Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1869 — AT LAST. [ARTICLE]

AT LAST.

A STORY FOB BOYS. Mrs. Stowe in the Hearth and Home concludes her “ Four Scenes itt the Lite of n Country Boy,” who went to the city, with the following scene and moral : At last! at last I There arc precipices at the end of the rapids, in such courses as ” our boy ” has been running, more dreadful than Niagara. Better, far better the short agony of that wild race down the roaring rapids, and that one dizzy plunge, that finishes all, than those worse plunges that destroy all that a young man has to hope for in life, yet leave him living. There are dreadful hours when men live only because they cannot die. What weeks of bewildering wretchedness this poor fellow has been through wi l h since we saw his haggard, eager face at the gaming table! Since then he has been desperately striving to regain his foothold, but striving, alas! in that false, treacherous Way that the devil opens to those he would betray. He is hopelessly involved, and the tempting whisper is ever at his ear : “ Win, and pay back!" One fortunate throw may redeem all. lie hears among the lobby members of the gambling house of those who have won dazzling piles of money after hard runs of jll-luck. He is a teller in a bank, and tempting opportunities offer every day to take the money that will give him one more chance. Not to steal— no indeed—but to borrow. Bid the devil ever ask a well-brought-up youth to steal! Not he ! Simply to borrow enough to turn his luck with, and he will put it all back before the time for settling accounts. Borrowing of the bank, he calls it; and he curses with hard words the false friends that will not help him. Nobody cares for him, he thinks, and he must care for himself; and so, from time to time, he keeps on borrowing, lie could not stand this kind of life were it not for his daily drinks of brandy. That makes things look brighter and more hopcftil, and dulls his senses to the roar of the coming cataract. —But the time of settlement of bank accounts is coming, and still his luck does not turn Pray to God?—he dare not; and the devil only laughs at his cries, lie thinks of the agony of detection, of the shame and disgrace impending. What shall he do ? The whisper comes: “ Forye a cheque." Why not ? He can imitate writing cleverly, was alwaysa skillful penman. He will do iL He does it; and here, to-day the artist shows him standing, pule, agonized, detected, before the board, who are met to examine the accounts of the bank. There stands the same boy that left his country homo, so well-meaning, so beloved, and so happy. Behind him stands the de tective and the handcuffs, at the door the prison van, while the President of the board holds tipjUie forged cheque. Where are the respectable friends who first helped hikh to wear off his country greenness at select little suppers ? They were perfectly shocked at such revelations of depravity. Who would have thought of his turning out such a scamp ? “Whitt a mess he has made of it! The fellow was a fool—a weak-headed fool I” •• Yes, he was weak-headed and-weak-hearted, and he tried to walk where Ihe strongest heads often turn; and you beguiled him to walk there. You laughed before him at the idea of total abstinence. You boasted before him of your manly powers of touching and tasting everything and never getting upset. You untied his boat, and helped him puddle into the rapids, and then stood safe on tho shore to see him go down. You never did anything to hurt yourself 1 No, and you never will. But how many will be lost by being lieguiled to do what you cando safely, and they cannot do at all! Come now, boys, let us settle 6no or two things as absolute certainties when you start in life ; He who never drinks, never will be drunk. That’s so—isn’t it? He who sometimes drinks, may be. He who never goes into a gambling saloon never will gamble, and he who never gambles never loses; but He who goes to observe and he who gambles will surely lose. In all these things is it not best not to beyin ; and would not our country boy have done better to have started with a firm positive No I instead of the treacherous “ We’ll set?” He h<u seen, and seen a great deal too much ; and, in nine cases out of ten, that sort of seeing ends jn this way. Be.warc of innocent beginnings in wrong ways, and remember the old text we started with: “ There is a way tliat seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof arc the ways of death." .