The Pigeon Tale
THE PIGEON TALE BY VIRGINIA BENNETT. [Illustration: Title] ILLUSTRATED BY E. STUART HARDY. _LONDON:_ _NEW YORK:_ ERNEST NISTER. E. P. DUTTON & CO. E.N. No. 2074.
strive to imitate them. They will bless them as well as him, if
faithfully practised. And when they behold a man disliked and
despised by his neighbors, especially by those who know him best--or
one who has fallen into disgrace and ruin; who has, lost his
character, his health, his happiness, and become an outcast and
vagabond,--let them not fail to learn what his habits have been.
Look at them carefully and critically. Ponder well the effect they
have had upon him. And then strive to avoid them. Shun them as the
poisonous viper whose sting is death. Let them wind not a single
coil of their fatal chains around the free spirit of the young. The
same appalling consequences will be visited on every youth who
indulges them, that have fallen on those whose condition excites
Loth pity and loathing in their breasts.
In youth, habits are much easier formed and corrected, than at a
later period of life. If they are right now, preserve, strengthen
and mature them. If they are wrong--if they have any dangerous
influence or tendency--correct them immediately. Delay not the
effort an hour. The earlier you make the attempt to remedy a bad
habit, the easier it will be accomplished. Every day adds to its
strength and vigor; until, if not conquered in due time, it will
become a voracious monster, devouring everything good and excellent.
It will make its victim a miserable, drivelling slave, to be
continually lashed and scourged into the doing of its low and
wretched promptings. Hence the importance of attending to the habits
in early life, when they are easily controlled and corrected. If the
THE PIGEON TALE BY VIRGINIA BENNETT. [Illustration: Title] ILLUSTRATED BY E. STUART HARDY. _LONDON:_ _NEW YORK:_ ERNEST NISTER. E. P. DUTTON & CO. E.N. No. 2074.