Year: 1860

The Philadelphia Ledger, of late date
srys: r' fi-ot -it rs -.


Common sense dictates. that in whatever
men undertake, they ought first carefully TO
count the cost. The strand of life is strewn
thick with the wrecks of thousands, who, il
they had but counted the cost, might have
reached prosperous haven in safety.


Isa young man about to choose profess
ion2 Let him examine his capabilities thor
oughly, so as to ascertain exactly what he
can do and what he can not, before he COM
mits himself irrevocably to any particular
pursuit. Many person has been kept strug-
Cling his whole life through simply because
he chose trade, business or profession un-
suited 10 him. Everybody has a natural
qualification for some one thing. This man
is born mechanic, that born orator, this a
merchant that farmer, this an engineer
that sailor, this physician, that an author,
Besides all this there are some pursuits
which require capital, as manufacturing,
shippingand importing; and to embark in
these, without adequate means, is to invite
insolvency. Or, to euter on an intellectual
career without sufficient brains or study, is
to insure failure. In a word, in all condi-
tions and phases of life, wise men, before
they make ventures, rigidly count the
COST tH


So in the various relations Of social life,





we friends2 Before we ALLEVIATE them by
our disregard of their feelings, it would be
prudent to calculate the cost. 1t is easy 10
be unjust to father, mother, a brother, a
sister, q wife, or even child, but it is less
easy to recover the love we have outraged,
or still the voice of remorse, especially if the
grave has since closed over them. Even the
conventionalisms of life, trifing as they are
in one point of view, can not be set at de-
xuit INN Wi mo
who has counted the cost, never violates
them unless duty imperatively requires
| it. To win the esteem of our fellows
is the surest road to self-respect, to happi-
ness, and, in the long run, even to honor;
while to practice rudeness, meanness, hard
heartedness and other selfish vices, is to
create disgust toward us first, and finally
hatred or contempt.


Before beginning career of extravagance
sensual indulgence, vice or crime, it would
| be well to count the cost. To buy fine fur
| niture, sport fast horses or give elegant en-
| tertainments, is all very pleasant; but when
it leads to ruin, as it so often does, the victim
bitterly regrets that he had not counted the
cost. To give ourself up to the sway Of the
appetites is to brutalize our natures, and moi
only this but to SOW harvest of pain and
sickness for old age, if not to cut short our
lives; and when death comes prematurely,
or we writhe on a bed of agony, be sure we
will lament that we had not counted the
cost. Vice often cones in an alluring garb,
but the adder is c0:led under her Paphian
garments and if we yield to her seductions
the day will come when we will wish that
we had counted the cost If, by unbridled
passion, or, worse still, of deliberate calcu
lation, we rush into crime, there will tint
of retribution come when we will cry aloud
but no one will hear, and when our burden
will be "Oh had but counted the cost n
Count the cost, count the cost, now while il
is time -.