Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-26

AWul|t YOU att Olu enough w So
abroad, and you are sent out with
basket TO steal. II YOU come home without
any spoil YOU are whipped until the blood
comes. Atiftech years Of age you 70 OUT 10
fight your own bHttles in this world, which
seems 10 care no more for you than the doR
that has Qied of a 1T under the fence. 1ou
are kicked and cufled and buneted. Some
day. rallying your courage. you resent some
wrong. man says: WHO are your /
know who YOU are. Your father had free
lodgings at Sing Sing. Your mother, she was
up for drunkenness at the criminal court.
Get out of my way, you low-llved wretch!
Ny brother, suppose that had been the history
OF your advent, and the history of your earlier
would you have been the Chris
tan man you are to-day. seated in TINS Chris
tian assembly? I tell you nav. You would
have been a Vagabond, an outlaw, murderer
on the scafTold atoning for your crime. All
these considerations ought to make us mercI-
ful In our dealings with the wandering ana
the lost.
Again have to remark that, IN our estimate
of the msdolng of people who have fallen
from high respectability and usefulness, we
must take INTO consideration the injunction
OF circumstances. In nine cases out OF ten
man who goes astray does not intend any pos
tive wrong. He has trust funds. He risks a
part Of these funds in investment. He says:
"Now, If | should lose that investment have
Of my own property five times rs much, ana
If this Investment should 20 wrong | could
easily make II up; l could five times make 1t
up.n with that wrong reasoning he goes on
ana makes the investment, and 1t does not
turn out quite rs well as he expected, anu ne
makes another investment. and strange to say
at the same time all his other affairs get en-
tangled ana all his other resources fail, and
his hands are tied. Now he wants to eXtrl-
cate himself, He goes little farther on in
the wrong Investment. He takes plunge
further ahead. for he wants to save his wife
and children, he wants his home, he wants TO
save his membership IN the church. He takes
one more plunge and all is lost. Some morning
at ~ auE hal hon 1F.fAF 10
there is a card on the door signed by an officer
Of the bank, indicating there is trouble, and
the name of the defaulter or the deiraudcr
heads the new paper column. and hundreds
Of men say: "Good for him;" hundreds Of
other men say: "l'm 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 1850 no conjunction Of clrcum-
stances could ever have ovcrthrown
me-" and there Is superabunnance Of
Indignation, nut no pity. The heavens full of
lightning but not one drop of dew. II God
lr ated US society treats that man We
would all have been in hell long ago. Wait
for the alternating circumstances. Perhaps
he may have been the dupC Of others Before
you let ali the hounds out from their kennel
TO maui and tear that man find ont If he has
not been brought up in commercial estaD-
lishment where there was wrong system Of
ethics taught; find out whether that man has
not an eXtravagant wife who is not satisfied
W
ton to please her he has gone into that ruin
INTO which enough men have fallen, and by
the same temptation. To make procession
Of many mics. Perhaps some sudden
sickness may have touched his brain and
his Judgment may be unbalanced. He
is wrong, he is awfully wrong, and he
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 5000 goo Is be-
cause they do not get n chance! Have right
cOus indignation you must about that man =
conduct, but temper 1t with mercy But you
say; IL am so sorry that the innocent should
suffer" Yes, | am too-sorry for the widows
and orphans who lost their all by that dcfal-
cation l am sorry also for the business men,
the honest business men, who have had their
affairs all crippled by that dedication. | am
sorry for the venerable bank President to
whom the credit of that bank was matter
OF pride. Yes, am sorry also for that man
who brought all the distress; sorry that he
sacrificed body, mind, soul, reputation,
heaven, and went into the blackness Of dark
ness forever.
You defantly say: 81 could not be tempted
in that way" Perhaps you NAV 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
ness he shall be tested; he is so full of bitter
Invective against that unfortunate, it shall be
shown now whether he has the power to
stand" Fifteen years go by. The wheel of
fortune turns several times, and you are in
crisis that You never could have antICi-
pated. Now, all the powers of darkness come
around, ana they Chuckle, and they chatter
and they say: AHA here is the old fellow
who was 80 proud OF his integrity, and who
Dragged he couldn't be overthrow by tempta-
ton, and was so uprOarious in his demonstra-
years ago. Let us see" God lets h. man go.
God, who had kept that man under His pro-
teCting care, lets the man go, and
try for himself the majesty of his in
Cod lpttinU the on
of darkness pounce upon him. | see YOU some
day in your office IN great excitement. one
OF two things YOU can do. BE honest, and he
and have your children brought
home from school, your family dcthroned in
social influence. The other thing is, you can
stop ldtle aside from that which is right
you can only just go half an inch ont OF the
proper Path, you can only take a little risk
and then you have all your finances fair and
right. You have large properly. You can
leave fortune for your children. and endow
a college, and bulld public library In your
native town. You halt and wait, and halt
and wait until your lips get white. You
decide 10 risk 1t. Only a few strokes OF the
pen now. But, oh, how your hand
tremblest how dreadfully, it trem-
bles! The die is cast. BY the
any one could have imagined,
you are prostraIed. Bankruptcy, CONNER
cial humiliation, exposure, crime. Good men
mourn and devils hold carnival, and you see
your own name at the head of the newspaper
column In a whole congress OF exclamation
points, and while you are reading the anath-
ema in the reportOrial and editorial para
graph, IT occurs to you how much this story 10
like that Of the defalcatiou fifteen years ago,
and II clap of thunder shakes the window sill
saying: with what measure 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 fine digestion and perfect health,
cannot understand how anybody should be
capszed in temper by an inhnitesimal annoy-
ance. You say: 81 couldn't be unbalanced
in that way" Perhaps you smile at "A provo
cation that makes another man swear. You
pride yourself on your mperturbabiIty. You
say with our manner, though you have too
much COCA Taste to say IL with your words !:
Il have q great deal more sense than that
man has; have great deal more equipoise
of temper tnan that man has; never could
make such puerlle exhibition of myself as
that man has made"
My brother. you do not realize that that
man was born with keen nervous organiza-
ton; that for forty years he has been under a
depicting process; that sickness and trouble
have been helping undo what was left of
original healthfulness; that much of his time
1t has been with hin like filing saws; that his
nerves have come to be merely tangle of
disorders, and that he is the most pitiable OBJ
ject on earth, who. though he Is very sick
does not look sick and nobody sympathizes
Let me see Did You not say that you could
not be tempted To an ebullition of temporY
Some September you come home from your
summer watering place, and you have
inside, away back in your liver
or spleen. what we call in our day ma
laria but what the old folks called chills and
fever. You take quinine until your ears are
first buZZiug bephtVes and then rourin,r - IA