The Yale expositor., 1896-05-22

Nlcleu CTllnludl,
when asked if he had anything to say
before sentence of death was passed
upon him-"may it please the court,
bad company has been my ruin. re-
ceived the blessing of good parents,
and, in return, promised to avoid all
evil associations. Had kept my prom
ise, l should have been saved this
shame, and been free from the load OF
guilt that hangs around me like vul-
ture, threatening to drag me to justice
for crimes yet unrevealed. /, who once
moved in the first circles OF society and
have been the guest of distinguished
public men, am lost, and all through
bad company"
This is but one Of the thousand
proofs that evil associations blast and
destroy. 1t is the invariable rule There
is a well man in the wards OF a hospi-
tai, where there are hundred people
sick with ship fever and he will not be
so apt to take the disease as good man
would be apt to be smitten with moral
distemper, if shut up with iniquitous
companions. In olden times prisoners
were herded together in the same cell,
but each one learned the vices OF all the
culprits, so that, instead Of being re-
formed by incarceration, the day OF
liberation turned them out upon So
ciety beasts, not men.
We may, in our place of business,
be compelled to talk to and mingle with
bad men: but he who deliberately
chooses to associate himself with vi
cious people, is engaged in carrying on
courtship with a Delilah, whose
shears will clip off all the locks OF his
strength, and he will be tripped into
perdition. Sin is catching, is infectious
is epidemic. / will let you look over
the millions of people now inhabiting
the earth, and l challenge you TO show
me a good man who, after one year,
has made choice and conSorted with the
wicked. A thousand dollars reward for
one such instance. l care not how
strong your character may be. Go with
the corrupt and you will become cor
rupt. Clan with burglars, and you will
become a burglar. Go among the un-
clean, and you will become unclean.
Many a young man has been destroyed
by not appreciating this. He wakes up
some morning in the great city, and
knows no one except the persons into
whose employ he has entered. AS he
goes into the store all the clerks mark
i'm, him on1 Iiccttc, him
The upright young men Of the store
wish him well, but perhaps wait for a
formal introduction, and even then
have some delicacy about inviting him
into their associations. But the bad
young men OF the store at first oppor-
tunity approach and offer their serv-
ices. They patrcnze him. They pro-
fess to know all about the town. They
will take him anywhere he wishes to
go--if he will pay the expenses. For if
a good young man and bad young
man go to some place where they ought
not, the good young man has invaria-
bly, to pay the charges. At the moment
the ticket is paid for, or the champagne
settled for, the bad young man feels
around in his pockets and says, 81
have forgotten my pocket-hook." In
forty-eight hours after the young man
has entered the store the bad fellows OF
the establishment slap him on the
shoulder Familiarity and, at his stupid
ity in taking certain illusions, say:
my young friend, you will have to be
broken in" and they Immediately pro-
ceed to break him in. Young man, in
the name of God, l warn you to beware
how you let bad man talk familiarly
with you. If such an one slap you on
the shoulder familiarly, turn around
and give him withering look, until the
wretch crouches in your presence.
There Is no monstrosity of wickedness
that can stand unabashed under the
glance of purity and honor. God keeps
the lightnings Of heaven in his own
scabbard, and no human arm can WELD
them; but God gives to every young
man lightning that he may use, and
that is the lightning of an honest eye.
Those who have been close observers
of city life will not wonder why l give
warning to young men, and say, Be
ware of evil companions"
l warn you to shun the sceptic-the
young man who puts his fingers in his
vest and laughs at your oldfashioned
religion, and turns over to some mys-
terry of the Bible, and says, Explain
that, my pious friend, explain that"
And who says, "N3oody shall scare ne;
am not afraid of the future; l used
to believe in such things, and so did
my father and mother, but l have got
over It," Yes, he has got over it; and II
you sit in his company little longer
you will get over it too. Without pre-
senting enc argument against thc Chris
tian religion. such men will, by their
jeers and SCOTS and caricatures, destroy
your respect for that religion, which
was the strength of your father in his
declining years, and ihe pillow of your
old mother when she lay a-dying.
Alas! time will COMO when this
clustering young infidel will have to
die, and then his diamond ring will
fash no splendor in -he eyes of Death,
as he stands over --e couch, waiting