their languorous swains, lascivious. The latter pose as "killers;"
the former wear their heart on their sleeve, and are convinced that
every second man they meet who treats them gallantly is smitten with
their charms and is passionately in love with them.

Some go in for excitement and novelty, to break the monotony of
virtuous restraint. They are anxious for a little adventure and
romance. A good thing, too, to have these exploits to narrate to their
friends. But they do not tell all to their friends; they would be
ashamed to. If said friends are wise they can supply the deficiencies.
And when it is all over, it is the same old story of the man that did
not know the gun was loaded.

They therefore who would remain pure must of all necessity keep custody
over their heart's affections, make right reason and faith their guide
and make the will force obedience thereto. If wrong attachments are
formed, then there is nothing to do but to eradicate them, to cut, tear
and crush; they must be destroyed at any cost. A pennyweight of
prudence might have prevented the evil; it will now take mortification
in large and repeated doses to undo it. In this alone is there
salvation.

CHAPTER LXXX.
OCCASIONS.

OCCASIONS of sin are persons, places or things that may easily lead us
into sin: this definition of the little catechism is simple and clear
and requires no comment. It is not necessary that said places or
things, or even said persons, be evil in themselves; it is sufficient
that contact with, or proximity to, them induce one to commit an evil.
It may happen, and sometimes does, that a person without any evil
design whatever become an occasion of sin for another. The blame
therefore does not necessarily lie with objects, but rather with the
subject.

Occasions are of two kinds: the remote or far and the proximate or
near; they differ in the degree of facility with which they furnish
temptation, and in the quality and nature of such temptation. In the
former, the danger of falling is less, in the latter it is more,
probable. In theory, it is impossible to draw the line and say just
when an occasion ceases to be proximate and becomes remote; but in the
concrete the thing is easy enough. If I have a well-grounded fear, a
fear made prudent by experience, that in this or that conjuncture I
shall sin, then it is a near occasion for me. If, however, I can feel
with knowledge and conviction that I am strong enough to overcome th