r and habits
proved to be bad. When once young women get a taint on their
reputation in this way, or in any other manner, it is exceedingly
difficult to wipe it out.

The ruin of multitudes of young men can be traced to the same
origin--a bad selection of associates. I have in my mind's eye now,
a case in point. A young man, born in this city, and known to most
of you, was naturally endowed with the rarest abilities and the
finest talents. He belonged to one of the most wealthy and
respectable families. He had every advantage for cultivation, and
for the highest and most thorough education. Had he been thoughtful
and wise to have improved his opportunities, the way was open for
him to the highest advancement. He might have been blessed with
respectability, wealth, and honors. He could have risen to the most
dignified positions in life. His voice might have been heard in
strains of persuasive eloquence, from the sacred pulpit, or in the
halls of justice, or in the senate chamber of our state or national
councils. He might have occupied a seat on the bench of the highest
courts, or have aspired to the executive chair of the nation. But
where is he now, and what are his circumstances and his position in
the world? See issuing from the door of yonder filthy groggery; a
wretched specimen of humanity--the distorted caricature of a man!
His garments are thread-bare and patched--his eyes are inflamed,
sunken and watery--his countenance bloated and livid--his limbs
swelled and tottering. Although but in the morning of his manhood,
yet the lines of premature old age and decrepitude are deeply carved
upon his pale, dejected face; and in his whole aspect, there is that
forlorn, broken-spirited, anguished look of despair, which shows he
himself feels that he has sunken, beyond earthly redemption, into
the awful pit of the confirmed drunkard! This is the young man whose
early opportunities were so favorable, and whose prospects were so
bright and flattering. He has become a curse to himself, he has
brought disgrace and wretchedness on his connections, and is an
outcast and vagabond, with whom no young man who now hears me would
associate for a single hour!

What has brought him to this pitiable condition--this state of utter
wretchedness? It was a want of forethought. He totally neglected the
considerations I have endeavored to impress upon the young. He was
careless and indifferent in regard to his associates. He would not
be ad