The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-06-23
49, Saltwater, Mimi, Thursday, June 23, 1892

vidual, however elevated his social position,
who is not at one time or the other. liable
to yield to temptation and fall from his high
estate.
AS the tendency to evil deeds and
thoughts is inherent in humanity. it is the
paramount duty and privilege of all who
desire to lead better and purer life to seek
to discover the cause; and having discOv-
cred 1t, to avoid those shoals and quick
sands of evil on which so many thousands
of promising lives have been wrecked, and
so many opportunities for usefulness and
happiness lost beyond recovery. The
causes are both numerous and varied, but
they may all be embraced within three or
four concentrations. which may be taken in
the order named:
l. Influence of home education during
childhood and youth; in other words social
and domestic surroundings.
2. The temptations of adult life-the
workshop, the liquor saloon, etc.
). The pressure of poverty, inOrdinate
Indulgence of passions etc.
4. Heredity-Or transmission of appetite,
criminal tendencies. etc.. from parents and
ancestors.
s. The influence of excessive severity of
discipline. by parents and others.
1st Social and domestic surroundings.
The associations or surroundings of the in
fant and the child to very great extent
determine and mould his character through
out all his future life If the year old
infant is continually subjected to scenes OF
dissipation and drunkenness. if his ears are
constantly assailed by prOfane or lewd eX
preSsiOns, it his eyes become familiar with
deeds of violence and wrong doing; he. as
an essentially initiative animal, is impelled
pX9mnp
ultimately, use becomes second nature. AS
the twig is bent, so the tree incineS. The
ohild or infant who is brought up anil -
rlbaid sayings and ways, and the OdOr Ol
liquors, cannot fail to become a drunkard
and dissOlute man before he reaches adult
age; the unfortunate boy whose immediate
companions constantly practice petty pilfer.
ing speedily becomes an accomplished thief.
In such and all like cases, circumstances
make the man. not man the circumstances.
1t is from such sources as these nurseries
OF vice and depraved taste that the inmates
of the House of Correction and the hOrdes
of liquor store lOafers are recruited.
2nd. Temptations of adult lite. There is
not man or woman in existence whose
daily experience is not beset with tempta-
tions-pitfalls which may at any unforeseen
moment Overturn all their good resolutions,
all the moral precepts which have illumined
their path through childhood and youth.
and even for time obscure or turn aside
those principles on which a high moral
character and an unSullied reputation has
been built. That incorruptible, large
hearted, Outspoken. upright man. the late
ex Governor HOratiO Seymour, remarked,
in one of his latest addresses to his Council
After listening to thousands of prayers
for pardon, can hardly recall single in
stance in which did not feel that l might
have fallen as my fellow man has done, if l
had been subjected to the same demoral-
lzlng influence and temptations" The
primary cause of the first false step may
have been extravaganza. ambition, i'm
patience to achieve a desired object vanity.
retaliation, sudden calamity, disappOint-
ment. deliberate animOsity-but, what
ever the motive may have been, it leads to
the same sad result-crime. In the work.
shOp, the counting room, the social circle
and especially in the liquor saloon and the
gambling den, these temptations hourly
present themselves with more or less IRE
siStible force and are found equally effective
with the millionaire or merchant as the
mechanic. with the occupant of the man.
sion and the tenement house. There is no
such thing as criminal class-fOr the pop
ulatiOns of our penal institutions comprise
representatives OF every grade in social and
public life. The man who specially prides
himself that he is exempt from the seductive
influences of temptation is in the most
imminent danger of falling.
Sd. The pressure of poverty, inordinate
indulgence of passions, etc. A large ma
jOrity of what are called minor offences
such as petty theft. simple and grand lar.
ceny-are committed by persons when
starvation and ruin threatens the very eX-
istence of themselves and those dependent
upon them; while the more serious crimes.
such as manslaughter, murder. etc., are
usually neted oy sudden sa OF
for the time, morally. though not legally,