Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-12-03

IN tue eye: Jhey nau a gentle loot and soft
hand, and something almost supernatural in
their behavior-ready to be waited away.
You had such a one in your household. Gone
row 1t was too delicate a plant for this
rough world. The heavenly gardener saw it
and took it In. We make splendid Sun
day-school books out of such children
but they almost always die. / have
noticed that for the most part, the children
that live sometimes get cross, and pick up
bad words in the street, and quarrel with
brother and sister, aud prove unmistakably
that they are wicked-as the Bible says, go
ing astray from the womb, speaking lies
See the little ones in tho Sabbath class. so
sunshiny and beautiful, you would think
they were always so, but mother seated a
little way off, looks over at these children
and thinks of the awful time she had to get
them ready.
After the boy aud girl come little further
on in life, the mark of sin upon them is still
more evident. The son comes in from a
pugilistic encounter in the streets, bearing
the marks of defeat. The daughter prac-
tices positive deceDtion, and the parent saws:
'What shall l do2 l can't always be
correcting and scolding, and yet these
things must be stopTed." 1t is espe-
cially sad if the parent sees his own faults
copied by the child It is very hard
work to pull up nettIe that we our
selves planted. We remember that the
greatest fraud that ever SHOOK the banking
houses Of the country, started from a boys
deception good many years ago; and the
cleaning blade of the murderer is only
another blade of the knife with which the
boy struck at his comrade. The cedar of
Lebanon, that wrestles with the blast, started
from seed lodged in the side of thenountain,
and the most tremendous dishonesties of the
world once toddled out from the cradle. All
these things make parents anxious
Anxiety on the part of parents also arises
from the consciousness that there are so
many temptations thrown all around our
young people. 1t may bealmost impossible
to take castle by siege- straightforward
siege-but suppose in thu night there is
traitor within, and he goes down and draws
the bolt and swings open the great door and
then the castle falls Immediately. That is the
trouble with the hearts of tho young: they
have foes without AMI foes within. There
are great many who try to make our
young people believe that it is sign of
weakness to be pure. The man will
toss his head and take dramatic attitudes,
and tell of hi own indiscretions, and ask the
young man if he would not Ike to do thu
same. And they call him verdant, and they
say els green and unsophisticated, and won
der how he can bear the Puritanical strait.
jacket. Thy tell him he ought to break
from his mothers apron strings and they
Come with me. You ought to see the world.
1t won't hurt you. Do as you please; it will
be the making of you" After awhile the
young man says: Il don't want to be odd,
nor can afford to sacrifice these friends, and
Ill go and see for myself" From the gates
of hell there goes shout of victory. Fare
we'll to all innocence-farewell to all early
restraints favorable to that innocence which
once gone, never comes baci. | heard one
of the best mea | ever knew, seventy-five
years of age, say: "Sir, God has forgiven me
for all the sins of my lifetime, know that;
but there is one sin | committed at twenty
years of age that never VIII forgive myself
for. 1t sometimes comes over me over
whelminglv, and it ABSOLUTELY blotS out my
hope of heaven"
Young man, hear it, How many traps
there are set for our young people! That is
what makes parents so anxious. Here are
temptations for every form OF dissipation
and every stage of it. The young man, when
he first goes into dissipation, is very partcu-
lar where he goes. 1t must be a fashionable
hotel He could not be tempted into these
corner nuisances, with. red-stained glass
and mug of beer painted on the sign
board You ask the young man to go
into that place and he would say ::
"Do you mean to insult meY No; it must be
a marble-foored barroom. There must be
no lustful pictures behind the counter: there
must be no drunkard hccoughing while he
takes his glass. 1t must he place where ele
CANT gentlemen come in and click their cut
glass and drink to the announcement of
fiattering sentiment But the young
man cannot always find that kind CT a
place; yet he has q thirst and it must
be gratifed. The down-grade is sleeper
now, aud he is almost at the bottom Here
they sit in an oyster cellar around a card
table, wheeling, bloated and bloodshot, with
npJg ho,J l,y ALI ,bO
the best hand. But never mind; they are
only playing for drink. hufe away! shut
fe away! Tee landlord stands in his shirt
sleeves with hands on his hips, wat hing
the game and waiting for another
call to fill up the glasses 1t is
the hot breath OF eternal woe that
tiushes that young mans cheek In he Jets
of gaslight | see the shooting out of the fiery
tongue of the worm that never dies. The
clock strikes u; it is the toling of the bell Of
eternity at the bur al of a soul. Two
hours pass on, and they are all sound
asleep in their chairs Land'orl says:
Come, now, wake up; it's time to shutuD."
They look up and say; what" Its time
to shut up Push them out into the air
They are going home. Let the wife crouch
in the corner and the children hide under
the bed. They are going h me! What is
the history of that young mau! He bega l
his dissipation at the Fifth Avenue Hotel
and completed his damnation in the worst
grog-Shop in Navy street.
But sin even does not stop here 1t comes
to the door of the drawing room. There are
men of leprous hearts that go into the very
best classes of society They are SO fascinat-
ing-theY have such bewitching way of
Offering their arm. Yet the poison of asps is
under the tongue, and their heart is hell At
first their sinful devicesare hidden, bat after
a while they begin to put forth their ta.ons
OF DEATH, Now they begin to show
really what they aro. Suddenly-al-
though you could not have expected
it, they were so charming in their man
ner, and SO fascinating in their address-sud-
denly cloud, blacker than was ever woven
of midnight or hurricane, drops upon some
domestic circle. There is agony in the pa
rental bosom that none but the Lord God
Almighty can measure-an agony that
wishes that the children of the household
mad been swallowed by the grave, when it
would be only loss of body instead of a
loss of soul. What is the matte with that
household They have not had the front
windows open in six months or year. The
mothers hair suddenly turned white; father,
hollow-cheeked and bent over prematurely
goes down the street. There has been no
death in that family-no loss of property.
Has %Ldness seized upon then9 No! no! A
villain, kid-gloved, patent-leathered, with
gold cha n and graceful manner, took that
cup of domestic bliss, elevated it high in
the air until the sunlight struck it, and
all the rainbows danced about the
brim, and then dashed it down in desola-
ton and woe, until all the harpies of darkness
clapped their hands with glee and all the
voices of hell uttered a loud hal ha! Oh,
there are scores and hundreds of homes that
have been blasted, and if the awful statistics
could be fully set before you, your blood
would fresze into solid cake Of ice at the
heart. Do you wonder that fathers and
mothers are anxious about their children, and
that they ask themselves the questions day
and night: What is to become Of them?
What will be their destiny?
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