Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-09-17

| family relation in which We were born.
for our natural tastes, for our mental char
acter, not responsible. But we are re-
spousible for the associates thst we choose
aud the moral Influences under which we
put ourselves. Character seeks an eaui-
librium. A. B is n good man. Y. is
q bad msn. LIST them now voluntarily
chonse each others society. A B. will
lose part OF his goodness and Y. z. part
Of his badness, aud they will gradually
approach each other in character and will
finally stand on the same level. One Of
the old painters refused to look at Door
pictures because he said it damaged his
style. A musician cannot afford to
DWELL AMONG DIscoRDs,
nor can writer afford to peruse books Of
inferior style, nor an architect walk out
among disproportioned structures. And
| no man or woman was ever SO good as TO
be able to afford to choose evil associa-
tions. Therefore said, have it rule of
your life to 60 among those better than
yourselves. Cannot fiud them? Then
what a pink of perfection you must be!
When was your character completed9
What misfortune for the sanity and An
gelic of heaven that they are not enjoy
ing the improving influence of your socie.
ty! All, if You cannot find those better
than yourself, il Is because you are ignor-
ant of yourself Woe unto You, Scribes
and Pharisees, hypociites.
But, as / remarked in the opening, in
sacred and in oil styles of literature a
chain means not only adornment and roy
atty of nature but sometimes captivity.
And l suppose there are those in that
sense deliberately and persistsntly making
chain. Now here is a young man of
good physical health, good manners and a
good education. How shall he put to-
gether enough links to make chain for
the dnwn-hill road? / will give him some
directions. First let him smoke. If he
cannot stand cigars, let him try cigarettes
| think cigarettes will help him on this
road little more rapidly because the doc
tors say there is more poison in them, aud
80 he will be helped along faster, and
have the more confidence in proposing
this because about fifty of the first young
men of Brooklyn daring the last year
were, according to the doctors reports,
killed by Cigarettes. Lst him drink light
wioes first, ale or lager, and gradually
be will be able to take something stronger,
and az all styles Of strong drink are more
and more adulterated, his
PROGRESS WILL BIZ FACILITATED.
With the Old-time drinks man seldom got
delirium tremens before thirty or forty
years of age; now he can get the madness
by the time he is eighteen. Let him play
cards, enough money put up always to add
interest to the game. If the father and
mother will play with him that will help
by way of counteDaucing the habit. Aud
it will be such pleasant thing To think
over in the day of Judgment when tho
parents give account for the elevated man
ner 10 which they have reared their chill
dren. Every pleasant Sunday afternoon
take q carriage ride and stop at the hotels
on either side the road for Sabbath refresh-
ments. Do not let the old fogy preiudices
against Sabbath breaking dominate you
Have membership in some club where
lIbertines 90 and tell about their
victorious sins, and laugh as loud as any
of them in derision of those who belong to
the same sex az your sister and mother.
Pitch your Bible overheard as old-fssh-
ioned and fit only for women and children
Read all the magazine articles that put
Christianity at disadvantage, and 40 to
hear all the lectures that mslign Christ,
who, they say, instead of being the Mighty
0aa lie pretended 10 be, was an impostor
aud the implauter of great delusion
Go, at first out OF cnriosity, to see all the
houses of dissipation, and then go because
you have felt ;hs thrali Of their fascination.
Getting along splendidly now!
Let me see what further can suggest
in that direction. Become more defiant OF
all decency, more loud-mouthed in your
atheism, more thoroughly alcoholized, aud
instead OF the small stakes that will do
we'll enough for games Of chance in a
lsdies' parlor, put no something worthy,
pnt up more, put up all you have. Well
done! You have succeeded.
YOU HAVE MADE A CHAIN
the tobacco habit one link, the rum habit
one link, the impare club another link,
infidelity another link, Sabbath desecra-
ton another link, uncleanliness another
link, and altogether they make a chain.
Aud 20 there is chain on yonr hand apd
n chain On your foot and chain on your
tongue and a chain on your eye and a
chain on your brain and chain on your
property and chain on your soul. Some
day you wake up and you say: II am
tired of thia and L am going to get loose
from this shackle" You pound away
with the hsmmar of good resolution but
cannot break the thrall. Your friends
Join you in conspiracy Of help but fall
exhausted in the unayailipg attempt
Now you begin, and with the
writhing of a LAGOON, to try
to break away, and the muscles
are distended, and the great beads of per-
spiration dot your forehead, and the eyes
stand out from the sockets and with all the
concentrated energies of body, mind and
soul you attempt to get loose but have
only made the chain sink deeper. All
the devils that encamp In the wine flask
and the rum Jug and the decanter-for
each one has devil Of its own-come ont
and sit around you and chatter. In some
midnight you spring from your couch and
cry: II am fast. o God, let me loose! o.
ye powers of darkness, let me loose! Faith
er and mother and brothers and sisters,
help me to get loose" Aud you turn your
prayer to blssphemy and then your bias
phemy into prayer, and to all the din and
uproar there is played an accompaniment,
not an accompaniment by key and pedal,
but the accompaniment is rattle, and the
rattle is that Of chain. For five years,
for ten years, for twenty years, you have
been making chain.
BUT HERE TAKE A STEP HIGHER.
and tell you there is a power that can
break any chain, chain Of body, chain Of
mind, chain Of soul. The letters that the
hammer Of the Gospel have broken of, if
piled together, would make mountain.
The captives whom Christ has set free, If
stood aide by side, would make an army.
Quicker than chip chsndler's furnace
ever melted a cable, quicker than key
ever unlocked handcuf, quicker than the
bsyonets of revolution pried open the Bas-
tile, you may be liberated and made free
son or free daughter Of God. You have
only to choose between serfdom and eman-
cipation, between q chain and coronet,
between Satan and God. Make up your
mind and make il up quick. When the
King of Sparta had crossed the Hellespont
and was about TO march through Thrace,
he sent word to the people in the different re-
giops ssking them whether he sbould march