Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-03-28

| glad he's found out at last;o hundreds
of other men say, "Just as told you;"
| hundreds of other men say, We could
not possibly have been tempted to do
that; no conjunction of circumstances
could ever have overthrown me- and
there is a superabundance of indigna-
ton, but no pity; the heavens full of
lightning, but not one drop Of dew. IF
| God treated rs as society treats that
man, we would all have been in hell
long ago.
| Condemn Not Hastily.
Wait for the alternating circum-
stances. 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 commercial estab
! lishment where there was a wrong sys-
/ TEN of ethics taught; find out whether
! that man has not an extravaganza wife
who is not satisfied with his honest
earnings, and in the temptation to
please her he has gone into that ruin
! into which enough men have fallen,
and by the same emptatiOH, to make q
! procession Of many miles. Perhaps some
sudden sickness may have touched his
brain, and his judgment may be unbal-
anced. He is wrong, he is awfully
wrong, and he must be condemned, but
there may be mitigating circumstances
Perhaps under the same temptation you
might have fallen. The reason some
men do not steal 5000, 900 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, 81 am sorry that the
| innocent should suffer-. YeSI am, too
sorry for the widows and orphans
! who lost their all by that defalcation.
I am sorry also for the business men,
the honest business men, who have had
their affairs all crippled by that defal-
cation. [ am sorry for the venerable
bank president to whom the credit Of
that bank was a matter of pride. Yes,
/ 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
darkness forever.
You defantly say, st could not be
tempted in that way" Perhaps you
may be tested after awhile. God has a
very good memory, and he sometimes
seems to say: "This man feels SO strong
in his innate power and goodness he
shall be tested. He is SO full Of bitter
invective against that unfortunate 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 crisis that you never
could have anticipated. 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 Is years ago! Let us seer'
1t Shall Be Measured.
God let's the man go. God, who had
kept that man under his protecting
care, let's the man go and try for him
self the majesty of his integrity. God
letting the man go, the powers of dark
cess pounce upon him. l see you some
DAY in your office in great excitement.
One of two things you can do. Be hon
sst and be pauperized and have your
children brought home from school,
pour family dethroned in social inf1u-
ance. The other thing is, you can step
a little aside from that which is right,
you can only just go half an inch out of
the proper path, you can only take a
little risk, and then you have all your
finances fair and right. You will have
large property. You can leave for
tune for your children and endow a col
lege and build public library in your
native town. You halt and wait and
ho1 nd until
You decide to risk it. Only a few
strokes of the pen now. But, oh, how
your hand trembles, how dreadfulIy it
trembIesl The die is cast. By the
strangest and most awful conjunction
of circumstances any one could have
imagined you are Frustrated. Bank
ruptcy, commercial humiliation, expo
sure, crime. Good men mourn and devils
hold carnival, and you see your own
name at the head of the newspaper col
umn in whole congress of exclamation
points, and while you are reading the
anathema in the reportorial and edi-
torial paragraph, 1T occurs to you how
much this story is like that of the defal-
cation 15 years ago, and clap of thun-
der shakes the window sill, saving,
"With what measure ye mete it shall
be measured to you agaln!
Flesh Is Weak.
You look in another direction. There
is nothing like ebullitions of temper to
put man to disadvantage. You, man
with calm pulses and a fine digestion
and perfect health, cannot understand
how any body should be capsized in tenn
per by an infnitesimal annoyance. You
ct cOu I0n II he nnha lanop6 in, hot
way" Perhaps you smile at provoca-
ton that makes another man swear.
You pride yourself on your imperturb-