Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-11-29

the clubroom. in the literary society,
in the art salon, than you do in these
unpretending home pleasures, you are
On the road to ruin. Though you may
be cut off from your early associates,
and though you may be separated from
al your kindred, young man, is there
not a room somewhere that you can call
your own: Though it be the fourth
tory Of a third class boarding house
nto that room gather books, picture
nd harp. Hang your mothers por
rait over the mantel Bid unholy mirtI
yand back from that threshold. Cons6
rate some spot in that room with ths
.neo Of prayer. BY the memory Of 9th
+ days, fathers counsel, a mother
love and q sisters confidence, call Il
home.
a Rotten Beam In the Palace.
Another safeguard for these youne
men is industrious habits. There are q
great many people trying to make theii
way through the world with their wit
instead Of by honest toll. There is
young man who comes from the country
TO the city. He fails twice before he j
IS old as his father was when he frs
saw the spires Of the great town. He j
seated in his room at a rent Of $4,000
year, waiting for the banks to declare
their dividends and the stocks to run
up. After awhile he gets impatient. Ho
tries to improve his penmanship by
making copy plates Of other merchants
signatures. Never mind-all is right il
business. After awhile he has his es
tate. Now is the time for him to retire
to the country, amid the iocks and the
herds, to culture the domestic virtues.
Now the young men who were his
schoolmates in boyhood will come, and
with their OK teams draw him logs, and
with their hard hands will help to
heave up the castle. That is no fancy
SKETCH it is everyday life. I should
not wonder if there were a rotten beam
in that palace. 1 should not wonder II
God should smite him with dire sick
nesses and pour into his cup a bitter
draft that will thrill him with un-
bearable agony. Ishould not wonder If
that mans children grew up to be TO
him a disgrace and to make his life
shame. Ishould not wonder if that man
died a dishonorable death and were
tumbled into a dishonorable grave and
then went into the gnashing Of teeth.
The way Of the ungodly shall perish.
O young mau, you must have in
dustry Of head or hand or foot, or perish.
Do not have the idea that you can get
along in the world by genius. The curse
Of this country today is geniuses-men
with large self conceit and nothing
else. The man who proposes to make
his living by his wits probably has not
any. Ishould rather be an OK, plain and
plodding and useful, than to be an
eagle, high flying and good for nothing
but to pick out the eyes Of carcasses
Even in the garden Of Eden it was not
safe for Adam to be idle, SO God made
him a horticulturist, and if the mar
ricd pair had kept busy dressing the
vines they would not have been saun-
tering under the trees, hankering after
fruit that ruined them and their pos
terity! Proof positive Of the fact that
when people do not attend to their bust
ness they get into mischief. go to the
ant, thou sluggard consider her ways
and be wise, which, having no oyerseer
or guide, proyideth her food in the
summer and gathereth her meat in the
harvest" Satan is a roaring lion, and
YOU can never destroy him by gun OF
pistol or sword. The weapons with
which you are to beat him back are pen
and type and hammer and adj and saw
and pickax and yardstick and the weapon
Of honest toll. Work, work, or die.
Aim High.
Another safeguard that Iwant to pre-
sent to young men is a high ideal OF
life. Sometimes soldiers going into bat
tie shoot into the ground instead Of into
the hearts Of their enemies. They are
apt to take aim too low, and it is very
often that the captain, going into con-
flict with his men, will cry ont, Now,
men, aim highp The fact is that III
life a great many men take no aim at
all. The artist plans out his entire
thought before he puts it upon canvas,
before he takes up the crayon or the
chisel. An architect thinks out the en-
tire building before the workmen begin.
Although everything may seem to be
unorganized, that architect has in his
mind every Corinthian column, every
Gothic arch, every Byzantine capital
A poet thinks out the entire plot Of his
poem before he begins TO chime the
cantos of tinkling rhythms. And yet
there are a great many men who start
the important structure Of life without
knowing whether it is going to be
rude Tartar's hut or a st. Marks ca
thedral, and begin to write out the In
tricate poem Of their life without know
ing whether it Is to be a Homer's
odyssey" or rhymester's botch. Out
Of 900, 999 have no life plot. Booted
and spurred and caparisoned, they has
ten along, and run out and say; "Hel-
10, man Whittier awayi" "NowhereW p
they say. Oh, young man, make every
days duty a filling up Of the great life
plot. Alas, that there should be on this
sea Of life so many ships that seem
bound for no port They are swept ev-
cry whittier by wind and wave, up by
the mountains and down by the valleys
They sail with no chart They gaze on
no star. They long for no harbor. Oh,
young man, have q high ideal and press
TO it, and twill be a mighty safeguard.
There never were grander opportunities
opening before young men than are
opening now. Young men Of the strong
arm aud Of the stout heart and Of the
bounding step, l marshal you today for
a great achievement
Another safeguard is a respect for the
Sabbath. Tell me how young man
spends his Sabbath, and l will tell you
what are his prospects in business, and
will tell you what are his prospects
for the eternal world. God has thrust
into our busy life a sacred day when we
are to look after our souls. Is it exorbi-
tant, after giving six days to the feed
;po aud clothino Of these nerishable