New-York tribune., 1873-01-31


he has whecdled an innocent young girl into
throwing away the protection of her fathers
home and contracting with himself a discredit-
able marriage. He may not have been guilty
of any hopeless ,wickedness, but he has GER
tainly displayed q lamentable weakness. lie
deserves pity, as every young man does, who
thus in the very morning of life so lamentably
breaks down but quite as important con-
sideration is, whether those whose characters
must necessarily be uniformed and whose
consciences must probably be uneducated,
should be exposed to the temptation to which
young Murray has yielded. Of the manner In
which his employers conducted their business
we know nothing, but we have right to pre-
sumo that it was that of most respectable
houses The fault was in trusting Murray too
early, and in expecting that boy would
surely exhibit the steady honesty and lnc0r-
ruptibility of a thoroughly trained and tested
man. In other matters business people are
usually wise enough. They do not often
allow mere lads to bargain, to buy, or to sell
for them; but hundreds of young fellows
in this city are every day trusted with large
sums of money, and really it is no uncommon
thing for one Of them to abscOnd with the
cash or securities which he is deputed to de-
posit. II seems TO us that it is neither wise nor
prudent nor kind to subject the characters Oh
so many young men to this terrible test. VI
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, however, Is no
reason for placing large sums in the hands
a. oF
of money, with no good conception OF
the value of character, with an almost childish
eagerness for immediate indulgence, and
with Ia long observation OF the mis-
cry and failure which assuredly dogs
dishonesty. Lead us not into temptation
is one of the most important supphcatlons
which we are instructed to offer to God.
Assuredly there is all the more reason why we
should not lead each other into temptation,
and why those who know, from the experience Oh
many years, how hard it is to stand and how
easy it is to fall, should not give to 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
in generous trust which must often result in
the ruin of its object Then, too, boys get to be
men SO soon i'll 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, plant or
slow growth. Ii is really doing weak, mex
perienced lad, with his morality, so to speak,
still in the gristle, no wrong to doubt his
ability to fight a 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 inexperience is not to be either unfair
or unkind We do not hesitate to say, iii
physical matters, that a 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 mistake or
committing grievous error at the very
threshold of life. Of course, repentance
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 it down, but the work of
DONG so VIII HeNcTJncltSS Dc ID "CdiJ ohc,
and the way of all transgressors must be hard.
May not a little more caution i'll trusting the
inexperienced diminish the number of these
cases of youthful obliquity
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 intentions, may feel
somewhat hurt by what they may consider
unnecessary doubt of their integrity. We
would not be misunderstood, Many young
persons display manly honor and tirmness
beyond their years, and for this full credit
should be given to them. But even these
know something of the intirmity of an I'M
trained nature, and would not desire to be
tempted beyond their strength to resist They
know, too, the weakness of many of their COM
panions and would not have numbers sacri-
feed to save the feelings of the few.