Thus by a constant habit of observation and reflection, the youthful
can turn the failings of others to their own account. As the
industrious bee extracts honey from the most nauseous substances, so
can the thoughtful and observing draw instruction not only from the
example of the wise, but from the folly of the wicked!

In preparations for future usefulness and success, the young should
establish certain fixed principles of moral conduct, by which they
will be steadfastly governed in all their intercourse with the
world. Without some well-defined landmarks, by which they can be
guided in emergencies, when everything depends on the course of
conduct to be pursued, they will be in imminent peril. Temptations
are strewed along the pathway of the young, and assail them at every
turn. If they could clearly contemplate the effects of giving way to
temptation--were all the unhappy consequences to stand out visibly
before them--they would never be induced to turn aside into sin.
Could the young man as he is tempted to quaff the fashionable glass
of intoxicating beverage, see plainly the ignominious life, the
poverty and wretchedness, and the horrid death by delirium tremens,
to which it so often leads, he would set it down untasted, and turn
away in alarm. But it is the nature of temptation to blind and
deceive the unwary, and lead them into sin, by false representations
of the happiness to be derived from it. Hence the young need to
establish, in their calm, cool moments, when under the influence of
mature judgment and enlightened discretion, certain fixed rules of
conduct, by which they will be governed, and on which they will
depend in every hour of temptation.

One of the first and most important rules of life which should be
established by the youthful, is the constant cultivation of purity