, 1877-12-01

pensations, neither Patriarchs, nor Law
glyers,Vnor Prophets, nor Apostles. nor
the Founder of their Faith, ever dreamt
OF such a system-a system which il
wholly subversive of our simplest ideas
OF the principles on which they acted and
by which they were actuated, and that
one of their greatest difficulties TO-DAY
lies in the precepts and practice of Christ
himself, against which all their arguments
break and recoil upon them, like the
Datfied waves of the ocean against the
granite cliffs. But is there no remedy9
None but the general prevalence of
truer and higher principles, and a
different ond higher teaching. ard-time.
But if our children see their parents fire.
qnent the bar-room and the saloon; if
parents show that they think it mean not
to treat and be treated, In hotels and la
their private houses /; if it is thought
hospitable or gentlemanly to offer every
one who enters something to drink is it
any wonder that our children drop %insensi-
bly, into our habits, regard the TAXI ng of
liquor as a mark Of good-fellowsbip and
manllness, and initiate their parents, till,
before they are hardly aware of it, the
occasional action has grown into a habit,
and the habit into a disease till at length,
the nerve element has become physically
involved and the case is next to hopeless,
and many a noble nature is lost for ever to
the world. II young men are not taught
oh, that we had some of those old Persian
schools and that grand old schoolmaster!
that uncOntrOi, instead Of being masterful
aud manly and the sign of a high spirit.
is, in ry deed the proof OF a very feeble and
degenerate and unmanly nature-only the
man-form Of one who has thrown up the
reins of the will into the keeping Of the
passions. and who is therefore, only the
poor weakling and buffet of every moment.
airy caprice, and not q man at all ); and if
parents, hurrying along and absorbed by
schemes OF wealth and ambition, and incul-
eating unconsclOusly, by their words and
actions, very questionable principles, ADAM
don their children to o'hers to be educated
no., not educated, bu'-to be taught
languag 8 in schools in which the selfish
ambition at the parents is re-ingrafted and
fostered In the children /; can we wonder
at The result? If it slips out at every turn
that riches and position are the one thing
worth pursuing in the race of life, and
that mental and moral wealth, if not for
the sake Of display, are not woT h the
seeking; if high and sustained excitement,
which means oOusted nerves, be the order of
the day in everything then it is no won
der if men-and women are TO blame for
much of this-seek in stimulants the
momentary arrest of thNt decay of nerve
element which in many cases, is so great
and SO sudden that the loss cannot be made
up by the ordinary processes of the consti-
tuition. through the assimilated food. To
ali such the experiment is fraught with the
extreme hazard of (physicaD nerve-degene-
ration. But still the cry is "Hurry up"
The disappointed, too, 10 drown their dis
appointment which, on ] its physical
side, means likewise wasted nerve
matter, take to the stimulant. And
here again l say, oh, that we had
our wise Persian schoolmaster to teach
US to be wise But this question of a
remedy is a long one, on which l have
scarcely begun. Still l must close abrubt::
y or weary my readers beyond endurance.
In parting however, let me again urge,
especially on our youngmen, that one of the
greatest duties in life is this. "to guard the
individual of ~hntevsr grade against tresspas.
Ses npon has 9nditdu0litu." Let their