Weekly Trinity journal., 1876-11-18
LOST OPPORTUNITIES.

!
may not be the case in all instances, it i
no doubt true that among those who hav,
resided in California for term of years
there are few but can look back upor
golden opportunities lost or thrown away
/ While youth and health remain, thes,
lost opportunities are either forgotten o.
dismissed with passing thought, bu
with !he onward march Of Time come
those unavailing regrets which, sooner o
later, follow in the wake of wasted life
We need but look around us TO see tn,
living illustrations of what we have said
On the streets of Weaverville, we once
had pointed out to us one who came here
IN the palmy days of the mines and wa.
looked upon as one Of the luckest among
the lucky. Fortune appeared to favor
him in every undertaking; the mines in
which he delved were always good, and il
was only his own folly which stood in
the way of him amassing competence.
But what he earned with one hand, he
spent with the other, and in manner
which aided neither his character nor
comfort. The inevitable result followed
when reverses came upon him he became
the poorest among the poor-a miserable
among the miserables. The tastes and
habits, acquired in the hour when riches
We're pouring into his lap, were not to be
shook off at bidding, and when he was
pointed out to us, it was as the recipient
of charity. How soon may his fate be
that Of others, when health and strength
give place to old age and nfrmities 1t
will be then that the lost opportunities of
former years will prove II sad recollection
The gold discoveries of California set
the world abaze with excitement. From
its four quarters came the young and
mlddle-aged, eager to share in it, treas
ures. The country was filed up with
young men whose habits of life were yet
Uniformed and, in the whirl of excitement
WHICH followed, the temptations offered
many who were far removed from home
influences, proved too strong to be sue
cessfully resisted. 1t is they who can now
look regrettully back to the era of lost
opportunities as to vanished dream.
For them the golden hour is indeed gone,
and the passage eff years finds them in
the land they have redeemed, poor in
purse and often poorer in spirit. For
them the tide has had its food, and in the
future is little Of encouragement. 1t was
mooted question years ago the fate and
future of those pioneers who were not
favored by Fortune, or who had allowed
her golden offerings to pass unheeded.
And the problem is coming nearer to US
for solution each year, though it is hope
ful sign that the habits Of the flush
times" have not so firm a hold upon
many Of them as in former years. Our
own county has within her borders bet
ter class OF old residents than is the good
luck Of other places we could name yet
it cannot be denied that there is many n
wreck oi manhood within it, borders, who
JAILED to improve the golden opportunity
when it offered.
1t is not, however, of the old, but of
the young, that we'would speak To those
who possess youth, health, strength, hope
and ambition, there are yet openings in
the mines and mountains of California
which, if rightly improved, cannot fail to
send them forth better fitted for the battle
OF life than may at first appear. But
youth is prone to initiate ; and, uniortun-
ately, it would seem to be easier to imi-
tate the vices than the virtues of human
lty. In country where there a.e better
advantages Of Christian education, where
the departures from rectitude are followed
by social ostracism, and where the delorm
tiles Of vice are kept sedulously hidden
from the public gaze, it is easier to train
the growing mind to courses calculated to
BRING IL young man respect and honor,
than it can be where no such condition of
society exists. We are more or less the
of the circumstances in which
we are placed-more or less subject to the
Influences by which we are surrounded.
And if such be the case with those grown
to the years Of manhood, if auch was the
case with those who were actors in the
great drama of which the gold discovery
at Coloma Yas the opening scene, how
much greater effect may these influences
have upon those Of tender years who have
daily before them the example of those
who are their elders, and should be their
betters. That, too, many of the youth of
California seem disposed to throw away
the golden opportunities of the present,
Is perhaps less their fault than the fault Of
those to whom they would naturally look
for example and guidance. Looked at in
the right light, grave responsibility rests
upon our own generation. Those who
are to take our places, when we are gone.
are learning to-day the lessons which will
in ali probability guide them in after life.
we are lhe teachers. Let US seriously
ask ourselves, Are these lessons such as
we should give? Some can answer af-
others cannot. Some of us
are teaching them to throw away their
golden opportunities as we have cast away
our own to look back after the lapse of
years as we can look back, with regrets
that can avail nothing. The plastic mind
Of youth is ever more susceptible to evil
than to good impressions, and it is our
duty to remove temptation as far as pos
sibe from those likely to be influenced
thereby. Sumptuary legislation is of it.
self often n failure, but the safety of the
rising generation requires us to make our
laws of n charnctar with thosa of oldnr