The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-02-15
A S OPPOR1 UNITIES.
Forcefui sermon by a Newspaper "r'''''
with "A Novel for Its T"Vt.

Herald, THE Building OF the OIs
Beautiful" the author introduces Il
feature new even to the re1oriners
who have written similar books 10y
which to advance their theories, Ia
the 'City,"a as far as it had progressed
were two hospitals, one for physical
the other for moral diseases. n
sounds to our practical, modern
common sense notions absurd al
most to idioc,; but we are not as
common-sense as we think: ana our
d-pOund-foollsh shut-
the stable door = after the-horse-ls-
stolen policy is quite As idiotic as any
utopian measure we may dispose OF
with a flourish Of the hand.
The case of the wretch Prender-
CAST proves perfectly the indifference
and laxity with which we treat H.
ripient criminals.
If we trace the histories of our great
crimes, we shall find few of them as
sudden or unexpected as on the race
If them they appear. They are led
. up to by a long series OF smaller n
more venial sins, pointing like finger
pests, the road which ends in n
gallows or the prison. Nobody be
m a desperate. cold -blOodcd crimi-
nal in a night; it is as gradual IA pro-
cess as growing Old, or becoming q
saint.
Now, the question is, whose busl-
ness is it to watch these embryo SIM
ncrs, to guide them, bring them, If
possible, into w%ell-doing. otherwise
to warn the community and see that
they are kept apart from those they
might and do contaminate? Why,
nobody. clearly. of course: and so they
are unmatched, unguided, unled,
aud unseparated. They are allowed,
so long as they do not affect our par
ticular personal lives, menace our
own safety, or encrOach on our prop
erty, to 60 on leading %wretchcd, sin
full eXistenccs, because there is no
specific charge against them. There
is no hospital for diseased minds in
the world. The cure is heroic, il, in
decd. it comes in time, and only stall
wart natures are purged by it.
w a l. . OhC > huu. III '
those whose moral sense is lacking,
or partially o~bliterated? 1t is folly
to plead the excuse of not wanting to
hurt either the feelings Of the Sus-
pect or his family, since sooner or
later, with the memorable ineylta-
hility of doom, a greater hurt and
shame awaits them ala shame
which might have been aycrted by
some prompt sacrifice of comfort by
a loyal friend in the beginning. This
one step at the start, however. is the
one no M "a be found to take. 1t
may involve rudeness. lying. rage, we
say, and after all no one can prove
comes, we know that we never had a
moments doubt as 10 the crooked
ness of the wrongdoers ali these
weeks. months, ven years ago.
We 90 farther than Indifference.
too, in our irresponsibilitP. We pre-
tend to believe the made-up tales of
the guilty and if we are asked
about his standing by some suspicious
outsider we say, 'Oh, ] don't believe
there's anything wrong: he'll come
out all right when we are satisfied
that there is and that he won't. 1t
is almost as wicked to pretend 10 be-
licve in wicked people as it is TO com-
nit wickcdness oneself. 1t is also
criminal not to try to help them out:
and Mr.. Stead, when he brought
upon himself the Obloquy Of wom-
ans clubkind recently. meant proba-
bly, nothing more severe than this:
only he was unfortunate in his selec-
ton of words.
1t is a crime to be negligent or to
shut ones eyes to opportunities TO do
good which do not add TO our own
enjoyment. When a man is shlfty.
tricky. wild, sneaking, talks scorn-
fully of honor and conscience, h, is
known to be on the wrong pat =.
Then give him a warning note, and
make it a certain sound, too. You
ear bear his wrath now better than
his curse later. You saw him
thoughtlessly gliding down AMI did
not put out a hand to save him: now
that he is in the tolls. your friend
ship is the most %iinpotent kind of
comfort.
The fayorite sop to conscience i,
the well worn phrase, Its none OF
my business" That covers a large
and more Heterogeneous multitude OF
sins than charitt. You have watched
a boy grow up. know that morally he
is oblique, worthless. that he canno,
stand temptation, will be worse of
In a position of trust than he has
ever been before, yet.you see him Of.
fcred and taking a situation, and Of.
fer. no suggestion TO keep him from
1t, because lit is a thankless task to
NEEDLE y The crash comes, the young
man defalcateS, and then you calmly.
even proudly, atlirm that you knew
he would come to nothing but harm.
but that lit was not your business 10
suOU his 1ucp IT. wlS Won, l,,,;