The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1872-03-13
Can You Afford 1t?

Gan you afford to work hard all day
and read, study, or court the vacarie.
OF society nearly all night, thus vast
rug your vitality, exhausting your ner
Vous system, and bringing on p-ema.
ture disease, decay and old ace9
Can you afford to read fine print will
poor light in a rail car, where the
motion disturbs the proper focus OF
VISION, thus weakening your eyes so as
nearly to deprive you of the power to
use them either in reading or in the
daily duties of life7 Even though Won
do not have an oculist to pay. you may
be obliged to wear glasses ten or fit.
teen years sooner than you otherwise
would; can You afford thus to spoil
your eyes to save little time7
Can you afford to eat hastily, and
then rush to study or business, with
drawing the nervous energy from the
digestive system to the brain and mus
cles. and thus inducing dyspepsia, in a
few years at most, to scourge and haunt
and make you miserable for years, or
Ffor life7
Can you afford to live on rich and
highly seasoned food, eat champagne
suppers, because an artificial appetite
is thus gratified, rendering govt, dys-
pepsia, or apoplexy in the middle of
life almost certainty
Can you afford to commit suicide
through the indulgence of appetite and
passion, adopting the FOOLS motto, "a
short life and merry one9
Can you afford to keep your brain
boiling hot in reading sensational nov
els, thus unbalancing and rendering
morbid your mental and physical con-
stitution?
Can yon afford to indulge in fast liv-
ing, dressing beyond your means, dri.
wing livery horses, or keeping horse
yourself, when your income is not ade-
quate to such expenses
Can you afford to smoke and chew
tobacco, thus spending from five to
fifty dollars month, and injuring your
whole constitution, thus making them
puny invalids for life7
Can you afford to burn out your ner-
vous system and demoralze your
whole character by the use of alcho-
holic liquors7
Can yon afford to indulge in habits
OF speculation, gambling, and other
tricky and mean modes of making
money?
Can You afford to make money at
the expense of your manhood, your
morals, your health, your just respect
Utility, and your integrity7
Can you afford to gain even the
whole world and thereby make of your
self a moral wreck?
Can you afford, for the sake of mo-
mentary amusement, to waste your
youthful, preparatory years, when by
study you should become scholar, or
by industry either a tradesman or a
useful artisan7
Can you afford to rob your mind to
clothe your back with silks and satins,
and crafty a mere love for display {?
Can you afford to be tricky and
thereby defraud your employer of the
just services you owe him, even though
you do get your pay, thus making
a moral bankrupt
Can you afford to be otherwise than
upright, truthful, faithful, temperate,
and in all respects correct
Pupils in school sometimes fancy
they are doing a smart thing by de-
ceiving the teacher, that they may play
instead of study. Apprentices often
neglect their duty for fun and amuse-
ment, and fail to learn their trade,
which is lifelong damage to them
Many people do wrong knowingly,
and thus mar their moral nature and
make themselves feel mean, unworthy
and despicable; and, because the world
lou't know it, they think they have
done themselves no harm; but they
carry the moral scar of wrong-doing
through life. Can one afford to have
my motto adverse to the old adage,
that Honesty is the best policy 2"
Reader, stop and consider whether
What you are doing, or what you pro-
pose to do, will pay; whether you can
'fford to do it. "Time is money )" do
lot throw it away, but make every
lay and every hour tell either for your
growth, health or profit Phrenologi-
al Journal.
TRADES OF ANIMALs.-It has been
veil remarked by clever author that
,eps AFRO pnomo friciaps Tho oa1ls oro |