The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-01-14

The man is Wlu6 BuIHl6T, HIS WIG
broken hearted or prematurely old, his
fortune gone or reduced and his home
mere name in directory. Here are six
secular nights in the week. what
shall do with them?' says the father
and the husband II will give four of
those nights to the improvement and en-
tertainment of my family, either at
home or in good neighborhood. will
devote one to charitable institutions l
will devote one to the club. " | congrat-
ulate you Here is man who says 81
will make a different division Of the six
nights will take three for the club
and three for other purposes. l trem-
BILE. Here is a man who says, "Out of
the six secular nights of the week l will
devote five to the clubhouse and one to
the home, which night l will spend in
scowling like March squall, wishing l
was out spending it as | had spent the
other FIVE" That mans obituary is
written. Not one out of 10, 900 that ever
gets SO far on the wrong road ever stops.
Gradually his health will fail through
late hours and through too much slim
illus. He will be first rate prey for cry
sipelas and rheumatism of the heart.
The doctor coming in will at a glance
see it is not only present disease he
must fight, but years of fast living. TIE
clergyman, for the sake Of the feelings
of the family, ON the funeral day will
only talk in religious generalties. The
men who got his yacht IN the eternal
rapids will not be at the obsequies.
They will send flowers to the coffin lid
and send their wives to utter words OF
sympathy, but they will have engage
ments elsewhere. They never come.
Bring me mallet and chisel, and will
cut on the tombstone that man epitaph,
blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord. -" NO" you say, THAT would
not be appropriate. LET me die the
death of the righteous and let my last
end be like his. " "No, you say,
"that would not be appropriate. " Then
give me the mallet and the chisel, and
| will cut an honest epitaph, Here lies
the victim of dissipating clubhouse. "
l think that damage is often done by
the scions of some aristocratic family
who belong to one Of these dissipating
clubhouses People coming up from
humber classes feel it an honor to be-
long to the same club, forgetting the
fact that many of the sons and grandsons
of the large commercial establishments
of the last generation are now as to
mind imbecile, as to body diseased, as
to morals rotten. They would have got
through their property long ago if they
had had full possession of it, but the
willy ancestors, who earned the money
by hard knocks, foresaw how it was to
be, and they tied up everything in the
will. Now, there is nothing OF that I'M
worthy descendant but his grandfather s
name and roast beef rotundity. And yet
how many steamers there are which feel
honored to lash fast that worm eaten
tug, though it drags them straight into
the breakers
The Club In Business. q. ------- -
Another test by which you can find
whether your club is legitimate or lille
gitimate-the effect it has on your Sec
ular occupation. can understand how
through such an institution man can
reach commercial successes. l know
some men have formed their best bust
ness relations through such channel
If the club has advantaged you in an
honorable calling, it is legitimate club
But has your credit failed! Are bargain
makers more cautious how they trust
you with bill of goods? Have the men
whose names were down in the COM
mercial agency AL before they entered
the club been going down ever since in
commercial standing? Then look outl
You and l every day know of COM
mercial establishments going to ruin
through the social excuses of one OF two
mem bers, their fortunes beaten to death
with ball players bat, or cut amidships
by the front prov Of the regatta, or go
ing down under the swift hoofs of the
fast horses, or drowned in large pota-
tions of cognac or monongahela. Their
clubhouse was the ''Loch Earn" Their
business house was the 'Ville du
Havre. They struck, and the 'Nille
du Havre" went under
A third test by which you may know
whether the club to which you belong
or the club to whose membership you
are invited is legitimate club or an il
legitimate club is this: What is its eff
feet on your sense of moral and religious
obligation? Now, if | should take the
names of all the people i'll any audience
and put them ON a roll and then | should
lay that roll back of the organ, and 100
years from now some one should take
that roll and call it from A to q, there
would not enc Of you answer. l say that
any association that makes me forget
that fact is bad association. Now, to
many of the cities there are two routes
and you can take the Pennsylvania rail
road or the Baltimore and Ohio; but
suppose that | hear that on one route
the track is torn up and the bridges are
torn down and the switches are unlock
ed? 1t will not take me a great while to
decide which road to take Now, here
are two roads into the future, the Chris
tian and the un Christian, the safe and
the unsafe. An institution or any assO-
ration that confuses my idea in regard
to that fact is bad institution and
bad association. | had prayers before |
Joined the club. Did have them after?
Y I