slipped out. You know I don't say anything like that often."

"I know it," nodded Frank, "and that's why it sounded all the worse. I
don't know that I ever heard you use such a word before."

Harry did not resent Frank's reproof, for he knew Frank was right, and
he was ashamed.

Every young man who stoops to vulgarity should be ashamed. Profanity is
coarse and degrading; vulgarity is positively low and filthy. The youth
who is careful to keep his clothes and his body clean should be careful
to keep his mouth clean. Let nothing go into it or come out of it that
is in any way lowering.

Did you ever hear a loafer on a corner using profane and obscene
language? I'll warrant most of you have, and I'll warrant that you were
thoroughly disgusted. You looked on the fellow as low, coarse, cheap,
unfit to associate with respectable persons. The next time you use a
word that you should be ashamed to have your mother or sister hear just
think that you are following the example of that loafer. You are
lowering yourself in the eyes of somebody, even though you may not think
so at the time. Perhaps one of your companions may be a person who uses
such language freely, and yet he has never before heard it from you. He
laughs, he calls you a jolly good fellow to your face; but he thinks to
himself that you are no better than anybody else, and behind your back
he tells somebody what he thinks. He is glad of the opportunity to show
that you are no better than he is. Never tell a vulgar story. Better
never listen to one, unless your position is such that you cannot escape
without making yourself appear a positive cad. If you have to listen to
such a story, forget it as soon as possible. Above all things, do not