190 INFLUENCE OF AN ELDER SISTER. 
restraint of a Christian family, and has ever been 
surrounded by religious influence. He leaves all 
this, and finds himself almost overcome by the 
many temptations which press upon him. His 
youthful impressions remain unaffected for some 
time, and he stands firm, resolutely resisting all at- 
tempts to lead him astray. The usual cares de- 
volving upon the head of a family must necessarily 
prevent his parents from writing often to him ; and 
as, like all others of the human race, he needs " line 
upon line and precept upon precept," the young 
man is in great danger of yielding to sin. Now, 
let the letter of a refined, intelligent, beloved sister 
come to him weekly, full of the little details, 
which, though trifling in themselves, are neverthe- 
less calculated to keep alive in his breast a strong 
interest in the family circle, and he is probably 
saved from the gulf of a ruin into which too 
many plunge. 
During a long life, it has been my lot to reside 
many years near one of our principal colleges, and 
often have I been struck with admiration at the 
gentle, but all-constraining, influence of a sister's 
love on those who, from natural levity of spirit, 
or from habits of dissipation, seemed perfectly 
reckless. On one occasion a rebellion seemed just 
ready to break out among the students. One of 
them, a wild youth, was besought by an intimate 
elderly friend not to commit himself in any way 
with the disaffected party, but, as he saw the cloud 
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