Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-02-21
From the New York Tribune
Premature COnfidrnre.

| A STORY OF ENBEZZLENENT AND ELOPEMENT-
/ ITS LESSON TO BUSINESS MES AND TO YOUNG
MEN.
l A story of embezzlement and elopement
which We have recently published i tull Of
| instructive suggestion. Murray, the guilty
| young man, who absconded with the cash
| of John BloOdgoOd Il Co, bankers, is only
twenty-one years Of age The report states
l that - from the lowest place in the Office he
was promoted TO the position As cashier. "
| 1t Is unnecessary to repeat here that he en-
| joyed the full confidence of his employers,
| for the facts show - much on the face. An
/ examination proves that Murray's abstrac-
| tionS Of money must have begun n consid-
cradle time ago. The simple truth seems to
/ be that without any good reason he was
/ credited with degree of integrity and Of
/ power to resist temptation which he did not
| possess, and which no young man should be
| pre-Supposed to possess. To this tempta-
ton he has succumbed, and everybody who
/ knew him IS most unreasOnably astOnished.
| He was such a fine, nice, sober. steady. ex-
I cellent young man, that nobody thought for
/ a moment that he could do ANYTHING wrong.
And yet he has been guilty of two very
mean and discreditable actions He has be-
| trayed the confidence 20 generously repOsed
in him by his employers, and. at the very
moment Of becoming ielon, he has wheed-
| led an innocent young girl into throwing
away the protection Of her fathers home
and contracting with himself diSreputa.
I bic marriage. He may not nave been guilty
| of any hopeless wickcdneSs, but he has GER
tainly displayed a lamentable weakness. lie
| deserves pity. a. every young man does who
/ thus in the very morning of life 80 lamenta-
| bly, breaks down but quite a. important
consideration is, whether those whose char
acters must necessarily be uniformed and
whose consciences must probably be unedu
Gated, should be exposed to the temptations
to which young Murray has yielded. aOf
! the manner in which his employers conduct
ed their business We know nothing. but We
have right TO presume that 1t was that of
most respectable houses. The fault was in
trusting Murray too early, and expecting
that boy would surely exhibit the steady
honesty and incorruptibility Of a thorough
ly trained and tested man. In other mat
tiers, business people are usually wise
enough. They do not often allow mere lads
to bargain, TO buy, to sell for ii em but
hundreds of young fellows in this city are
every day trusted with large sums ofmoney,
and really 1t is no uncommon thing tor one
of them to abscond with the cash or Securi-
ties which he is deputed to deposit. 1t
seems to Us that it Is neither wise nor pru
| dent nor kind to subject the characters Of 50
many young men to this terrible test. %
course in the transaction of business, some
body must be trusted. of course, money
will not take care of itself. and must be put
in the custody of somebody. This, how
ever, Is no reason for placing large sums in
the hands of boys, with inadequat ideas of
the value of money, with no good eoncep-
tion of the value of character, with an
almost childish eagerness for immediate in
diligence, and with no long observation of
the misery and failure which assuredly dogs
dishonesty. Lead US not into temptation
is one of the most important supplicatiOns
which We are instructed to offer to God.
ASsuredly there is all the more reason why
we should not lead each other into tempta-
ton. and why those who know, from the
experience of many years, how hard it is to
stand and how easy it is to fall, should not
| give the yet untried and weak of character
opportunities of dishonesty. We would
not heedlessly blame anybody. The rapidity
with which young men are promoted in
this country to situations of the greatest
| Importance has its origin. no doubt, in
kindness which is really cruel, and in gen
erous trust which must often result in the
ruin of its Object. Then, too, boys get to
be men so soon in the United Statesmen,
We mean, in certain superficial traits and
qualitieS-that we are apt to forget that
character is, as confidence should always
be, n plant of slow growth. 1t is really
doing a weak, inexperienced lad, with his
morality, 50 to speak, still il the gristle, no
wrong to doubt his ability to fight mans
| fight against the giants of temptation. 1t
is really doing him great wrong to give
him ample chances of going astray, before
the ways of rectitude are very well defined
in his undisciplined mind. To distrust in
experience is not to be either unfair or un-
kind. We do not hesitate to say, in physi-
cal matters, that boy is incapable of lifting
mans load ; and why should we be more
delicate about speaking the truth and acting
| upon it in matters purely moral.
There can be no more tragical sight than
that of young man making a serious mis-
take or committing a grievOus error at the
very threshold Of life. OF course repent
ance may follow Of course, it is never too
late to amend. Of course, whatever the
scandal, the young man. should he live long
enough, may live il down, but the work Of
doing so will nevertheless be weary one,
and the way of all transgressors must be
hard. May not little more caution in
trusting the inexperienced diminish the
number Of these cases cf youthful obliq-
uity.
We have ventured upon these remarks
with the full knowledge that some of our
younger readers, conscious of their own
honesty and full of the most honorable in
tentions, may feel somewhat hurt by what
they may consider an unnecessary doubt of
their integrity. We would not be misun-
dersto"" rany young persons display a
manly honor and frmness beyond their
years, and for this full credit should be
| given to them Rut even thase knou aor,a
thing of the infrmity of an unframed ma
ture, and would not desire to be tempted
beyond their strength to resist. They know,
too, the weakness of many of their eompan-
ions, and would not have numbers sacrificed
to save the feelings of the few.
Judge Clifford Of Newark, N. j., recently
sentenced to the State Prison for one wear.
| tor larcenY a man xLa haA hea.a Ii. =.