The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-02-16
THOSE EVIL INFLUENCES.
How Bad Company Stays It's Thousands
From the Youths Companion.l

From the Youths Companion.)
Bad company Stays its thousands; DOS
slbly we must confess that bad literature
Stays its tens of thousands, as the more
modern, secret and easiest means, but
the following story of a young mans I'M
timely end dates back Il quarter of a
century, when very few bad books had
found their way to the quiet town in
northern New England where the victim
had his home, but where the influences
of evil thoughts, in a more primitive
form, were the same.
The boy, whom for the present we will
call John Davis, grew up in good habits.
in a good family, chcerfully aiding his
parents in laboring for an honest liveli-
hood, and tending school ut least one
term in the year, and church regularly.
One would think there could have been
nothing in the surroundings of his coun-
try home to mislcad his imagination, but
as in so many other ''safc and sheltered"
places, the evils that breed discomfort
were there.
Living sufficiently near to be almost
daily acquaintance were several men
and boys Of loose morals, who were
ready to corrupt him with evil stories,
II put lawlcss desires into his mind.
From hearing their stories of sin, at
first with dislike; he became, before
he fairly grew to mans stature, an g
listener.
These associates poisoned his mind,
made him dissatisfied with his home,
and filled him with useless ambitions.
Every little disappointment or priva-
ton or unpleasant incident ut home was
taken advantage of by those pretended
friends to weaken his loyalty and nat,,-
raj affections, and make him unhappy
and ungrateful. Every occasion was
seized to infatuatc him with notions of
his Own smartncss, and the possibilities
of a forbidden freedom.
The result was what too commonly
follows when boys listen to bad advisers
- desire for adventure became n ruling
passion. At the age Of seventeen John
Davis ran away.
1t must have been a sort of insanity that
possessed him. What plan or plans the
youth had in his mind, no one can know.
1t was in the dead of winter wheN he
secretly packed IL bundle of clothes, and
stole away one cold afternoon on snow
shoes. Travelling across the fields, he
escaped observation, and IL fresh snow,
that was already falling, covered his
tracks.
That evening, at the supper-table, his
absence excited concern, and when it
was found that he had taken away his
clothes, the concern dccpcncd into real
alarm. Messengers were sent in every
direction to make inquiries, and parties
searched the surrounding country, but
the winter passed, and no hint came of
the young mans whereabouts, or his
fate. Why he should have left, and in
such Il way, a pleasant home, was the
wonder of the town-until it was fully
known what wicked influences had been
ut work upon him.
Six months after his disappearance,
some hunters in a piece of woods not
four miles from his fathers house, found
the disjointcd bones of Il human skclc-
ton. Searching further, they picked
up a snow-shoe, a boot. n jack-knifc,
and some shrcds of clothing. The relics
were easily identified. John Davis had
met his death there alone.
Pity tried in vain to hide the tragic
particulars from the stricken father and
mother. The cry of their hearts went
up like the wall of old; their son was
without doubt torn in pieces"
''IIc that walkcth with wise men shall
be wise, but n companion of fools shall
he destroyed" little foxes spoil the
vines" and it is not great crimes alone,
but often the results of evil influences,
that mis,cad the Imagination and ruin
the soul, and the ways of such in
f1ucnces are often dark and mysterious.