Every ship has a cargo, or if no cargo it is seeking for cargo.
Some cargoes are safe and some dangerous. In olden time they
used to load grain in bulk, which was dangerous, for if the
grain shifted in a storm it was apt to throw the ship on her
beam ends. Cotton is a dangerous cargo, and many steamship lines
advertise, “These ships carry no cotton.” Some years ago, an
evil-minded man tried to ship an infernal machine on one of the
steamers of a transatlantic line. His intention was that the
clockwork in the machine should go off while the ship was in
mid-ocean, and blow her to pieces. Fortunately, the clockwork
went off while the infernal machine was on the dock. It blew off
the stern of the steamer and killed thirteen men. Surely that
would have been a dangerous cargo to carry.
Just so every man carries a cargo. By this I mean a cargo of opinions,
passions, appetites, and these are sure to wreck any young man who
carries them.--A. F. SCHAUFFLER, _The Christian Herald_.
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