The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-12-13

from them with loathing, and finally
kept from them entirely, and his little
stock of money was rapidly vanishing.
Driven to desperation and too proud to
return home to meet the tears of
mother, the frOwns of father and the
jeers of John, he became crrand boy in
a small grocery store in Brooklyn. His
work was of the most mental drudgery.
and often did he think longingly of the
good home and kind parents he had
left. As he mounted at night an open
loft built out over a stagnant marsh
and threw his weary frame upon the
hard bed which had been assigned him,
he would childshly cry himself to sleep,
thinking of the snug, bright, clean,
healthy chamber that was his under his
fathers roof
Under the unremitting drudgery of
such life, the tyrannical rule of hard
master, who spared not curses and blows
to suit his varying whims, and the ma
larious location of his lodging place,
Tom 5 health began to give way, his,
ruddy cheeks grew pale, his elastic step
became unsteady and his buoyant spirit
broke down. This was a pretty tough
time surely, without his gaining any
fame or money in being tough" att
all He then began to drink lager beer
to stay his failing strength, but to no
purpose. After he found himself really
sick with no one to care for him and his
employer ready to turn him away, he
resolved like the prodigal son, to leave
the unsatisfying husks of the swine, and
to arise and 90 to his fathers house,
where there was enough not merely of
breed to spare, but love and Kindness
and good cheer. ~
One evening when the family were r
the supper-table the door opened and
in walked Tom ''the tough" The
poor, sick boy found himself speedily
forgiven, washed and put to bed with
burning fever within, but a delicious
consciousness that he was safe at home.
Surely "there is no place like home"
Symptoms of typhoid set in, and for
days he was delirious and the soul hoy
cred between life and the grave. but the
favorable crisis came and he began to
mend.
When he awoke from that doze dur
ing that pastoral visit he seemed sin
cerely repentant, and fervcntly prom
ised to remain by his parents and not
leave home again without their consent.
He bewailed his folly and blindness in
running away to encounter such misery
and bring such distress upon his family
and such needless disgrace to his pre-
vious good name. How he abhorred all
such tlashy, sensational reading and
wished it all at the bottom Of the sea,
where it could not lead other unsophis-
ticated boys astray. He also acquireda
thirst for liquor which would be hard to
battle with successfully, and had let the
fangs of vice get hold of him, which
also would be hard to subdue unto final
victory. Now with constitution broken
50 that it will be long, weary months
before he can apply himself to work or
study, he has plenty of time to recount
the fearful cost and realize that the
way of transgressors is hard"
Boys, girls, beware of this bad read
ing which is flooding the land. Let it
alone. Total abstinence from it is the
only safe course, for the great risk is
Il tainted imagination, false views of
life, discomfort, and then pursuing a
glittering phantom and radiant bubble
to final, lamentable collapse and ruin.
Beware!-ReU N. Martin kellogg, &a
A. Y Observer