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 RISE in the world, and to win a name which should live long after he should pass from the earth.  He placed his mark high!  With indomitable courage and unwearied perseverance, he pursued the path he had chosen for himself.  He cut his way through every obstacle, and overcame every hindrance and difficulty, though they might seem to tower mountain high.  Friends came to his aid, as they will to the assistance of every youth who is industriously seeking to rise in the world by the strength of his own merits.  At length, after great exertions, he obtained a profession, and entered into a field where he could bring into active exercise the fund of knowledge he had been acquiring under so many difficulties.  One thus industrious, thus pure in his habits, thus upright and honorable in all his transactions, could not fail to receive the commendation and confidence of his fellow-citizens.  Rapidly he rose from one post of honor to another.  Ere long he was sent to the Legislature of our State.  Soon he entered the halls of Congress, where he won the confidence of his compeers, and arose to honorable distinction.  From step to step he advanced—­high and higher still he ascended the ladder of fame—­until now, the poor mechanic boy of Montville, occupies the second place in the gift of the American people—­within one step of the highest pinnacle of fame to which man can attain on the earth!  How noble the career—­how splendid the example—­placed before the youth of our country, in the history of this eminent man!  How honorable to himself—­how worthy of imitation.