men like Garibaldi and Mazzini, and righteous causes which do not
triumph in their hands; men who have holes enough in their armour, God
knows, easy to be hit by respectabilities sitting in their
lounge-chairs, and having large balances at their bankers. But you are
brave, gallant boys, who have no balances or bankers, and hate
easy-chairs. You only want to have your heads set straight to take the
right side; so bear in mind that majorities, especially respectable
ones, are nine times out of ten in the wrong, and that if you see a man
or boy striving earnestly on the weaker side, however wrong-headed or
blundering he may be, you are not to go and join the cry against him.
If you cannot join him, and help him, and make him wiser, at any rate
remember that he has found something in the world which he will fight
and suffer for--which is just what you have got to do for
yourselves--and so think and speak of him tenderly."

Those manly words are worth quoting in full, and they will fitly set
forth the service young Asa rendered to his kingdom, and to the world
at large.


I.

It may be well to analyse a little more closely the reformation this
right-hearted king attempted. He diminished opportunities for sin.
The traffic in vice, by which many were making profit, he put down with
a strong hand. And there are hotbeds of vice to be found in our own
land, where strong appeal is made to the lusts of the flesh, and where
intoxicating drink incites men to yield to passions which need
restraint. Indeed, even in our streets moral perils assail the young
and innocent, which no Christian nation ought to tolerate. We often