o
submit them to public perusal. He has aimed at nothing eccentric,
odd, or far-fetched; but has sought to utter plain and obvious
truths, in a plain and simple manner. There is no class more
interesting, and none which has higher claims on the wisdom,
experience, and advice, of mature minds, than the young who are
about to enter upon the trying duties and responsibilities of active
life. Whatever tends to instruct and enlighten them: to point out
the temptations which will beset their pathway, and the dire evils
which inevitably flow from a life of immorality; whatever will
influence them to honesty, industry, sobriety, and religion, and
lead them to the practice of these virtues, as "Golden Steps" by
which they may ascend to Respectability, Usefulness, and Happiness,
must be of benefit to the world. To aid in such a work, is the
design of this volume. If it subserves this end--if it becomes
instrumental in inciting the youthful to high and pure principles
of action, in hedging up the way of sin, and opening the path of
wisdom, to any--if it drops but a single good seed into the heart
of each of its readers, and awakens the slightest aspiration to
morality, usefulness, and religion--it will not have been prepared
in vain. With a prayer to God that he would protect and bless the
youth of our common country, and prepare them to preserve and
perpetuate the priceless legacy of Freedom and Religion, which they
will inherit from their fathers, this book is given to the world, to
fulfil such a mission as Divine Wisdom shall direct.

THE AUTHOR.
AUBURN, June, 1850.

LECTURE I.

The Value of a Good Reputation.

"Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against
the time to come."--1 Tim. vi. 19.

In this language St. Paul asserts a principle which should commend
itself to the mature consideration of every youthful mind. If the
young would have their career honorable and prosperous--if they
would enjoy the respect and confidence of community; if they would
have the evening of their days calm, serene, and peaceful--they must
prepare for it early in life. They must lay "a good foundation
against the time to come"--a foundation which will be capable of
sustaining the edifice they would erect. The building cannot be
reared in strength and beauty, without it rests on a secure
"corner-stone." The harvest cannot be gathered unless the seed is
first cast into the ground. A wise Providence has so orde