monished to turn from the company of the vicious, and seek the
society of those of good habits and upright character. Despite
the counsel of parents and friends, he would associate with
companions of corrupt habits--with the profane, the drinking,
the Sabbath-breaking--those whose chief delight was to visit
oyster-cellars and grog-shops--whose highest ambition was to excel
in cards, and dice, and sleight-of-hand tricks--and who sought for
no better employment than to range the streets and alleys, to engage
in midnight adventures and Bacchanalian revelries. Mingling with
such as his associates, and falling unavoidably into their habits,
he is now reaping the _bitter_--BITTER fruits of his folly. His time
misspent--character destroyed--health ruined--every source of
happiness obliterated--his life wasted and literally thrown
away--his days, a _blank_--ah! worse than that--filled with the
terrific visions, the horrid dreams, the flames of the unquenchable
fire, which float and burn in the veins of the confirmed inebriate!

Young men! Do you shudder at the condition of this wretched youth,
whose form yet flits like a shadow through our streets? Would you
avoid his fate? Do you start back in affright at the mere thought of
becoming the poor, cast-off wreck of humanity that he is? Then avoid
the rock on which he foundered his bark. Shun, as you would a nest
of vipers, the company of the reckless and profligate. Avoid all
association, all companionship, all intimacy, with those whose
habits deviate from the high rules of rectitude, purity, and virtue.

Allow me to paint you a picture of an opposite character, drawn also
from real life. I have another young man in my mind's eye, who
originated in our own county. He had but few of the advantages of
him whose melancholy career I have painted. He was the son of
parents who possessed but little means, and who could afford him no
assistance after the days of childhood. He was early placed to the
hard labor of a mechanic. But he did not sink into lewdness and
vice, under the pressure of his adverse circumstances. He would not
spend his leisure hours at public resorts, in the midst of the
profligate and reckless. Each moment of respite from labor, he
applied himself to study and the improvement of his mind. With great
wisdom he avoided the company of idle, profane and vicious youth;
and would associate with none but the discreet, the intelligent and
virtuous. He was determined to RI