The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1875-01-18
"MOsrLY YOUNG MES.Y
A Sad Story of a Holiday at tho capllu


A Sad Story of a Holiday at tho Capital,
1t was a Washington dispatch, and it
told very briefly how Christmas was oh.
served at the national capital. A more
passing note; statement OF simple fact;
hardly worth moro than flying men.
tion. II only said; "The police re-
port the arrest OF nn unusually largo
number OF intoxicated persons, mostly
young men," That was all. A larger
number than usual deliberately oxtin.
guished their sense OF responsibility to
society and to themselves, and having so
dethroned their reason, went reeling
through the streets, III which condition
they were arrested by the police, and
safely held until kind nature had re-
stored the faculties they had thrown
away, and they had ceased to be dan
gerous to society or themselves. And
they were mostly young men, Not
much Of an item that. To a great many
readers who SKINNED over it, it sug-
gestod nothing, tho New York TriGunc
says. It had no special significance to
them. There was nothing in it touching
tho financial question; no intimation of
tho policy Of the administration toward
Louisiana; nothing to throw any light
upon the Pacific Mail business; nothing
but bald statement Of n quite unim-
portant fact, to wit, Tint n great many
people were intoxicated, and that most
Of them were young men. Perhaps
some old fellow who knew Washington
smiled grim, hard smile, and said {:
"Tho boys have bccn having q good
time Christmas" And perhaps some
other sedate person WHO was never
young, or, II he was, it wns so long ago
lO has forgotten it, read tho two or
three lines and said itwas "outrageous
for young men to net 80. But the mass
of mankind slipped by it, ms they but
ton up their coats and hasten on when
they meet in tho streets any ono who
staggers.
Not everybody, though. In q great
mahy homes and to a great many hearts
it meant q great deal more than the
classification Of q holidays police re-
port, 1t came to them like news OF
shipwreck to one with friends ut sen.
There was reading between the lines
TINT male fathers anxious and mothers
distressed. "NTostly young men -
And here was tho boy just ripening into
manhood upon whom his parents looked
with pride, and for whose future they
wero so deeply anxious; could the
father help the involuntary reaching out
to catch him from falling, as he read in
these three words tho story of 30 many
young men down and tlisgracedl Could
the mother failto reflect that her boy
was very much like other boys, and that
other boys--the young men in tho WASH
ington station houso-lad mothers, per-
haps Just as tenderly solicitous for their
sons welfare as she for horsl "MOstly
young men |" All, how many n mother,
when she read! it, clasped closer to her
bosom the curly head aud dimpled
cheeks OF her own darling, us II she
would keep him back from manhood,
and from oil the storm and stress Which
carry down so many. And then tho
mothers, whose larlings with their clrls
and dimples, and all the sweet and win
ming why's Of childhood, have moved on
out Of tho radiance OF the morning into
tho heat and dust Of tho noontide, whose
boyslook level now into mothcr's-and
perhaps into some ones not mothers
-eyes-.llow these sweet thoughtful
women must have shuddcrGd ut tho baro
dreadful possibility that somo time their
boys might 60 reeling to the station-
house. . 10 Ht H
"Mostly young mon !" 1t is q sugges-
tive, a painfully suggestive statement.
It's tho coming Of new crop, and n
crop Of reckless, dissolutc men. Young
men today md perhaps with enough
of conscience left to suffer remorse,
enough Of sclf.respect to suffer shame.
but every day growing harder as habit
grows and the senses deaden. There is
no need to write homily on temper
ance, or preach u sermon. The lomily
writes itself, aud the sermon breaches it.
self. There's no such sickoning sight
in all tho world as tho drunken young
man or boy; nothing so painful to the
sensibilities OF man or woman; nothing
that seems so oharsh, and unnatural, nnd
shocking. 1t is deliberate flying in the
face Of nature and finging away the
best gift OF God. But the procession
moves along. Trims ont rapidly to be
sure toward the end, but the young men
keep stepping in and tho ranks arc al
ways full. 1t Is tho thing that fathers
! dread for their sons and mothers pray
God their boys may bo delivered from,
but 1t goes right on, and the recruits are
"mostly young men," The State can
not stop 1t, quackery cannot cure it.
Cheerful homes might save many and
in Washington good examples in high
stations might keep many more from
falling. How would it do to try it.