propping with a
shore, rather unstable and dangerous in a
storm. / have known swearer himself
to declare his modification at the company
ofanother no more profane than himself
Thirdly: Look out for your reputation.
If that gets bad, be sure it is the outcrop-
pings from diseased branch in your char
aeter; and a reputation once patched is
likely to show the blemish as china plate
with piece puttied into its edge. Going
down hill is easy, easier than going up,
while your face is toward the bottom. 1t
is like playing Larry O'Gaf; you can be-
gin anywhere, but if you go on till you
come to stopping place, you may play
till your bow is worn out and your strings
broken. Your fiddle is gone but the music
remains-Da capo from everlasting unto
everlasting.
Fourthly: Take your sisters with you to
places of amusement, thus making sure
they are in company with confounded
good fellow !; then of course you will be
sure thereis no danger. Don't excuse your
self by saying that the place or the com
pany is not fit. If it is good enough for
you it is equally 50 for them, unless by
keeping bad associations you have fallen
long way below them-in which case a
continuance of evil will not raise you again
to the level.
Filthy Learn to take care of yourself
and not depend on mother and sis to button
your collar, put away your slippers and pipe
(of you are fool enough to smoke one, hunt
up the book you have mislaid, Or hang up
your hat and overcoat; otherwise you may
have the riches of Jew, the beauty of
Appollo, and the good nature of a clown,
without the faculty of making good hus-
band
Sixthly: Don't scowl at your sisters
children, and call them brats" or g nui-
sanees." People who live in glass houses
ought to know better than to throw stones,
and you should consider it utterly i'm
possible for anything human to be more
hateful than you were when this same sister
was being courted, unless the exception be
made in favor of the " to be's," when your
self shall have been married few years.
Seventhly: Don't regard life as play
ground and every working day hardship.
The only person ever knew who had
Fourth Of July all the year around is old
Yankee Doodle.
Eighty, and lastly: When you go
courting don't stay till the small hours, thus
giving the young lady red eyes and head
acne the next day, or, what is equally as
bad a late breakfast and volley Of raillery,
from her big brother, who has not yet
begun to run up gas bill for somebody
else to pay. You may be very brilliant
aud entertaining g-probably you are-but
l tell you she would much prefer to swallow
it in small doses OF course she can
not tell you SO it would not be polite, but
she thinks it all the time after eleven
You may depend on what say, for | had
a beau once myself and it is not so long
since but can remember that was many
times twice glad-when he came and when
he went-HoPE HOLLY Wide World.