Litchfield enquirer., 1872-06-27
From The Mothsr's Magazine OUR YOUNG MEN. $ s1

much occupied with the character of the young men of our borough and neighbor- hood. Our young men are an important, interesting class of our community. It is to them, the future interests of our coun- try are to be committed. They are to be our governors, our legislators, our lawyers, our physicians, our ministers to teach the way to heaven. Now let me ask, what character our young men sustain? and if it is one becoming the prominent and inn portant positions they are to occupy?
 Are they temperate are they virtuous are they ''sober minded" as they are ex- horted to be in Gods Holy Word :? are they remembering their Creator in the days of their youth ? are they what they should be, their fathers dependence, their mothers pride and joy ? are they the com panions of their sisters are those of them who are fatherless, striving to supply the place of the father, whom God has taken from them, by kind attention to widow ed mother and orphaned brothers and sisters?
 Alas !! alas how few of our young men can answer these questions satisfactorily. I rejoice to know that there are some ex- captions. Yes, there are a few of our young men who are all that parents and friends can desire but truth compels me to say, that the large majority are of an opposite character. re.
 So dissipated have large number of our young men become, that instead of being @ comfort to their parents and blessing to the community, they are curse;; dread full as it Is, nevertheless, is it not truth But my object in writing is not to find fault, but to draw the attention of the community to this important class of per- sons, in whom we are all, more or less, in- terested. My heart bleeds for our young men, and asks if there are no means by which they can be saved from both tenn poral and eternal ruin? Let me inquire why 1t IS that so many of our young men turn out so badly? There must be fault somewhere, for one of earth's wise men has said :-'Train up child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." It is true, this was said centuries ago, and is found in very old fashioned book still the oldness of the saying does not affect it's truth. am Q firm believer in the inspiration of the Bible and, although some persons think themselves wiser than Solomon, for one, do not. The fault then must be in the training. Parents, let me ask you, are you, yourselves, anything like what you wish your children to be?
 The old saying, that example speaks more powerfully than precept, comes with great force here. Are you, fathers, an ex- ample of all that is good, virtuous and noble Ill man? Are you total abstinence men? Are you setting an example becom- ing the religion you profess :? Are you striving to increase in every Christian grace and virtue? We know there are some such fathers in our place, how many, cannot tell. Your own consciences must answer these questions At higher tri- bunal than any earthly one, you will be called to an account for these things.
 My sphere of observation, MT. Editor, IS limited. I do not suppose, however, that our town is worse than other places, put ptn say, without the fear 0f contra diction, that the majority of our young men, are going to destruction just as fast as time can take them. A few are regu- lar drunkards and gamblers; most of them will get into ffolic once in while, and I do believe that not more than eight or ten at most, can be found who have never touched, tasted or handled the accursed thing.
 Let any one look in on our congregations on the Sabbath. It is true that the great CT number of our young men will be seen there, and why because it is disreputa- ble not to attend church, at least once Q day but look at our weekday evening meetings, and see how many of our young men are thereto say nothing of the ab- sence of our male professors of religion. But if you want to find where our young men assemble in the evenings, go to our saloons, those underground dens of in- iquity, where no one learns any good; and in all probability you will find them there. And let me ask what attracts them there? I suspect they might tell you, to eat oysters; but that is no doubt often only an excuse for card playing, drinking, swearing, and sometimes fighting. One would suppose that they would be ashamed to be seen at such vile places, where the keeper of them only wants to rid them of their money, and cares not what becomes of them after they are stripped of all they have. Young men, allow me to tell you, that this man is no friend of yours. Oh! if you will only lis- ten to mothers warning voice, you will resolve never, never, to enter those vile dens again. I am astonished, that such places are allowed to be in every city, in every borough, in every village, through the length and the breadth of our loved country, and that they are authorized by law. For what? To allure souls down to death and eternal ruin. We pray 'lead us not into temptation" and yet these dreadful places are in almost every square or street, to tempt our sons to do what?- to destroy themselves. Oh! tell 1t not in Gath, publish it not in Askelon, that in this nineteenth century-in this land of bibles, this land of Sabbaths, this land of the brave, the noble, the great; this land of liberty; this blest of all lands under Gods heavens should be disgraced and dishonored by such dark, thing I will say, that if the broken-hearted mothers had the power, these saloons wonld soon be shut up. and their keepers imprisoned, as persons too dangerous to be at large. Cannot something be done to put down these disgraceful places? I entreat you who are in authority to do something, beg you to consider the anx- ious, sorrow1ng mothers have an in- terest in it, for I too have sons, and I would be heart-broken to learn that they frequented such places.
 We all deplore the evil war that was raging in our land, by which so many of our young men were cut down, and sent to eternity; this war has caused sorrow and mourning in many house, because Sits loved ones are not But, while war has slain thousands, the demon, intem- perance, has slain his tens of thousands. | Now bring these facts before you, and inquire what is to be done? Shall we rest on our oars as we have done for years, and only say: 'Well, am very sorry, but I do not know that can do anything to prevent it.. Allow me to ask you, as we'll as every good citizen, if you can conscientiously say that you have left no means untried to prevent this state of things? Who is guiltless before God in this matter? Fathers, mothers, brothers, wives, and sisters, I call upon you to do aH you can to save our young men from ruin. Let us repent our past unfaithfulness; let us make use of every Scriptural effort to reclaim them; let us take them by the hand; let us speak kind l ly to them; let us encourage them to walk in the ways of virtue, and sobriety; and I