| OCR Text |
Show Wanted, a Helping Hand. . IN . THE CITIES and towns of the west we are met with a social condition con-dition which does not obtain to the same extent in the more settled and thoroughly organized communities of the east or of the Old World. Large numbers of young men and even boys, full of energy and ambition, take Horace Hor-ace Greeley's advice and cut themselves them-selves off from the influences of home life and the pleasant and safe companionships com-panionships of friends and relatives to push their fortunes. They are the flower of the young manhood of this land, and they are the ones who have' made and are making the West the most virile and progressive part of the world. To these young men temptation comes in the most dangerous and insidious forms the evil one can devise. Most of them have no social connections of a desirable sort in the places where they settle, and are forced to make acquaintances in a haphazard fashion. fash-ion. Man is a gregarious animal, and the instinct to go where one is welcome is too strong to be successfully reasoned rea-soned away. Most youths, brought up amid safe and pure surroundings, would still prefer such, but have they the opportunities to enjoy them when they come as strangers Into the larger towns and cities of the west? There must be something lacking in our boasted western hospitality when so many youthful strangers are permitted per-mitted to go down to destruction with no helping hand stretched out to save. Solomon devoted much of his wisdom to warning young men against the dangers dan-gers of evil companions. "Young man, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not," he said, and then proceeded to warn him against almost every form of vice and sin of which man has ever conceived. The Book of Proverbs is very complete in that respect, arl when a man has ead it he knows all that can be said upon the subject. This book -also shows how little the world has changed in the 3,000 years since it was written. But how is it with the young man whom none invites, but those he should C5oid? Solomon tells him what to lo, the church tells him what to do; but nature, through that gregarious instinct, in-stinct, seems to league herself with the devil to accomplish his undoing. The emissaries of. Satan never hesitate to invite him. The gambler, the liquor dealer, the pool room keeper, .welcome him effusively. Perhaps he meets in a business way men who could help him, and who have sufficient natural social instinct to wish to entertain him. Convention Con-vention steps in, and such a one contents himself with taking the young man to a saloon and offering him a drink or a cigar. He easily picks up plenty of male acquaintances more or less desirable, but that is too often the limit of the social circle to which he can readily gain access. But the young man has been accustomed accus-tomed to and has enjoyed in his former for-mer home the pleasant companionship of those of his own age, but of the opposite sex. He prefers the good to the bad, but his male friends do not help him much. Instinct, the law of nature, which keeps alive the race of men, finally proves stronger than the warnings of Solomon and the commands com-mands of the church of God. The chance acquaintance of the street or the dance hall Is his. "The' lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb and her mouth is smoother than oil," said Soloman. And she has not j changed with the flight of the ages. The young man does not choose, because be-cause he has no choice. Good appearance, appear-ance, refined manners, education, piety even, open no other doors to him unless he brings letters of introduction and otherwise complies with the artificial rules of society gone mad over matters mat-ters of form. Years pass by. The young man has been successful in business, has plenty of money, has influence in political circles. cir-cles. Then society wishes to take him up. Most are willing to swallow anything any-thing if wealth is behind it. Money talks. But some of the best hesitate to invite this prosperous man to their homes. He is fast, they say. He has formed undesirable connections. He was not "fast" when he arrived A little encouragement, a little relief from his former loneliness, would have saved him. But he has .become corrupt, cor-rupt, and through him the corruption of the gutter rises and poisons the whole social system of which he at last becomes a part. Whose fault is it? Assuredly his in part; but have those who, without a thought or care, let him drift, no responsibility? re-sponsibility? Selfishness and lack of true hospitality have much to answer for. |
