St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-05-24
= 90. it is

am an a"e irish or French. Yet many of
them were getting three or four dollars
a day, while many well educated young
men, as l know, are very glad to get
occupation at $40 week. If we start
out with the idea that wealth and gen
tllity are the chief ends of our work,
then there will be developed the dis
position to adopt any means to compass
the desired end. All honest work is
honorable if done in a right spirit.
The third peril to young men is caus-
ed by a certain unsettledness in life. In
England the Ecustom of the trade"
keep father and son for many genera
lions engaged in the same occupation,
with an honest pride to maintain the
family reputation for honesty and good
work. | fear that, even in England,
this spirit is not as strong as it used to
be. But here in America there is no
trace of it. 1t is extremely easy to pass
from one line of life to another. leave
men in some pursuit to meet them in a
few years in an entirely different occu-
patton. The very thought in the minds
of young men that they can easily pass
to another line of work if they become
dissatisfied with the present one, tempts
them to be easy going, when their whole
energies should be directed upon the
work in hand. My advice would be /:
choose slowly, deliberately, with the
best advice, and perhaps later than
young men are ordinarily accustomed to
do; and then, when the occupation has
been decided upon, stick to 1T, make it
the business of your life, and the chan
mel of your success.
The fourth danger comes from the
enervatiDg dangers that surround men
at your time of life. have not word
to say against true pleasures. The
more we labor the stronger becomes the
desire for relaxation but | speak OF
those pleasures which weaken and unfit
us for stern, hard work. | do not re-
call single one of my college class
mates who was among what were called
theatre gOers" who attained success in
after life. l have found the same rule
applicable elsewhere. Now you may
say that | am drawing the reins very
tightly. But upon what Weaknesses
that so rapidly become temptations.
Young man, if you had stood beside SO
many death-beds as | have you would
not think the reins could be drawn too
tight. | am ready to cOncede that there
may be placed upon the stage those
plays which shall elevate and strength
en-. But these are not the things that
are put on the stage. They don't pay I;
they are not what the public wants /;
and to meet the demand that which is
presented is weakening and corrupting.
PERILs THREATENING THE CITIZENS.
And now to speak of the perils of our
own time the dangers that face us as
Americans and as citizens of New York.
The first danger, | think, is defective
public spirit. Here let me make a pro-
visO that in all have to say, wish to
draw no comparison with the condition
of other lands or peoples; but merely
comparison with what yourselves think
to be right. Tested by this ideal of
what we should be, this first danger is
a great one. Our best citizens do not
take proper interest in great pubic con-
Germs. How many men here have never
cast vote! How many have never
seen ballot box ! We are lacking in
conscientiousness and political fidelity
How many of you attend caucuses and
primaries You don't go there, and
men of Il certain stripe do go and settle
the ticket when election day comes,
you are off for ride in the park or the
country. What popular estimate do
you form of the men who do manage
our politics Is not the Odor of the very
word "politicians," like the odors that
are waited by the summer breezes over
A II from hn ,1,1 -
Long Island, IL most unsavOry one I?
Have we the kind of men we ought TO
have intrusted with our law-making
They should be picked from our best
citizens. Then the dignity and majesty
of the law would be felt and under
stood, and young men would be re-
from the temptations that I'M
wise legislation actually throws before
them. Who does not see that if there
is defective respect for the law makers
there will also he defective respect for
the laws which they have made? And
hence criminality in all its forms is the
of bad laws.
The second danger threatening the
is Il weak commercial con-
science. Do we feel, as men of bust
ness, as we ought to feel on the whole
scheme of commercial prosperity? Let
us come to be believed, by the nations
around us, to be thieving, sharp and
tricky, the sooner or later we must pay
the penalty. 1t is because we have this
defective conscience that we have the
present insecurity.
The third peril is the exaggerated
idea of personal freedom. l have no
word to say against freedom. But the
of the best things are the
worst. Liberty must have its limita-
tons or it is not liberty. Take, as an
example, the too common conception of
human love that it is an absolute. n;;,s-
session; that we NAY DO as we like
WIN IL Whf .Sl no longer it gives us
D eeaSure that we may throw it away.
What are the many suicides we read of
but natural OutgrOwth of this idea of
freedom-freedom from all responsible
ty to Creator? Then the marriage
tie is i'll many cases an arrangement for
mutual convenience. The records of
divorce courts in other States should
startle us. l think ministers have a
duty in this regard which they should
not shrink from. A certain communism
with which we are threatened in this
country is another indication. The
demonstration of these people ought to
make every citizen thoughtful of the
way they are to be dealt with. think
the public Press is doing great good
where it is calling attention to these
false principles of political economy,
and interesting the people. And no.
where is it doing more good than in
such cities as New York, Boston, Chica-
go, San Francisco and st. Louis.
The fourth danger is the feebleness
of religious life among us. Nations
grow up by religions and around re-
ligions. And in the degree that nations
have fallen away from their religions
h.lU In