5.  Man is A careless being.—­He is very much inclined to sinful things.  He more often does that which is wrong than that which is right, because it is easier, and, for the moment, perhaps, more satisfying to the flesh.  The Creator is often blamed for man’s weaknesses and inconsistencies.  This is wrong.  God did not intend that we should be mere machines, but free moral agents.  We are privileged to choose between good and evil.  Hence, if we perseveringly choose the latter, and make a miserable failure of life, we should blame only ourselves.

6.  The pulpit.—­Would that every pulpit in the land might join hands with the medical profession and cry out with no uncertain sound against the mighty evils herein stigmatized!  It would work a revolution for which coming society could never cease to be grateful.

7.  Strive to attain A higher life.—­Strive to attain unto a higher and better life.  Beware of all excesses, of whatever nature, and guard your personal purity with sacred determination.  Let every aspiration be upward, and be strong in every good, resolution.  Seek the light, for in light there is life, while in darkness there is decay and death.

[Illustration:  The first love letter.]

[Illustration]

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How to write all kinds of letters.

1.  From the President in his cabinet to the laborer in the street; from the lady in her parlor to the servant in her kitchen; from the millionaire to the beggar; from the emigrant to the settler; from every country and under every combination of circumstances, letter writing in all its forms and varieties is most important to the advancement, welfare and happiness of the human family.

2.  Education.—­The art of conveying thought through the medium of written language is so valuable and so necessary, a thorough knowledge of the practice must be desirable to every one.  For merely to write a good letter requires the exercise of much of the education and talent of any writer.

3.  A good letter.—­A good letter must be correct in every mechanical detail, finished in style, interesting in substance, and intelligible in construction.  Few there are who do not need write them; yet a letter perfect in detail is rarer than any other specimen of composition.

4.  Penmanship.—­It is folly to suppose that the faculty for writing a good hand is confined to any particular persons.  There is no one who can write at all, but what can write well, if only the necessary pains are practiced.  Practice makes perfect.  Secure a few copy books and write an hour each day.  You will soon write a good hand.

5.  Write plainly.—­Every word of even the most trifling document should be written in such clear characters that it would be impossible to mistake it for another word, or the writer may find himself in the position of the Eastern merchant who, writing to the Indies for five thousand mangoes, received by the next vessel five hundred monkies, with a promise of more in the next cargo.