Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1884 — Hours of Peril. [ARTICLE]

Hours of Peril.

To a young man away from home, friendless and forlorn in a great city, the hours of peril are those between sunset and bed-time; for the moon and the stars see more evil in a single hour than the sun in his whole day’s circuit. The poet’s visions of evening are all composed of tender and soothing images. It brings the wanderer to his home, the child to his mother’s arms, the ox to his stall, and the weary laborer to his rest. But to the gentle-hearted youth who is thrown upon the rocks of the pitiless city, and stands homeless amid a thousand homes, the approach ' of evening brings with it an aching sense of loneliness and desolation, which comes down upon the spirit like darkness upon the earth. In this mood his best impulse becomes a snare to him; and he is led astray because be is social, affectionate, sympathetic, and warm-hearted. If there be a young man thus circumstanced within the sound of my voice, let me say to him that books are the friends of the friendless, and that a library is a home to the homeless. A taste for reading will always carry you to converse with men who will influence yon with their wisdom, and chann you by their wit; who will soothe you when fretted, refresh you when weary, counsel you when perplexed, and sympathize -with you at all times. Evil spirits in the middle ages were exorcised and driven away by bell, book, and candle, and you want but two of these agents, the book and the candle. —George D. Prcntu e.