Milford chronicle., 1905-07-14

You have no right to uselessly risl
your life. Go below at once. You are
doing no good here whatever" What
General William T. Sherman said to
that chaplain I say to you with your
children depending upon you, with
your store depending upon you, with
your church. in one sense, depending
upon you. You have no right to run
any useless physical risks.
Foolish Risks.
! But, though this truth should be axi-
omatic, on every hand we find men
trying to prove to the world that they
are brave merely because they are fool
ishly reckless Some time ago stood
in Yosemite park looking upon the
great Half Dome, rising nearly 5000
feet from the valley below. There is a /
trail running up to within three or four /
hundred feet Of the summit. Then the
rock ascends almost perpendicularly to
the top. As l stood looking at that
height a gentleman told me that in
1870 a Scotchman made up his mind
he would ascend to the top Of the Half
Dome To ascend it would do no one
any good. 1t would only endanger his
own life. But ascend it he would. So
he went and got a lot of iron pegs. He
would drill one hole into the side of the
Half Dome and then stick a peg into
the hole. Then he would crawl up and
stand upon that peg and drill another
lole and shove in another peg until at
asst, after days Of weary work he
tood upon that which is high" "Oh." y
said to myself, how like the foolish "
ctions of that man are some of our q
ctionsl We risk our physical lives for u u
othlng. Down at the seashore we 1
vim away out beyond the life lines 70 g
lake people think we are brave. We go ..
shing in cranky boats. We climb q
lngerous heights. We ride fractions ="
'rses. We run needless risks to benefit Z"
one aAvoid that which is high 70
wise, and shun foolish and reckless ca
ysical dangers. Lovingly cautious ue
ould we be in reference to our phys 70
Il life. do
-ovingly cautious, also, should we is
IN reference to our good names. II /
gilt frame which holds the artistic heI
stepiece is valuable how much yOl
re precious must Rosa Bonheur's to
orse Fair" be than the wood which any
DIS the canvas of the great French nes
mai painter? If the setting Of n you
'el is valuable. how much more val kne
lie must be the PITT diamond " wit
ch flashed from the golden hilt OF acc
court sword which Napoleon I eros
e on the day Of his coronation? If jest
lans physical life is valuable how new
n more valuable is his good name. way
means Of which that physical life som
be made of some practical good to boas
Fellow men as well as to himself? enOu
yet just think how quickly some assO
ready TO risk their good names az fersC
as their physical existenceE lette
Danger of Bad Associations. thint
the first place, for a mere social Dook
they are ready to risk 1t TN
good names by evil associations. year.
and women are always judged by KIM
associates they have. You know one
fact as well as know n w., sente
1t get around that statement. The statel
day the name of young lady one
was very anxious to have Join DOCKS
hurch came up. Again and again Ihey
'e said: "Is it not too bad that snoul
So-and-so does not join our 70 Fu
b and become a good Christian Iaith
er2 She seems to be such a nice Dy as
A church officer of mine said: sneerl
I do not know whether sB,. I. a, have
girl or no, but one thing I do. A'irne
she associates with men about Let
own who are everywhere noted old sa
leir immOrallties and indecenl have !
men whom l would not allow to- AnthO
lte with my wife or daughters. wealth
iOes not speak very well Of her away
an character" What could z say2 garb
d answer nothing. Good men cell II
OOd women, as a rule. dbo mot Christ
Of bad men and bad him v
!. And yet today that is. lust his tai
iome Of us are doing for social and vi
nent. Like the ScOtchman who drink {
his physical life by climbing. the Anthol
rocks Of the Half Dome or and pr
lat reckless climber who. the to resi-
lay lost his life when crawling Then
the edge Of Ell CaFEtani in Old bodies
te, some Of us are BisRing our tons, y
ames by assOciatlng with evil Come
lions and people Of unsavogv gued "
ion with whom we are. seen on istenee
'et and in social gatherings. yield t
the narrow lodges of social 0ny Of
on which many men and wonl- swOOne
SHY risk their good names are came a
rly as many or as narrow OF as him aw
the dizzy and dangerous ledges thOny
which some men are ready to Take I
ir good names In order to win cell
Of gold. Where there. IS one and left
1o is ready to risk his good saw the
II social success there are ten. cried o
fifty - aye, a hundred - men fiendl ]
ready to risk their good names here I
neial success. And those men theei ]
en- ready to risk their good spit on
when these names are their combat
'ital in life. though
" friends. never allow your teaching
me to be linked to a shady
enterprise. Never tribe with The ri
Cd name by walking along a he win