TIIE FOLLY OF CRIME. ^ 225 



his sleep. He wastes away, and may be dies, while 

 the thing he's lookin' after, is yet a great ways be 

 yond him. 



" But it ain't the man that searches after knowl 

 edge, that quarrels most with nater, and sets her up 

 against him. I've seen young men, drinkin' and 

 carousin', playin' cards, apd swearin' and helping each 

 other along in the ways of wickedness, in their young 

 days, and I always said to myself, that if they'd just 

 use the reason that God had given them, and look 

 along down the trail of life, they'd see the great 

 harvest of sorrow, that would surely spring up fi ^m 

 the seed they were so win', in the spring-time of their 

 lives. Such courses lead to great sins, and are pretty- 

 sure to encT in an old age of repentance. When stiff- 

 ness comes to the joints, and gray hairs gather upon 

 the head, like the snows of winter on the mountains, 

 it will be a sad thing to look back, and see only deso- 

 lation behind them, while around them there is no 

 comfort, and before them no hope. I've seen a great 

 many men destroyin' themselves with strong drink, 

 killin' their bodies, and their minds, and destroyin' all 

 their human feelins', by indulgin' in the use of drinks 



that are onnateral, that take a great deal of work to 



10* 



