News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-08-28
A LITTLE LOOSE ADVICE
GIVEN OUT BECAUSE 1T Is NO GOOD
WHILE 1T Is LOCKED UP.
A Young Man Told What IL Is B est for Him
10 do in the Great Game of Life If he
would Succeed.


A Young Man Told What 1t Is B est for Him
10 do in the Great Game of Lie If he
would Succeed.
Yes, my son, there are men who, In
the morning of their lives, the brightest,
strongest, bravest days they have to live,
go through various courses, and come
out reformed, and all right at last.
There are some men who do this. Once
il while you will find one, and you
think you will do just as he did.
But the hundred or the thousand men
who started in with him and never got
through The swimmers who plunged
into that turbulent sea of dissipation
and recklessness with him, and never
gained the shore again, but went down
in the combing billows and the yeasty
breakers How about them2 Aren't
you more than likely to be one OF the
multitude, than you are to be the excep-
ton?
I tell you, my boy, ten young fellows
of your age may embark together in the
prodigal business, with good capital and
the usual stock of red paint for munic-
ipal decorative purposes their hands
are steady, their brains are clear, their
hearts are brave, and they are ambitious
and hopeful and earnest; they only want
to have their racket and see the town
before they settle down to hard, steady
work. They are not going to be drunk
ards. They're all right; they don't be-
lieve in this sort of thing at all. but they
are young. and it's quiet on the farm with
nobody but the old folks and the elder
brother, and they want to travel and see
the world a little before they become
good citizens, props of society, and pill
lars of the church. And by and by,
when the State and society and the
church wants them and needs them, we
look for the ten and they are not found,
returning to give glory to God for mercy
and saving strength and cheering grace,
save the stranger, the Samaritan. And
we ask, "Where are the nine ?"
Ny dear boy, there is more hope for
the stranger, for the street waif, born In
the haunts of vice and walking In its
ways all his life, than there is for the
young man, who, born in the light and
taught in the ways of uprightness, de-
liberately turns his back upon wisdom
and virtue, and intelligently makes vice
his choice. The stranger, charmed with
a purity and health and cleanliness SO
new and beautiful to him, comes back;
but the nine, my son?
Now, my boy, be sensible in this mat
ter. You say, "Oh, well. I'll take the
chances on it." Well, now, that's all
right. Come, you and are men of the
world. we are reasonable men, We'll
sstake the chances on it." That's all L
| oslr Won 70 do. Just ''take the chances
on it, as YOU do on the horse-race, the
turn Of a card, on the election, on the
prize fight, the regatta, the walking
match. just give your moral conduct,
your higher life, your character, your
good name, your hopes and am
bitions an even show with the horse-race
and draw-poker and the slugging match.
[ won't even ask you to do better than
that. Just give them fair field and
no favor, and may the best one win.
At the horse-race do you deliberately
buy one chance in ten, in the pools
Do you put your money on the horse
that has a record of ten races, nine of
which he has lost? True, you back the
fayorite against the field sometimes, but
the fayorite isn't the horse with the los
inc record. You don't draw to poker
hand that YOU know won't fill once in
ten times; not if you can just as we'll
draw to something that is dead sure
thing nine times out of ten. You don't
bet on the last man in the walking
match. OF course, in all games OF
chance and athletic contests and games
of skill-and they all go in the same
boat in these days-the chances are al
ways against you, but you don't select
the worst ones, do youF Now be honest,
and give yourself as good chance IN
life as you do at the horse-race.
And then-getting tired? Well, just
one word, and 1 Il let you go. In three
card monte, in the poker room, at the
faro bank, at the horse-race, at the
walking match, in the grand lottery, IL
the little bunco scheme, who ''take the
chances ?" Honest, now, "who take the
chances?" Yes, my son, the better'
every time; the pool buyers; the people
in the grand stand, the ticket holders
the visitors from the country, the fools
And who rake in the pile? Who gathe
the stamps? You are correct; thu
! dealer, the bunco steerer, the manager
of the lottery, the poker sharp. The.
, don't "take the chances" my son. The.
are ''children of this world" who "ar
, in their generation wiser than the chill
, dren of light" They do not stake tn
chances" They let you and me "tak
q the chances" and they "take the pot.
You may go, my son. Have some sense
Not too much. You needn't burde
y yourself with more than you can mar
age. A few grains of sense is as muc
as most men need, and more. Oh, ton
more than great many men have.