be taught the value of a Home. If his advisers lay before him the lesson
of life in all its aspects, he will indeed be a prodigal if he have not
a Home of his own almost immediately upon leaving the fatherly roof.
There are no reasons, no exceptions, which relieve the healthy,
able-bodied young man from an early advance on the enemies who threaten
the welfare of the citizen. The strongest fortification which the human
heart can throw up against temptation is the Home. Certain men are
almost invincible against the onslaughts of the many base allurements
which wreak such misery on all sides of us. Why are they so firm? It is
because a glorious example has stood before their minds, a liberal and
older knowledge of the world has aided their early endeavors, and a
plentiful advice has fastened in their understandings the wisdom of
virtue and industry. If your sons have Homes of their own, you can leave
them, as a great General leaves his lieutenants to occupy a country,
here a fortress held in safety, there a cantonment with natural
defenses, and there a "city on a hill," while you advance into those
other regions which are written on the map of your destiny, "sustained
by the unfaltering trust" that you have kept the great obligation
imposed on you, and handled your forces for the best advantage of the
cause you served.
[Illustration]