The Princeton union., 1898-04-07

and If this investment should 60 wrong.
could easily make it up; I could five
times make it up" With that wrong
reasoning he goes on and makes the
investment, and it does not turn out
quite as well as he expected, and he
makes another investment, and strange
to say at the same time all his other
affairs get entangled, and all his other
resources fail, and his hands are tied
Now he wants to extricate himself He
! goes a little further on in the wrong
investment. He takes plunge further
ahead, for he wants to save his wife
and children, he wants to save his
home, he wants to save his member
ship in the church. He takes one more
plunge and all is lost.
Some morning at 10 o'clock the bank
door is not opened, and there is a card
on the door signed by an officer of the
bank, Indicating that there is trouble,
and the name of the defaulter or the
| defrauder heads the newspaper col
umn, and hundreds of men say: Good
for him." hundreds of other men say,
"Im glad he's found cut at last;" hun
dreds of others say, "Just as I told
you;" hundreds of other men say, eve
couldn't possibly have been tempted to
do that-no conjunction of circum-
stances could ever have overthrown
me-" and there is superabundance of
Indignation, but no pity. The heavens
full CT lightning, but not one drop CT
dew. If God treated us as society
treats that man we would. all have
been in hell long ago.
Wait for the alleviating circumstan-
ces. Perhaps he may have been the
dupe Of others. Before you let all the
hounds out from their kennel to maui
and tear that man, find out if he has
not been brought up in a commerc al
establishment where there was wrong
system of ethics taught; find Gu!
whether that man has not an extrava-
CANT wife who is not satisfied with his
honest earnings, and in the temptation
to please her he is gone into that ruin
into which enough men have fallen,
and by the same temptation to make
a procession of many miles. Perhaps
some sudden sickness may have touch
ed his brain, and his judgment may be
unbalanced. He is wrong, he is aw-
fully wrong, and he must be condemn
ed, but there may be mitigating cir
cumstances. Perhaps, under the same
temptation you might have fallen. The
reason some men do not steal two hun
dred thousand dollars is because they
do not get a chance! Have righteous
indignation you must about that mans
conduct, but temper it with mercy.
But, you say: II am sorry that the
innocent should suffer- Yes, I am,
too-sorry for the widows and orphans
who lost their all by that defalcation.
I am sorry for the business men, the
honest business men, who have had
their affairs all crippled by that defal-
cation. I am sorry for the venerable
bank president to whom credit of tha:
bank was a matter of pride Yes, I am
sorry; also for that man who brought
all the distress; sorry that he sacrificed
body, mind. soul, reputation, heaven,
and went into the blackness of dark
ness forever
You defantly say: "I could not be
tempted in that way" Perhaps you
may be tested after awhile. God has
a very good memory, and he some
times seems to say: ''This man feels 50
strong in his innate power and good
ness he shall be tested: he is so full
of bitter invective against that unfor-
tunate it shall be shown now whether
| he has the power to stand" Fifteen
years go by. The wheel of fortune
turns several times, and you are in q
| crisis that you never could have an
| ticipated. Now, all the powers of
| darkness come around, and they
| chuckle and they chatter and they say:
AHA! here is the old fellow who was
so proud of his integrity, and who
Dragged he couldn't be overthrown by
temptation, and was so uproarious in
| his demonstrations of indignation at
the defalcation fifteen years ago. Let
| us see!'
God let's the man go. God, who had
kept that man under his protecting
care, lets the man 60, and try for him
self the majesty Of his integrity. God
letting the man go, the powers of dark
ness pounce upon him. see you some
day in your Office in great excitement.
| One of two things you can do. Be
honest, and be pauperized, and have
your children brought hcme from
school, your family dethroned in So
cial influence. The other thing is,
you can step little aside from that
which is right, you can only just go
half an inch out of the proper rath,
you can only take little risk. and
then you have all your finances fair and
right. You will have large property
You can leave fortune for your chill
dren, and endow a college, and build
a public library in your native town.
You halt and wait, and halt and wait
until your lips get white. You decide
to risk it. Only few strokes of the
pen now. But, oh, how your hand
trenbles, how drsadfully it tremhles!
The die is cast By the strangest and
| most awful conjunction of circr1n :