They
are enterprising, ambitious. They are anxious to go fast, and take as much
cargo as they can. Old-fashioned principles are regarded as dead weight. It
does not pay to heed them, and they thrown overboard. Good home habits are
abandoned in order to be popular with the gay and worldly. The Bible is not
read, the Sabbath is not kept holy, prayer is neglected, and lo! some day,
when all the sails are spread, a sudden temptation comes that wrecks the
character and life.
We cannot urge too strongly upon the young, in these days of intense
activity, the vital importance of ballast. A conscience seems to be an
encumbrance--an obstacle to prosperity. But it is a safe thing to have on
board. It steadies the soul. It keeps it from careening when the winds
drive it into the trough of the sea. If the "Escambia" had taken less wheat
and more ballast, it might be afloat today. And this is true of many a man
now in prison or in the gutter. The haste to be rich, the impatience of
restraint, alas! how their wrecks lie just outside the world's golden
gates.--_Selected_.
Reflex Influence
The artist Hoffmann, it is said, became
In features like the features that he strove
To paint,--those of his Lord.
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