must have amusement. It is as necessary to him
as daily food. What wonder, then, if he accepts the first that offers?
And if Satan, as usual, is beforehand with his invitations, what shall
hinder him from following Satan? The saloon, warmed and lighted, and
enlivened with music or merry talk, is more attractive than the dingy,
solitary room; and if his feet do slip now and then, who is the worse
for it? He will never write it home, and there is nobody in the city who
will discover it; provided he is prompt at his business, no one will
meddle with his leisure hours. And if full-grown men are found to need
the restraining influences of wife and child and neighbor, and to plunge
into brutality whenever they form a community by themselves, what can
prevent boys, when cast adrift, from drifting into sin? Genius is
supreme, but genius is the heritage of but few; while passion and
appetite, love of society and amusement, need of watchfulness and
susceptibility to temptation, belong to all. "I don't like wine," said a
young man,--"I hate the taste of it; but what am I to do? A lot of
fellows carousing isn't the best thing in the world; but I can't stay
moping in my room alone all the time. There's my violin. Well, I took it
out once or twice, but it was no go. When I could go into the parlor
after supper, and mother round, and Bess to sing, it was worth while;
but there is no fun in fiddling to yourself by wholesale. Besides, I
suppose it bores the rest to have a fellow sawing away." And this was a
fine, handsome, healthy young man, all ready to be made a warm friend, a
patriotic citizen, a pure and happy man, and just as ready to become a
reckless, dissipated, sorrow-bringing failure. And, alas! where were the
hands that should have helped him? Alas! alas! what are the hands that
will _not_ be backward to lay hold on him?

If any holiday is to be made useful, if young men are to be saved from
ruin, saved to their mothers and sisters and wives, saved to themselves,
to their country, and to God, Christian people must bestir themselves.
Young Men's Christian Associations may be ever so efficient, but they
cannot do everything. The work that is to be done cannot be wrought by
associations alone, nor by young men, nor by any men. It needs fathers
and mothers and sons and daughters and firesides. The only way to keep
boys from the haunts of vice is to open to them the haunts of virtue.
Give them access to loving families, to happy h