Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-09-11

| creditors the store and walk out a
| bankrupt, or shall he borrow some
/ of the money of his friends estate
/ and put II into his business? IT is all
well enough for you to denounce the
misrepresentation of trust funds. But,
supposing you were in that mans place
and your creditors were knocking at
your door, what would you do? l fear
| you might do just as thousands of
| men have done in the past who have
been bound hand and foot with the
graveclothes Of debt You would be
| dishonest, as they were dishonest. The
financial temptation would fling you.
Poverty Versus Crime.
Or take another view of the same
subject. Supposing you are not
merchant, but clerk or a Iaborer.
| On account of the hard times you
! have lost your position in the store or
the mine. Surprising you have tramped
the streets day after day looking for
work and never have been able to
find 1t. And then, supposing hunger
| is beginning to gnaw at your vitals
and the bitter cold to send its chills
| playing hare and hounds" I'D and
down your back, what would you do?
| You may have learned what cold and
hunger are when some time you were
out hunting or tramping through the
woods and you were lost You re-
member how you tramped on and on
until you became faint from lack of
| food, and perhaps your lips became
swollen for water to drink, but
there was no water, no food. no
house in sight. How, then, did YOU
look at life? Does a hungry man. a
cold man, have the same chance for
virtue and honesty and purity as a
well fed man and a warm man? Oh.
my friends, If you and 1 ever find a
time when we can relieve some of
these financial distresses 1 believe we
will take away a large per cent of
the crimes and the dishonesties of the
world. Indeed, know what I say is
true. Most men are not dishonest for
! mere pleasure, but only when they
have become brutalized by hunger and
bodily wants and financial necessities.
The majority Of men are honest at
heart
This truth was forced upon me some
months ago in a powerful way. | met
one of the boys Of one of the old farm
ers of my Bushhill church, where I
preached for two summers as a theo-
logical student, thirteen miles from q
railroad. From being a farmers son
he had worked his way through college
and was travelling through the country
in camping wagon lecturing at the
little towns and schoolhouses upon the
Anthracite Coal Beds Of Pennsyl-
vania." AS a lecturer that man had
been everywhere. On the deserts. in
the mountains, at mining camps and
in railroad towns he had spoken He
had camped alone In ravines and by
! Mexican dugouts and by Indian vii
| lagos. Were you never afraid of be-
ing attacked and robbed p asked him.
Never" said he. Il started out years
ago believing that most people were
honest and that if you trust them they
would not betray you. I have been
| among the cowboys and had Indians
ride up to me upon the desert miles
away from any human being and l
have never been molested. Further
more, l have never carried a firearm,
either gun or pistol. l never locked
up my things. But I'd So away from
my wagon for days at a time, and
when L came back l always found my
goods just where l left them. If you
believe people are honest and trust
them they will not betray you" So
say I. From a rather varied expert
ence feel sure that most people want
to do right. If men do cheat, forge
and steal inevitably you will find that
they were first led astray because hun
ger or cold or financial exigency Of
some sort drove them to crime. God
inspire us to help those who are with
out work to get work, and those who
are without food and clothing to get
food and clothing, and those who are in
financial difficulties to weather their
Few months Of financial storm. Help
that man financially. Do you not hear
the words of my text, loose him and
let him go|' God will save that man
IN financial distress if you disciples will
do your part.
we HuSC save men morally as well
as help them intellectually and f1nan-
clally. | apply that word morally" to
all that is most vile and corrupt in
| human nature. l do not, however. an
/ ply it in the sense that YOU and I
| should go into the city slums and lift
up the social outcasts, although their
rescue should and must be done bv the
proper Christian workers. But 7 do
apply it in the meaning that we shouId
reach out helping hand and keen
men and women and young boys and
girls from slipping over the precipices
of moral ruin. In ninety-nine cases
out Of hundred this can be done If
we only place around the young folks
| the right kind of Christian associa. !
| tons.
| The Lesson of Heredftx.
There are many influences which de-