Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-08-11

IlNSS We lluSb luhb llUJ uiio tOh-
junction Of circumstances. in nine cases
out Of ton man who goes astray does not
intend any positive wrong. He has trust
funds, He risks part of these funds in in
vestment He says; snow, If should lose
that investment | have Of my own property
five times as much, and If this investment
should go wrong could easily make II up; |
could five times mako it up" with that
wrong reasoning he goes on and makes the
investment, and it does not turn out quite so
well as he expected, and ho makes another
investment, and, strange to say, at the same
time all his other affairs got entangled, and
all his other resources fail, and his hands are
tied. Now no wants to extricate himself. He
goes q little further on in the wrong invest
ment He takes u plunge further ahead,
| for he wants to save his wife and children,
he wants to save his home, he wants to save
his membership in the church. He takes ono
more plunge and all is lost. Some morning
at 10 o'clock tho bunk door is not opened and
there is card on the door signel by an oill-
Ger of the bank, indicating that there Is
trouble, tho name Of the defaulter or the de.
frauder, head tho newspaper column, and
hundreds of men say Good for him.
hundreds of other men say: ''Im glad he's
found out aS LAST hundreds of other men
say: Just as | told you;n hundreds of other
men say: 1--WE couldn't possibly have been
| btlllDJ'J W w llltJ-llU tOu JuHCJlOl vi ClT-
cumstances could ever have overthrow me;n
and there is superabundance Of indigna-
ton but no pity. The heavens full of light
ming but not one drop Of dew. If God
treated us rs society treats that man we
would all have been in hell long agol Wait
| for the alternating circumstances. Perhaps
ho may have been the dupe of Others Be-
fore you lot all the hounds out from thor
kennel to maui AMI tear that man, find
out il he has not been brought up In q
commercial establishment whore there was
n wrong system of ethics taught;
find out whether that man has not
an eXtravagant wife, who is not satisfied
with his honest earnings and in the tempta-
ton to please her he has goneinto that ruin
into which enough men have fallen, and by
the same temptation, to make procession of
many miles. Perhaps some sudden sickness
may have touched his brain, and his judg-
ment may be unbalanced. He is wrong-he
is awlully wrong and h, must be condemned
but there may be mitigating circumstances
Perhaps under the sane temptation You
might have fallen. The reason some men do
not steal s2)O,0)O is because they do not got
n chanrel Have righteous Indignation you
must about that mans conduct, but
temper it with mercy. But You say; II am
so sorry that the innocent should suffer-"
Yes, am to)--sorry for tn, widows and or
phans who lost their all by that defalcation.
hon an, ~ hyylinaSs man ,yho have had thar
nEairS al n,;nrIad Nv tbot dofaIcotion
a., sorr,, for tPa ,,nnoro,,In Lonl, pre,Ient 70
%yhon, t6To crodit of that hank was n matter
81 mi 10 Ves Iamsorr,J oIso for fiat man
who brought all the distress sorry that he
sacrificed body, mind, soul, reputation,
Heaven, and went into thu blacknesi Of dark
ness forever.
l., tt Uu ,vn,. 'P"rboo, vo', my Iva taStcd
If artnr o,vhi}}c God bas vcr,' ro,5 memory
~ H." q" ,,o+os noo,' ,.This man
fao nc 20 st,.nn'r in lie mat, - ,rcr AMI cool
,o.S ho shnii Pa to,tci ha is 60 I'M Of Hitter
tbot If shall ha
aho,, ,n', t.' hn has tba no,v,r 70
'tanin M G;ftoa,' Wow, ~ irba wbeal ~
SI' tnrns sayoroI tin,o, and vou ,re in
crisis that you never coul have anticipated.
Now,all the powers OF darkness come around,
and they chucklc, AMI they chatter and they
say: Aha! here is the OLD fellow who was
so proud Of his integrity, and who
Dragged he couldn't DO ovcrthrown by
temptation, and was so uproarious in his
demonstrations of Indignation at the delalca-
tion fifteen years ago. Let us sec. God let's
The man 60. God, who hal kept that man
under Ills protecting care, let the man go and
try for himself the majesty OF MS int,grlty.
tod letting the ma g, the powers Oh uarK-
ness pouncc upon him. ] see you some day
in your Office in great excitement, One oftwo
things you can do. BE honest, and he pauper-
lied, and have your children brought homo
from school, your family dethroned III social
influence, Tho other thing is, You can st,pa
little aside from that viii h is right, you can
only juItgo haitian inch oItof the proper path,
you can only take little risk, and then you
have all your finances fair aud right You
hpVn largo nIDOprtE. NOll can leave n tOr-
tune for your children and endow college
and build public library in your native
town. You halt and wait, anl halt and wait
until your lips get white. You decide to
risk it, Only few strokes OF the pen now.
But oh, how your hand tremoles, how
dreadfully it trembles! The die Is cast;
BY the strangest and most awful
conjunction of circumstances any one
oo,,, have ;,,,,o,;,od wan oro ,rostroted
T Pnni., n",o o,norciaI annibIation ex.
Jim Ill., Cd ,,an n,amrn and deviis
oIuulu, S ,.o', s s ,,o, own n Name at
thi hoad nf tho nor column in whole
congress of exclamation points; and while
you are reading the anathema IN the repor-
toral and editorial paragraph, 1t occurs 10
you how much thiS story Is ike lha1 oi t'ie
defalcation fifteen years ago, ana clap OF
thunder shakest the window-sli,saying; WIN
what measure We mete, IL snail DC heasureu
W you uSuiu. n,
You look In another direction. ihere Is
nothing like an ebullitlon OF temper 10 put q
man to disadvantage You, man WIN
calm pulses ana llne dlSeStioh ana perlecC
health, can not understand now anybouy
should be capSized IN temper by an inllnitesi-
NAL annoyance. You say: II couIdnt ne
unbalanced i'll that way" Perhaps you smile
at n proyocation that makes another man
swear. You pride yourelf on your lmper-
turbability You say with your manner,
though you have toomuch good taste to say
with your words: u have a great deal more
sense than that man has; have great deal
more equipoise OF temper than that man mas;
| never could make such puerile exhlDltlon
of myself as that man has made"
My brother, you do not realize that that
ton. that for forty wears he has been under
n denlnting nrores;. that sickness md trouble
have been helning undo what was left
of ORIGINAL healthfulness: that much of his
tima Il has been with him like filing saws:
that his nerves have come to be merelyp
tauge Of disorders, and that he Is the most
pitiable object 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 10
m ebuilition Of tempert Since September
you come home from your summer watering
place, and you have inside, away back IN
mnlaria bnt What tbe old folks called chilis
and fever Won take oninino until your ears
ore first huz7ing heobives and then roaring
Nicaaras, Won ;ake roots and here's, YOU take