The Laclede blade., 1906-01-27
Some Evening Rsveriss.


old maxim that Honesty is the best
policy" No other year has seen the
downfall of so many men holding
high position in society, in financial
circles and even in the church. Men
who lived in palaces and were next to
worshipped by their fellow men at the
dawn of 1905, were behind prison
bars when the old year bade US fare
well. The heads of many of our great
insurance companies and banking
houses have, in their desire to "get
rich quick" stepped aside from the
path of honesty, with the result that
never fails to follow such a course,
and the new year finds them disgraced
and dishonored. Among the most
striking examples in this class is that
of Prof. N. G. Dougherty, superinten-
dent of schools in the beautiful city
of Peoria, Illinois, a position he held
for 27 years. Not only in the schools
to which he was attached were his
services as an educator in demand,
but high schools, Y. M. G. A., con-
ventions, college and teachers associ-
ations felt extremely honored when
they could induce Prof. Dougherty to
speak before them upon educational
matters, and one of his strong points
was in trying to impress upon the
minds of young men the necessity of
honesty and uprightness.
But all that is ended now; Prof.
Doueherty's days as an educator, in
what we may call positive manner,
are ended; his silvery voice will no
longer urge young men and women to
live up to the highest ideals of right
and duty. But Dougherty's career as
an educator is not yet over, though
his teachings now will be negative
rather than positive-by example
rather than precept. The lesson he is
now giving should sink deep into the
hearts and memories Of all young men,
as it is of tremendous significance to
all, for it demonstrates the terrible ef-
fects of disobeying the mandates of
honesty and straying from the paths
of uprightness.
The spectacle is a sad one, to be
spatcDed in moment, as it were,
from the high place he held in the
and esteem of his fellow
men, honored by positions that gave
him place among the highest and
best, palatial home with every COM
fort, loving family circle where all
was love and happiness, host of ad-
miring friends, respected and loved
by everybody, the idol Of hundreds of
teachers and thousands of pupils, all
are gone-he has exchanged them for
The four walls of a prison cell and in
1 little while he will lose even his
name and will be known simply by
number. Even the dollars for which
le sacrificed so much-they, too, are
zone: everything Is swept clean, and
he wife of his bosom will have to
cave her comfortable home and 90
'ut into the world worse than widow
d, to all intents and purposes a pau |
'er; and the friends who have loved 6
lin and upheld him must all suffer, J
lot from anything criminal they haye J
lone, but from the confidence and 6
riendly feeling they have for him, 1
nd several of those who were his clos G
st friends may be stripped of reputa- g
ion and fortune simply because they
7ere too confident of his integrity. S
Young men, the career of Prof. e
furnishes a frightful ex- g
mple of the necessity of keeping in d
be narrow path of honesty. 1t is b
angerous to turn to the right or left; /
eware of the first step outside; it is b
he crucial test; without taking the il