Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-07-12
HORATIO SEYMOUR
SPEAKS ON THE FOURTH OF JULY TO
STATE PRISON CONNECTS.
How the Evil They Have Done May be
changed to GOOd-erOrs Making
Folks Wise-The Conversion Of
Wrongs into Blessings.
From the Utica Herald. July 5.

On the invitation OF the Warden, eX-
Gov. HOratio Seymour visited Auburn
Prison yesterday and addressed the con-
victs. He spoke as follows:
IL have declined all invitations this
! year to make public addresses, but
/ when your warden asked me to speak to
/ you to-day | made up my mind to do so,
I although at the hazard of my health.
Ny interest in the inmates OF this and
/ other prisons grows out of official duties,
/ as have had to act on many cases OF
applications for pardOns. | have learn
ed from a long experience with men IN
all conditions OF life that none are with
out faults and none without virtues. |
have studied characters with care. |
have had to deal with Presidents and
with prisoners. have associated with
those held in high honor by the Ameri-
can people. On the other hand, the
laws of our State have placed the lives
of criminal men in my hands, and it has
been my duty to decide if they should
live or die. That period in which took
the most active part in public affairs was
one OF great excitement, when passions
and prejudiCes were aroused, and, in
common with all others engaged in the
controversies OF the day, | have felt the
bitterness OF partisan strife. Neverthe-
less, experience has taught me TO think
kindly OF my fellow-men. The longer !
live the better | think of their hearts
and the less of their heads. Every
where, from the Presidents mansion to
the prisoners cell, | have learned the
wisdom OF that prayer which begs that
we may be delivered from temptation.
Another great truth is taught by expert
ence-hOpe is the great reformer. We
must instill this into mems minds If We
wish to cultivate their virtues or enable
them TO overcome their vices. 1t has
been said that despair is the unpardOn-
able sin, for il paralyzes every senti-
ment that leads TO virtue or happiness.
For this reason, when Governor of this
State, did all could 10 gain the pas
sage of laws which enable each one of
you, by good conduct, to shorten the
terms OF your Imprisonment, and if |
had ms way you would have a share in
the profits OF your labor. But | stand
before You to-day to speak of another
ground of hope, of higher and more
lasting character than mere money gain
or shortened terms OF imprlsOnment,an and
what have To say does not point to
YOU alone, but men of all conditions. |
DO not To take the place of those who
teach YOU your religious duties. They
are tar more able to make these clear to
your minds; vet IL is sometimes the case
that wesee things in lights in which they
are not usually placed before us, and
ONE thoughts which have OccuOred 10
me i'm review of life may be OF interest
and value to YOU. When We grow old
We are struck with the tleetness of time;
our lives seem To be compressed into
one brief period, and We suddenly find
that pursuits We have followed are
closed, and we are confronted with the
question, not what We have gained. nor
what positions we have held, but what
we are i'm ourselves. We know il is our
duty To do what is right, and TO avoid
doing wrong, and when We look back il
We add up all OF our good deeds on the
one hand and our bad acts on the other
we find startling balance against Us.
When men reach my time OF life their
minds turn toward the past, and they
travel backward the paths they have
followed. They see things from the OPP
pOsite side on which they were viewed
from youth onward, and are struck by
truths which never break upon their
minds until they look back upon them.
sitting before my fire on winters
evening, and muSlng, rs old men are apt
20 do about their acts, their errors, their
successes, or their failures, it occurred
10 me what | would do ii | had the
power, and was compelled 10 wipe out
twenty acts OF my life. At first 1t
seemed as ii this was an easy thing TO
do, had done more than twenty wrong
things for which | had always felt re-
gret, and was about 10 seize my imagl-
nary sponge and rub them out at once,
but thought it best 10 move with care,
10 DO rs | had done to others, lay my
character out upon the diSSectlng table
and trace all the influence which had
made or married it. found, to my sur
prise, If there were any golden threads
running through it, they were wrought
out by the regrets felt nj the wrong;
that these regrets had run through the
course of my life, guiding my footsteps
through all its intricacies and problems,
and If | should Obliterate all OF these
the act 10 which these golden threads
were attached-whOSe lengthening lines
were woven into my very nature-lt
should Obliterate all of these, | should
destroy what little there was OF virtue
i'm my moral make up. Thus | learned
that the 'wrong act, followed by the just
regret aud by thoughtful caution TO
avoid ali errors, made me better man
than should have been ii | had never
fallen. In this found hope for myself
and hope for others, and tell YOU who
sit before me, rs | say To all in every
condition, that ii you will you can make
yourselves better men than II you had
fallen into errors or crimes. \ mans
destiny does not turn upon the fact OF
doing or not doing wrong, for all men
will DO 1t; but OF how he bears himself,
what he does, and what he thinks after
the wrong act. IL was well said by
ConiuCius, the Chinese sage, that
mans character is decided, not by the
number Of times he falls, but by the
number of times he lifts himself up. /
do not know why evil is permitted in
this world, but | do know that each one
of us has the magical power TO trans
mute il into good. Every one before
me can il ne will make his past errors
sources of moral elevation. Is this not
a grand thought, which should not only
give us hope, but which should inspire
us with firm purposes to exercise this
power which mades us akin to the
Almighty? For he has given it to us
and has pointed out in His word how
we shall use it. The problem meets us
at every step. There is nothing We do