The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1884-02-21
FROM THE DEPTHS.
BY W. B. FOX.

A thorough, moral and religious
training in youth, is the true foun-
dation stone of every human life.
1t matters not how humble that
life may be, or in what land it has
it's existence, if the pure and holy
influence of the religion of Christ
comes into it, ameliorating and lif-
ting it up from the debased plane
of existence to which the animal
proclivities tend, it will be shin
ing light to guide the weary faint
ing souls around it, and as a rock
planted in the midst Of the sea.
Upon such a foundation you may
build and the structure will stand
firm and invincible, no matter how
fiercely the waves of worldly strife
and adversity dash around it. And
yet, when we look round Us we are
panied to note how few young per-
sons there are who are building
upon this foundation. How many
are turning away from the path Of
virtue and true man and womanhood,
, to barter the wealth of their souls
away for the paltry enjoyment
which the world and Its evanescent
pleasure afford them. How many
to stife the voice of conscience and
satiate deprayed appetites and
passions, and seeking the compan-
ionship Of those whose corrupt ma
lures and influence can not fail to
contaminate and blight all the pure
and noble aspirations of their lives,
and pave the pathway to eternal
dissolution. And how many par
ents, by encouraging and allowing
such associations, are opening the
food-gates of ruin upon their chill
dren. Mammoni is steadily strength
ening his outposts and the damning
degradations are sweeping wider
and wider over our land. Parents
are asking themselves-perhaps in
vain--hov they may shield the
the sacred precincts Of their family
circles from the saerilegious pres
ence and running influence OF that
dead enemy to society-The Human
Wolf. The man who has no other
vocation in life than to prey upon
and defame his own species, who
uses the talent and ability which
God has given him, to seduce and
entrap the unwary, leaving them
| scorned and loathed and cast as
wrecks on life's tempest tossed
ocean; and who, if need be, will not
hesitate to drape about him the holy
mantle of Christ, to accomplish his
fendish aims, and think it is no
sacrilege.
Take up any current newspaper
of the day, that you will, and its
columns TEEN with details of the
inroads and encoachments that lust
and crime are making upon society
every day. Each hour, almost, is
rife with the fall Of some high Off
cial in the affairs of the state or
clergy, and the lost and ruined is
borne upon every wind.
0, thoughtless mani Do these
waiting cries of heart-broken an
guish find no echo in your heart?
Will you, still unmindful of them,
continue in the banquet hall of
Pleasure, offering your own, and
the souls ofthose poor young beings,
whom you have dragged from the
path of virtue, willing sacrifice
at the reeking shrine of debauchery
and ruin? Beware ! you are tread
ing the path that many have trod,
but all have fallen. Think not the
cleansing sword of justice will be
stayed, or, that He who marks the
sparrow's fall will suffer the blood
of those poor young souls, made in
His own likeness and image, to cry
out in vain.