Connecticut western news., 1884-08-06
A LITTLE LOOSE ADVICE
GIVEN OUT BECAUSE TT Is NO GOOD
 WHILE IT Is LOCKED UP.

A Young Man Told what It i- Best for ulm
 to do In the Great Game Of Life if he
 would Succeed.
 Yes, my son, there are men who, in the morning of their lives, the brightest, strongest, bravest days they have 10 live, go through various courses, and como out reformed, and all right at last. There are some men who do this. Once in 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 Theswimmers who plunged into that turbulent sea of dissipation and recklessness with him, and never gained the shore again, but went down in the combing pillows 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- tion?
 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 itsquiet on the farm with nobody but the old folks and the elder brother, and they want to travel and see the world little before they become good citizens, props of society, and pil- lars of the church. And by and by, when the State and society and tho 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. An. we ask, "Where are the nine ?"
 My dear boy, there is more hope for the stranger, for the street vail, born in the haunts of vice and walking in its ways all his life, than there is for tho 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; i; but the nine, my son2
 Now, my boy, be sensible in this mat ter. You say, "oh, well. I'll take tho chances on it." We'll, now, that's all right Come, you and are men of tho world, we are reasonable men, we'll "take the chances on it." That's all I ask you to do. Just ''take the chances on it' as you do on the horse-race, tho turn of a card, on the election, on tho 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-racc and draw-poker and the slugging match. I won't even ask you to do better than that. Just give them a 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 lost2 True, you back the fayorite against the field sometimes, but the fayorite isn't the horse with the los- ing record. You don't draw to poker hand that you know won't fill once in ten times; not if you can just as well 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 you? 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 I'll let you go. In three card monte, in the poker room, at the faro bank, at the horse-race, at tho walking match, in the grand lottery, ir
 the little bunco scheme, who "take tho
 chances ?" Honest, now, "who take th'
 chances2" 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 gathel the stamps2 You are correct; th' , dealer, the bunco steerer, the manager of the lottery, the poker sharp. Thel don't "take the chances" my son. Thel are "children of this world" who "ar in their generation wiser than the chil [ dren of light" They do not "take th' chances" They let you and me "tak the chances" and they "take the pot. | You may go, my son. Have some sense Not too much. You needn't burdei 9 yourself with more than you can man I age. A few grains of sense is as mucl . as most men need, and more. Oh, ton r more than a great many men have.