The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-09-17
sgGsosE & rs III ?

MY son, II Is z comforting uoCbIlut, ait
one that men often preach to each other,
that a man deserves al credit for every.
thing good that he does and for all the
good that ne is, but that somebody else is
10 blame for all the evil in him. Mr. Cough
has been criticised for saying-and they
were his last words, 'fYoung man, make
your record clean The prophets who
speak comfortably say that the young man
cannot make his record clean, when his
father makes a bad record before him,
that society and Tie evil tendencies of it,
and something the scientists call his Cen
yironment," write the young mans record
this is a doctrine too cowardly to accept.
Ever since Adam. the founder of society
and the inventor Of the first record ever
made in this world, a man without an Ten
virenment" to his back, made a bad rec
ord and then said: "Ibe woman thoa
gavest to be with me, she did it all" men
have always plead the irresistible force Of
surroundings and circumstances. The
woman was younger than Adam, she was
weaker. many wise men say she is intel
l~ectually the inferior of man, she was a
new conner in the garden, and yet ho@
glad your old grandfather was to say that
it was ali your grandmother's fault and
that thus being led astray by influences
and examples which no man could control
or resist, he should not be held responsible
for his disobedience. And in her turn your
grandmother laid it on to the snake, jnst
as to-day in the Office of the Sun and in
Christian homes all over the land, evil
deeds Of men and servants are laid to the
cat. But, for this excuse, Adam was fired
out Of the garden, and served him right.
Now, my boy, the other man may cat
forbidden fruit until he founders, and not
a bite thai he swallows is going TO hurt
you. A dose Of stryehnine BIG enough to
kill a COW won't hurt you-if you don't
swallow any of it. When you swear, you
do your own swearing; yon can't borrow
any mans tongue to damn a beggar with.
When You get drunk, you get trunk. The
law doesn't fine the man who sells the
whiskey, it fines the man who drinks it.
When you steal anything, from a pin to
the Broadway road, you do your own
stealing, and-in the case of the pin, at
least, the law holds You responsible for il,
not the man who coaxed you to steal, nor
yet the citizen who by owning valuable
property which you could not buy, thereby
tempted you to steal it. Yon are the fell
low that does all the wiekedness that is
wrought by your hands and your lips. 1t
tires me to hear a man always exeusing
himself aud citing some dreadful, wicked
Jeroboam which made him to sin. Not,
Indeed. that we hold the Jeroboams guilt
less. 'It must needs he hat offences
come; but woe to that man BY whom the
offence cometh,'t But because the mill
stone and a soft place in the sea Is the
proper combination for the man who helps
you to stumble, you do not GO free. |
have no right To turn a cross dog into the
street, but If do, he will bite you If You
20 fooling around him. Wherefore, ''caye
canem,' which, by Interpretation is Don't
monkey with the dog" As the dog will
not beware of You, beware of the dog
You may nave noticed on the saeerdotal
garments of your instructor, my son, some
queer, unsightly splashes here and there.
Well, / put them on myself. Without the
assistance or by the fault of any man, |
did it. And if there are any more to SO
before l have it renovated nm the only
fellow who can put them there. Now you
may go and play and nave fun, and don't
let me ever again hear yon say that you
would be the best boy in the world If only
all the other boys were dead.-Burdette.