194 DANGER IN WAYWARDNESS. 



are. You cannot do it. It is contrary to the laws of nature, which 

 are th' laws of God. But on the other hand it is easy to love an 

 acquaintance whom we learn to feel we can trust perfectly ; we know that 

 they will always do what is right in all times of trial we say that we 

 know it simply because we feel it, and we feelit simply because the 

 other party by really being so in her heart causes th feeling. This is 

 indeed one of the clearest examples of instinct .among human beings. 

 The feeling never comes and never stays unless the other party is really 

 true at heart. You see God has made it a law of our beinj that all the 

 best things the things everybody agrees on as being the most desira- 

 ble things come as a reward of virtue. 



WAYWARDNESS. 



Above Niagara there is a portion of the river where the water seems 

 as smooth as glass. On a warm summer evening one is tempted to 

 drop the oars and let the boat drift as it will. Danger would never 

 enter the mind of any unwary voyager who had had n experience of 

 the angry waters below. But any one thus drifting is likely to hear a 

 voice from the shore. 



"Boat ahoy! Aho-o-y!" 



"What is it?" 



"The rapids are below you. Pull for the shore!" And woe betide 

 the fool hardy ones who heed not the friendly call. For though the 

 water is so calm and the boat seems to lie so still it is slowly but 

 surely being sucked by the undertow toward the rapids. Once upon 

 these and his pulling is in vain. His doom is sealed. 



How very like this is the fate of the young girl, who, to gratify a 

 longing for excitement perhaps, or out of pure abandon, neglects the 

 good advice of her mother and allows herself to float upon the giddy 

 stream of error. She is not bad, would not be for the world. The 

 mere suggestion of a shameful act would cause her anger. Never 

 would she be guilty of that, "Only a little wayward," say her friends. 

 Ah; could she only see the future and catch a glimpse of the pitfalls 

 and the mire that lay a little further on along the path she is pursuing, 

 how quickly she would stop. But she is drifting toward the Niagara 

 where so many thousand every year made shipwreck of their young 

 pure lives. 



THE FIRST WRONG STEP. 



It is so like youth to say, "Oh, pshaw! I'll quit in time enough! 

 Don't you fear for me! I'm just having a little fun, but I shan't run 

 into danger. I'm all right!" etc. If it were only so. Innocent and 

 trusting youth! She knows not that the tempter will always take her 

 unawares and she will never never recognize him till it is too late. 

 Would it were otherwise. But so it has been since mother Eve dwelt 

 in the garden and will always be till the millenium. The only time 

 that you can safely stop is before you take the first step. It is easy then 

 to say no and to fall back upon your native purity and pray, ' 'God keep 

 me beautiful within." 



