Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-04-01

and by the same temptation, to make
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 $780, 600 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, Il am sorry that the
innocent should suffer" Yes, am, too
sorry for the widows and orphans
who lost their all by that defalcation.
| am sorry also for the business men,
the honest business men, who have bad
their affairs all crippled by that defal-
cation. am sorry for the venerable
bank president TO whom the credit OF
that bank was matter Of pride. Yes,
| am sorry also for that man who
brought all the distress, sorry that be
sacrificed body, mind, soul, reputation.
heaven, and went into the blackness OF
darkness forever.
You defantly say, ~ could not be
tempted in that way" Perhaps you
may be tested after awhile God has
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
invectiye 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 a 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 oyerthrown by
temptation and was SO uproarious in his
demonstrations Of indignation at the
defalcation 10 years agol Let us seel'
1t Shall Be Measured.
God let's the man 60 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 hoa-
est and be pauperized and have your
children brought home from school,
your family dethroned in social intu-
ence. 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
little risk, and then you have ali your
finances fair and right. You will have
a large property. You can leave a fer
tune for your children and endow col
lege and build public library in your
native town. You halt and wait aud
halt and wait until your lips get white.
You decide to risk it, only a few
strokes of the pen now. But, oh, how
your hand trembles bow dreadfully IL
trembles The die is cast BY the
strangest and most awful conjunction
of circumstances any one could have
imagined you are prostrated. Bank.
ruptcy, commercial annihilation, 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, it occurs to you how
much this story is like that Of the defal-
cation 10 years ago, and clap OF thun-
der shakes the window sill, saying,
with what measure ye mete it shall
be measured to you again y
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 nybody should be capsized in tenn
per by an infnitesimal annoyance. You
say, Il couldn't be unbalanced in that
way" Perhaps you smile at proyoca-
( ton that makes another man swear.
You pride yourself on your imperturb-
ability. You say with your manner,
though you have too much good taste to
say it with your words; Il have a
great deal more sense than that man
has. | have a great deal more equipoise
of temper than that man has never
could make such puerile exhibition Of
myself as that man has made.
Let me see. Did you not say that you
could not be tempted to an ebullition
Of temper? Some September you come
home from your summer watering place
and you have inside, away back in your
liver or spleen, what we call in our day
malaria, but what the old folks called
chills and fever. You take quinine un-
til your ears are first buzzing beehiyes
and then roaring Niagaras. You take
roots and herbs; you take everything
You get well. But the next day you
feel uncomfortable, and you yawn, and
you stretch, and you shiver, and you
consume and you suffer. Nexed more
than you can tell, you cannot sleep, You
| cannot eat, you cannot Dear 70 se' any
thing that looks happy you 20 out TO
kick the cat that is asleep in the sun.
Your children's mirtb was once music
to you; now it is desfening You say,
"Boys, stop that racket You turn
back from June to March. In the family
and in the neighborhood your populari-
ty is 80 per cent of. The world says;
"What is the matter with that disa-
greeable manl What a woebegone coun-
tenancel can't bear the sight Of him. "
You have got your pay at last-got your
pay. You feel just as the man felt, that
man for whom you had no mercy, and
my text comes in with marvellous ap'
positeness, with what measure ye
mete it shall be measured TO you again. "
Victims Of Circumstance.
In the study Of society I have come 70
this conclusion-that the most Of the
people want to be good, but they do not
exactly know how to make it out. They
make enough good resolutions TO lift
them into angelhood. The vast majority
Of people who fall are the victims oi