il associates and did not
have the will power to free himself from them is obvious.

"We cannot all live in one city; we cannot all live in one country or on
one farm. It is but natural that boys will stray away from the old
fireside. Read the history of this country; it was settled by hardy
yeomen, possessed of that desire for changed conditions. Look at the
great and growing West, settled by the descendants of those first
settlers of New England and Virginia.

"That boys leave home, as did the prodigal son; that boys fall from
grace, as did he who ate husks with the swine, should not shake our
faith in the future of a young man who has fallen by the wayside. He is
to be reclaimed, not by the mighty hand of the law, not by the
chastisement of the father, but by the love and pity that man should
exhibit not only for the good but for the lowest of God's creatures. We
should extend to them the helping hand; we should prove by our actions
that they have our love and pity.

"Pity is a mode, or a particular development, of benevolence. It is
sympathy for those who are weak and suffering. Hence, our compassion for
the erring one. We have affections for men who are good and noble, men
who are prosperous, strong and happy. But for those who have been beaten
down by the storms of life, for such we should feel that pity the father
displayed for the prodigal son.

"If those who have strayed and forgotten the father's advice and the
mother's prayers come to us, we should not receive them with reproaches
and rebuffs but with open arms; always remembering that the Father of
all has gladness for those who are glad and pity for those who are sad.

"When the erring one returned, envy filled the heart of one of the
family and he said to a brother of the prodigal: 'Thy brother is come
and thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him
safe and sound.' And the brother was angry and would not go in to the
feast. Therefore came his father out and entreated him to enter. And he
answering, said to his father: 'Lo, these many years do I serve thee,
neither transgressing at any time thy commandments and yet thou never
gavest me at any time a fatted kid that I might make merry with my
friends. But as soon as this, thy son, came, which has devoured thy
living, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.' And the father
answered, 'Wealth killeth the foolish man and envy slayeth the silly
one. There is not a just man upon ear