Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-03-05
Ghildren's department.
lUrle
THE TURNING POINT.

THE TURNING POINT.
To every hill there are two sides. The trav-
eler ascends one side and descends the other.
Just 80 is the journey Of life. We ascend
through infancy and childhood, until we arrive
at maturity, and then commence descending
until we reach the foot of the hill. 1t takes
but few years to reach the top, and our des-
cent from the top to the bottom is even more
rapid than our ascent The little boys and
girls of to-day, if their lives are spared, will,
in twenty years, be men and women, and in
twenty more many Of them will be old and
gray-healed. The babe of to-day will be a
man in twenty years. This may seem to be
a long time; but it will roll on and be here
almost before we are aware of it.
There are in the lives of each of us several
turning points. One we have noticed. An
other is when we make the turn either fur
good or bad. Life, in one sense, is made up
of years years are made up of months !;
months are made up of days; days are made
up of hours hours are made up Of minutes,
and minutes are made up of seconds. A Sec
ond is very short period of time; but every
individuals existence is numbered by seconds
In another sense life is made up Of the whole
mass of our acts. These acts are composed
of single acts, and each single act is composed
Of small acts, which, like seconds, are so small
that they are scarcely noticeable. These lit
IL t1n fnr into of Dur
lives. The Mississippi rises away up in Min
ncsota and emptcs into the gulf of Mexico.
At its source it is SO small that it scarcely
affords water sufficient to slake the thirst of
all OK; at its mouth it is mighty stream, re-
sembliug an inland sea. Is it asked how this
mighty increase is brough about? 1t is pro-
duced by vast multitude of small streams
pouring their waters into the channel of the
Mississippi. 1t takes the waters of half a
continent to make the Mississippi. From its
source to its mouth, it is more than three
thousand miles. During the whole of this
distance it is augmented by smaller streams.
Some of these tributaries are themselves
mighty rivers; but the great multitude are
only small branches.
So it is with life We commence almost
blank. The great and the good who have
blessed the world with their wise counsels and
prudent example, were once little babes, then
sporting children, and finally men of mighty
influence. AS no river at first is broad and
deep, but acquires both breadth and depth
after it leaves its source, the same is true
with regard to our lives. We are mere
point at first, almost if not altogether uncon-
scious and wholly incapable of action. BY
means of little acts, in the course of few
years we become what we are. Either great in
noble acts or great in acts Of infamy and
shame. George Washington was once little
boy. BY adding one little noble act to an
other he became great and illustrious man.
Nero was also little boy, as innocent and
harmless as any little boy now living. By
adding one little mean act to another, he soon
became mass of vileness and meanness. The
whole depends upon addition. If we add
good to good, the whole will be good; but if
we add bad to bad, the whole will be bad.
The largest number is made up of single
units. Two is only one taken twice; two
hundred is one added to itself two hundred
times So it is with every other number in
the world. Every number, no matter how
large, is only an accumulation of ones. The
oftener we add, the faster the number in
creases. A large number decreases in the
same way that small one increases. The
increase is made by adding, and the decrease
by subtracting. The principle is the same;
but the process is the very reverse. Boys,
learn to add good acts to good acts, and you
will soon accumulate mighty mass.