Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-11-01

conference at Saco, that In 1894 Their
were ga divorces In the State Of Main,
= one to every eight marriages for tina
year. This shows the drift Of things
And one Of the most serious, II not tn,
most serious problem this country has 4
face, is the present condition Of family
life-the loosenesr, the lack Of auth0ri
ty, the irreverence, and the neglect ol
religion which characterize the home
life OF the United States at the present
time! "No civilized country is taking
the risk with the family, by loose
ness of its marriage and divorce laws
40 are the United States" And we are
resping our harvest 10 lawlessness, cor
ruption and crime. And just as you dis
turb the permanence OF the family, jus,
90 much do you weaken the bond OF So
ciety. Family life cannot be neglected
without terrible disaster.
One thing, in the education Of to-day,
We are sadly neglecting-and that one
thing 10 character! do not mean, and
do not say reputation. We must dis
criminate between character aud reputa-
ton. "Character Is what you are
reputation is what people think you are
and what people think you are, Is not
always what you are. Character Is
always what you are. And II the
character Of the boys and the girls, and
the men and women of this Republic, be-
comes weakened, and shrivelled, and
poor, how long may We expect to have q
/ ouva onhlo ard vu. N m aooot Ranuhlf. ,
As the child. so will be the man. Our
great American admiral Fsrragut was
saved, when child, by the conversation
Of bis father. When the son was ten
years old, he had contracted vicious and
vititiating habits. He Was his father q
cabin boy. As wise and prudent
father, the father conversed with his son
on the evil influence of the habits which
he had contracted; and then and there,
| In his fathers cabin, and under the old
dag Of the nation, the boy made series
OF resolves which led to q noble life, aud
gave 10 America her greatest OF sdmirals.
In Rome, there are two pictures paint
ed by the same artist, and representing
the same person. One is the delinestion
OF Innocence, and the other, that OF
Guilt. The artist had seen little child
In all the beauty Of pristine purity, snd
drew Its charming features on the can
vas. Years afterward, In the streets Of
Rome, he beheld man with dishevelled
hair, and haggard countenance, and tat
tered garments-the impersonation OF
crime. That man was once that lovely,
| innocent child! And lone OF the sad
dest r. Hections is that all the criminals
In our penitentisries, all the Msgdslenes
who have gone sstrsy from the path OF
virtue, were once innocent and beautiful
children on the bosom OF maternity"
And when bring to your attention the
necessity Of purity, I bring TO you one
Of the most tremendous necessities OF
our existence As people and as q nation.
And when Jesus Christ wanted 10 im-
press the minds OF His people with the
necessity Of purity, He took little
child-a little child with 4 clean soul,
and pure heart. And who, OF aban-
doned life, their purity hopelessly de-
stroyed, but In secret, wept tears OF re-
morse and shame over the difference be-
tween what they once were and what
they are now-between the happy, To-
nocent days OF their childhood, and the
feverisb, sinful days OF their maturity!
All. many q soul can say:
"Oncc Was pure - the snow. but fell
Fell ike snowflake from Heaven 10 He'll"
And yet, in spite Of all the bitterness
and tears and shame and remorse OF
those who have lost their Innocence and
virtue and honor, there are boys and
girls, young men and young women,
playing with vice, sneering at modesty,
laughing at propriety, and ridiculing
virtue, to their present shame and eternal
dishonor!
II this Republic Is TO endure, its wealth
will not save II; Its literature will not
save Il; Its inventive genius will not
save Il; its education will not save 1t.
These things could not save other great
nations and they will not Of themselves
save us. IL the life OF the people who
constitute the Republic 10 not pure, and
wholesome and virtuous, no matter what
wealth they may have, no matter what
physical power they may have, the Re
public is doomed. Because the founda-
ton OF our very life, the rock on which
our house is to stand, Is chsrscter-and
II character Is putrid, the rock disinte-
grates-snd whenever house is built
upon the sand you know what happens
when the winds blow, and the rains
descend and beat upon that unfortunate
building? You know what happens!
The house falls.
Character always tells. II 1t is known
that q man will not lie, cheat, nor mean
ly falter, nor evade any responsibility,
but will be square and clean, and manly,
he will be a moral power!
Let US have men OF wealth; men OF
skill; men Of enterprise; men Of busi-
ness but above all, let US have men who
know how to be righteous; who esteem
righteousness who difiuse the aroma OF
righteousness; and who put the stamp
of righteousness upon all that they
touch. But you cannot have these men
and women Of righteousness unless you
commence with the boys and the girls
and teach them the necessity, the
absolute necessity, Of righteousness In
all that they say and do.
There IL no cry Of the hour so impera-
tive as for men and women Of righteous
ness. The vices Of Corinth abound still.
The canker and corruption which con-
sumed Rome-mighty Rome-threatens
the life OF our own nation. There are men
sowing to the winds-there are boys
sowing to the winds-there are young
men sowing their 'little indiscretions"
their wild oats" The harvest 1h
surely be the whirl,cind, because God has
deereed it so. There Is the bar Of con-
science; there is the law Of God to meet,
and men must not be permitted to sub
stitute their own csrnal passions and sp-
petites for the ''verdicts Of moral sense"
''Righteousness tendeth to life, but the
wages Of sin Is DEATH"
Some Of you young people are study
Ing the History Of Rome. saw you at
work the other morning. Now at one
time Rome was tremendous power.
But as time passed on, Rome became In
herently morally corrupt and vile, and
the mighty power weakened, until
eventually nothing could save her
neither her mighty Roman law, nor her
literature, her science, nor her philoso-
ply, could save her. What was the
trouble? Here was the trouble: The
old, simple, family life Of the nation had
passed away, and with 1t uprightness Of
conduct, chastity, and discipline !
People paid more attention to outward
show, to the splepdor Of the toilette, to
amusement and enjoyment, than to pro-
priety in the family, faithfulness In we'd
lock, the education Of children and vir-
tue among servants. The condition Of
home and family life reached fearful
pass. Divorces and violations OF mar
rage vows were familiar daily events.
And women counted their years not ny
Al H. hat hs, hn m. of