The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-01-12
nlistellonp.
what Sends Young People to the
Devil,

girls in the United States, from five {
eighteen years of age, many of them, no,
the light and joy of happy homes, who
within ten years from date, will have he
come outcasts, and be earning their brca,
by the last shameful resort of degrade,
womanhood.
How do you know that such W II b.
the fate of those girls Thereafter is doubt
less ready to ask. How, in fact, d,
you know that such will he the fate o
even one girl This is the way W,
know it 3:
In this city alone there are now sever
thousand such as we say those girls vii
in ten years become; and in the cntir,
Union there are over twenty thousant
such,
1t is well known by those who have
knowledge on these matters, that, within
ten years, more than half of that twenty
thousand will pass away, and their place.
be filled, and probably more than filed
by fresh victims.
These facts are Just rs well known n.
any statistics in regard To the phenomena
of population, or classes OF population, cvcl
were known.
There is no mistake, there can be nc
mistake about this matter.
Ii is n settled fact, then, that there are
now ten thousand innocent girls in thi.
land, beloved of parents and friends, witt
a seemingly bright and au>picious future
before most of them, whose namcs,
within ten years from this day, will not
be spoken by parents or friends, except
with emotions of sorrow and of shame.
And furthermore, there are now living
in this land, ten thousand boys, from five
to eighteen years Of age, who, within ten
years, will have become lorgcrs, and dc-
faulters, and thieves, and robbers, and
murIcrers, and in one way and another
be reckoned among the fclons and vaga.
bonds who inf, st the earth.
Many father and every mother whc
reads those lines will not fail to ask il
their secret souls, 'Will any child Of mine
be one of these lost twenty thousand |,
my daughter 10 become an oulcast my Sol
to become fe!cn ?
We can only say that, TO ON persona
knowledge, the daughters and sons of pa
rents Just as wise, and just as nourishn.
as parents who will read these lines, hav,
become outcasts and feIons within the las
ten years.
And thus it has come about that man,
of the best parental hearts we know ar'
also the aaddest and sorest.
1t is improbable, then, that many ;
son or daughter now sporting in innoccnc,
before parental eyes, winning honors II
school, or promising to be the prop anC
Joy of a fathers or n mothers dcclinin,
years, is not now rs certainly doomed Il
though the Angel OF Destruction had nc
tually picked Out the child, and placed /
apart, and set the seal of fate in visibl
signs upon its brow.
Whether we are to answer yes to thi
question, or whether we are to answer no
depends to great extent upon the parent
and Others 10 whom the earthly destin
of the children and youth under thci
control has been in large degree com
mtted.
This brings us to the subject which Wc
are to discuss in this article.
What Sends Young People t. ;h'
Devil.
We shall exclude outcast children an'
youth from the discussion, and conlinc
to families Of intelligence and respectable
tiy-to such as are supposed TO know, an
who believe that they do know how t
train up the child in the way it shoul
60.
The DEVILS main bold on the youth {
; the land comes of and is clinchcd by III
selfishness, the ignorance, and the incapf
city of parents and guardians, we mea
the selfshness of the good IA well rs III
selfshness of the bad, the Ignorance Of I'll
learned as well as the Ignorance of the III
learned, and the incapacity Of the distir
guished as well as the incapacty of I'll
obscure.
For il in very truth does seem thi
goodness, intelligence and capacity, y,whicl
are sufficient for all other exigenccs
life, are of no avail in this matter.
To train up family of children in tn
way they should go is about the highcs
achievement of which man is capable
and he who would accomplish il mn
take the Divine Fatherhood as his type IN
model. And however great and howcvC
frequent his failures may be, he must fol
ever aspire to approach it more and NOR
closely.
And what are the prevailing chara
teristics of the Divine Fatherhood.
They are ever-enduring patience, 70
bearance and mercy, with never n sen
blance or shadow ofreproach or fault,iin'
ing with the repentant prodigal,
No repentent son Of God, no matt
how frequent or outrageous his offence
on coming to his Heavenly Father, COZ
Tossing his sins and asking forgiveness, cv
heard any such response sounding dow
from on High as
You are allcays doing something yo
We no business TO do 4! I'm tired of thi
It's all very WE'LL to come promising oh
dience and good behavior promises n
cheap but should like TO see lit
. performance as well rs much gro,
iSe.