The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-08-11

care no more for you than the dog that
has died Of q fit under the fence. You are
kicked and cuffed AMI buffeted. Some day,
rallying your courage: you resent some
wrong A man says: Who are you! kno"
who you are. Your father had free lodgings
at Sing Sing Your mother, she was up for
drunkenness at the Criminal Court Get ont
| of my way, you low-livei wretch?" My
brother, suppose that had been the history OF
your advent, and the history Of your early
| surroundings, would you have been the
Christian man you are to-day, seated IN this
would have been q vagabond, an outlaw,
murderer on the scaffold atoniug for your
crime All these considerations ought tc
make us merciful in our dealings with tn,
wandering and the lost
| Agaiu, l have to remark that in our esti-
mats of the misdoings of p"ople who have
fsllen from high respectability and useful
| junction Of circumstances. In nine cases
! out Of ten man who goes astray does not
! funds. He risks part of these funds in in
/ vestment. Hs says; "Now, if should lose
that investment have of my own property
| five times as much, and ii this 1nVestment
should 20 wrong I could easily make it up:
| could five times make it up" With that
wrong reasoning he goes on and makes the
] investment, and it does not turn out quite so
! we'll as he expected aud he makes another
! investment, and, strange to say, at the same
! time all his other affairs get entangled, and
all his other resources fail, and his hands are
! tied. Now he wants to e1tricate hlmsell. ne
| goes little further on in the wrong invest
ment. He takes a plunge further ahead,
for he wants to save his wife and children,
| be wants to save his home, he wants to save
| his membership in the church. He takes one
more plunge and all is lost. Some morning
at 10 O'clock the bank door is not opened, and
there is card on the door signrd by IN OIL
Ger of the bank, indicating that there is
! trouble, the name of the defaulter or the de,
frauder heals the newspaper column, and
| hundreds Of men say: Good for hlmi'
! hundreds of other men say: Pm glad he's
| found out at last" hundreds Of other men
say: Just as told you;" hundreds OF other
| men say: I'VE couldn't possibly have been
| tempted to do that-no conjunction OF cir,
| cnmstan ,es could ever have overthrown me-"
and there is a superabundance OF indigna-
| tion but no pity. The heavens full Of light
/ ming, but not one drop Of dew. II God
treated us as society treats that man we
would all have been in hell long ago! wan
for the alleviating circumstances. FERN Fps
he may have been the duPe Oh otners De-
fore you let all the hounds out from their
kennel to maui AMI tear that man, hnd
out if he ha, not been brought up in a
commercial establishment whore there was
wronz system Of ethics taught
find out whether that man has not
an extrayagant wife, who is not satisfied
with his honest earnings, and in the temptai
| tion to % ease her he ha, gone into that ruin
! into which enough men have fallen, and oy
| the same temptation, to make procession or
many miles. Perhaps some sudden sickness
NAV have touched his brain. and his judg-
ment may be unbalanced. He is wrong-he
is awfully wrong, and h, must be condemned
but there may be mitigating circumstances
Perhaps under the same temptation you
MIGHT have fallen The reason some men do
not steal 81 10000 is because they do not get
! a chance! Have righteous Indignation you
must about that mans conduct, bu5
temper it with mercy. But You say: Il am
SO sorry that tho innocent should suffer.
Yes, am to o--Sorry for thu widow; aad or
phans who lost their oil by that defalcatlon
I am sorry, als,, for tn, business men, the
honest business men, who have had their
affairs all crippled by that dsfalcation. I
am sorry for the venerable bank President to
whom the credit of that bank was matter
of prile Yes, I am sorry, also, for that mar
who brought all the distress sorry that ne
sacrificed body, mind. soul, reputation,
ness forever.
You defiantly say: 81 could not be tempted
in that way" Perhaps You may be tested
after awhile. God has very good memory.
and he sometimes seems to say: This man
feels so strong in his innate power and good
MSS h, shall be tested: he is 80 full OF bitter
lnve :tive against tina. unfortunIte,l III snail oe
shown now whsthcr he has thu power to
stand" Fifteen years 60 by. The wheel OF
fortune turns several times, and you are IN q
crisis that YOU never coal | have anticipated.
Now all the powers Of darkness come around,
and they chlckle, and they chatter, and they
say: AHA. here is the oil fellow who was
so proud Of his integrity, and who
Dragged he couldn't be oYerthrown by
demonstrations of indignation at the defa!ca-
tion fifteen years ago. Let us see. God lets
the man 90. Col, who had kept that man
under His protecting care, lets the man go and
try for himself the majesty Of his integrity.
God let ing the maa 60, the powers OF dark
ness pounce upon him. see yol some day
in your office in great excitement. One OF two
things you can do Be honest, anu DO Eauper-
lied and have your children brought home
from school. your family dethronel in social
! influence The other thing is, you can step q
little aside from that viii, n is right, you can
only Just 60 ha f an inch out OF the proper path.
YOU can only take little risk, and then you
have all your finances fair and right. You
have large property. You can leave for
tune for your children and endow college
and build public library in your native
town. You halt and wait, and halt and wait
until your lips get white You decide to
risk it. Only a few strokes Of the pen now.
BIT oh, how your hand trembles, how
dreadfully it trembles! The die is cast.
By the strangest and most awful
conjunction Of circumstances any one
could have imagined, you are .proStrated.
Bankruptcy, commercial aunihilation,. eI-
posure, crime. Good men mourn and devils
hold carnival, and you see your own name at
the head of tho newspaper column ln whole
congress Of exclamation points; and while
YOU arc reading the anathema in the repor-
torial and editorial paragraph, it occurs to
YOU how much this story Is like that OF the
defalcation fifteen years ago. and clap OF
thunder shakes the window-sill, saying: WITH
what nj 2aSure ye mete, 1t shall be measured
to YOU again"
You look in another direction. There is
nothing like an ebullition of temper to put
man to disadvantage. You, man with
calm pulses and a fine digestion and perfect
health, can not understand how anybody
should be capsized in temper by an inhnitesi-
NAL ANNOYANCE. You say: Il couldn't be
unbalanced in that way" Perhaps you smile
at provocation that makes another man
swear. You pride yourself on your imper-
turbablity You say with your manner,
though you have too much good Taste to say
with YOUR words: ~ have great deal mora
sense than that man has; have great deal
more eouipoise Of temper than that man has;
l never could make such puerile exhibition
Of mysslf as that man has made"
Nv brother, you do not realize that that
man was born with keen nervous organlza'
| ton; that for forty years he has been under
| 4 depicting process; that sickness and trouble
| have been helping undo what was LETT
| of original healthfulneSs; that much OF his
| tim, it has been with him like filing saws
that his nerves have come to be merelyp