Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-12-11
Readinq fur tile Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. RO1SIGIST LATHAM.
THE ROAD TO RUIN.

Some one, it matters not who, said that
Rome was not built in day. This may be
regarded as a kind of proverbial expression,
dcnoting that no great thing is accomplished
in short time. Some men apparently ac-
complish great deal. There are not few
authors who have written books enough to 6ll
a moderate sized bookcase. These men, or
at least most of them, think, when they con-
template all that they have done, and all
that they have not DONE that they have only
gathered a few grains Of sand.
TO effect anything great and good, takes
long time. 1t takes whole life to build up
good name. We must commence with our
childhood, and struggle, with untiring perse-
verence, until our faces are furrowed with
wrinkles and our heads covered with gray
hairs. TO become skilled in any art or avo-
cation of life, requires years Of study, obser-
vation and practice, No man is good in any
thing by intuition. The road to the accom-.
plishmcnt of anything, great or good, is long,
meandcring and difficult. An individual may
be born rich and heir to a crown but no one
is born good mechanic, farmer, mathematl-
clan or lawyer. To be good in any of these
things takes long time. The road that
leads to true greatness is a long one, and
often hard to find.
Such is not the case with regard to the road
that leads to ruin. 1t is short, and so plain
that the vercst fool experiences no sort Of
difficulty in finding it. Often, in the short
period of few years, individuals spend for
tunes which it took three or four generations
to accumulate. The hard earnings of fseveral
individuals, for many years, is often spent or
squaudcred by one individual in as many
days. Property passes out Of the hands OF
some individuals, like snow from the bank of
ditch. Rather we should have said, it flies
from them as the morning mist flies before the
rising sun.
Fast and easy as some men may make way
with their property still faster and easier do
Others squander everything of good charac-
ter which they possess, and rush to ruin. If
it is hard to accomplish anything that is good,
it is exceedingly easy to affect our ruin for
time and eternity The ways which we may
ruin ourselves are infinite. We may contract
habits in youth which will cling to us during
life and keep us poor cover us with shame
and infamy all our days, and bring us down,
unhonored and hated, to an untimely grave.
A large amount of the human family, in one
way or another, commit suicide. They shor-
ten their days and make those days full of
misery. With speed which is so rapid that
it cannot be checked, they rush headlong to
ruin. Some rhetorician said that it was but
step from the sublime to the ridiculous
from honor to shame is less than step. The
line of demarcation is invisible with the nat
ural eye. History affords numberless exam
pies of individuals who commenced life with
bright prospects; but who, in moment, as it
were, terminated them in ruin.
Never should the young forget that it takes
a long time and a continual struggle to ac-
complish even a little good but ruin may be
effected in moment without an effort. To
do good is rowing against winds and waves !;
but neither winds nor waves are contrary to
those who would rush to destruction.