n a series of petty thieving for
weeks before he was finally detected, having scores of stolen articles
in his possession. The last time we saw the wretched fellow he was being
led away in irons to prison. We have since heard that he continues in
his downward career, having served out his time in prison, and will
undoubtedly end his life in a felon's cell unless he is shrewd enough
to escape his just deserts. Having lost all desire to do right, to be
noble, pure, and good, all efforts to reform and restore him to the
path of rectitude were fruitless. It was only the fear of impending
death that caused him to pause for a few days in his criminal course.
Young man, take warning by this sad case; enter not the pathway of vice.
A course of vice once entered upon is not easily left. A youth who once
gives himself up to sin, rarely escapes from going headlong to
destruction.

An Indignant Father.--A case came to our knowledge through a gentleman
who brought his daughter to us for treatment for the effects of
self-abuse, of a father who adopted a summary method of curing his son
of the evil practice. Having discovered that the lad was a victim of
the vile habit, and having done all in his power by punishment, threats,
and representations of its terrible effects, but without inducing him
to reform, the father, in a fit of desperation, seized the sinful boy
and with his own hand performed upon him the operation of castration
as he would have done upon a colt. The boy recovered from the operation,
and was of course effectually cured of his vile habit. The remedy was
efficient, though scarcely justifiable. Even a father has no right thus
to mutilate his own son, though we must confess that the lad's chances
for becoming a useful man are fully as good as they would have been
had he continued his course of sin.

Disgusted with Life.--T. A. was a young man of promise, the son of
ambitious parents, proud-spirited, and without respect for religion.
While still quite young he enlisted in the service of the government,
and after a time rose to the position of an officer in the U. S. army.
Having in boyhood acquired the habit of self-abuse, he had stimulated
his passions without restraint, and was readily led still farther
astray by the evil companions with whom he was surrounded. He indulged
his passions in every way and on every occasion when he found
opportunity, and speedily began to feel the effects of his vices. Before
he was full