• Author: B-6594
• Editor: B-6591
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume 2
• Page Number:
• Date: 12 31 1913
• Tags:
• advice

THE TURNING POINT The New Year New YEAR'S day always is, and has been a great time to make resolutions. Thousands of men and women resolve to lead better lives but nearly all fail, because they do not ask God's help to carry out their resolutions. Our past life has been stained with many sins, vices and habits. We all want to be better, and, the beauty of it is, we can, if we want to. As inmates of this institution, we have had ample time to take a retrospective view of our life. We see our own mistakes and what the cause was that brought us here. Let us resolve now that when Liberty comes, the Turning Point in our life which offers another chance to be men of usefulness. Let it not be spoken of us, "But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire." We have learned that life is a school, and most of us have had hard benches until dismissal came, learning but to forget. In the Turning Point of our life, let it be to learn to be a man—not a sneak. Let us not be a counterfeit of somebody who is but a chapter of baseness. Hold up your head. No matter if you don't have a golden spoon—stockings of wool or cotton instead of silk: Strive to be a man, do as you agree to, or give a truthful reason. Man was never made to fear a fellow. God is the only one outside of your own heart to whom you must render a balance sheet with your winding one If you promise, keep faith. If you pledge, by all means fulfill. Never go about the streets like a cur that sneaks home toward morning. Be a man and give your reason. Take no one's footings, but run up the column yourself. If you wish a favor, ask for it like a man, frankly and honestly. Do not whine, and dodge, and chip around the edges, but go straight to the center at once. If you have aught against a man, out with it. Never stab in the dark—do not crawl from bud to blossom—from blossom to fruit of life, like a snake in the grass, making others shudder at your approach and leaving a track of slimy scandal to mark your route to death. Learn to rely on good ideas. Learn to think and act for yourself, as though you were born to give and others to follow advice. Don't buy a blind cat in a bag, as it may open its eyes. Many a deep chasm is bridged with rotten planks, Do not squander your earnings. Paupers are never buried in beds of roses. At the close of every day, pause and think. Look well to the road that you have passed— look close to the road before you and its different branches as it appears to you. Do not retrace your steps, as your journey is tedious and full of scoffers. Success is a thorny path. Brambles, thistles and rocks are left on purpose to hinder and deter those who are not brave. Strike for the future. It is not all of life to live, and not all of death to die Search your own heart when all is still Look over accounts carefully and see who is getting the most credit—you or the devil. Strike out all the bad thoughts which climb over the heart-wall and take root within. Always speak the truth. Learn to be a man among men, and to be a man of honor. Look about you and tale warning from others. There are lessons for the eye as well as for the ear. We have had the sad experience that it takes but little to lose a reputation. It takes time to acquire a good one. When you see a mean act, set it up as a finger board. Shun it. When you see or hear of a good noble deed, emulate it. If not on a large scale, do it on a small one. The widow's mite was more precious than gold from the rich. Make up your mind to be something. If you cannot drive the horses, you can give them water; or if you cannot hatch chickens, you can at least put eggs in the nest. Ill-gotten gains are like green fruit. Do not bump into all sorts of traps, and pitfalls, merely to please someone. There will be a judgment day sometime and our name will be called and we must answer; therefore at this Turning Point in our lives, plant anew the little seeds of love, and true hearted kindnesses which will be a treasure to us, "forgetting those things, things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before" us the New Year.