e price for an article;
and to ask the meanest shopkeeper to lower his price, is to _insult_
him. Would this were the only point, in which the Christian community
are destined yet to learn even from Mohammedans.

To ask one price and take another, or to offer one price and give
another, besides being a loss of time, is highly dishonorable to the
parties. It is, in fact, a species of lying; and it answers no one
advantageous purpose, either to the buyer or seller. I hope that every
young man will start in life with a resolution never to be _hard in his
dealings_.

'It is an evil which will correct itself;' say those who wish to avail
themselves of its present advantages a little longer. But when and
where did a general evil correct itself? When or where was an erroneous
practice permanently removed, except by a change of public sentiment?
And what has ever produced a change in the public sentiment but the
determination of individuals, or their combined action?

While on this topic, I will hazard the assertion--even at the risk of
its being thought misplaced--that great effects are yet to be produced
on public opinion, in this country, by associations of spirited and
intelligent young men. I am not now speaking of associations for
political purposes, though I am not sure that even these _might_ not be
usefully conducted; but of associations for mutual improvement, and for
the correction and elevation of the public morals. The "Boston Young
Men's Society," afford a specimen of what may be done in this way; and
numerous associations of the kind have sprung up and are springing up
in various parts of the country. Judiciously managed, they must
inevitably do great good;--though it should not be forgotten that they
_may_ also be productive of immense evil.

CHAPTER III.

On Amusements and Indulgences.

SECTION I. _On Gaming._

Even Voltaire asserts that 'every gambler is, has been, or will be a
robber.' Few practices are more ancient, few more general, and few, if
any, more pernicious than gaming. An English writer has ingeniously
suggested that the Devil himself might have been the first player, and
that he contrived the plan of introducing games among men, to afford
them temporary amusement, and divert their attention from themselves.
'What numberless disciples,' he adds, 'of his sable majesty, might we
not count in our own metropolis!'

Whether his satanic majesty has any very direct agency in this matter