No enemy slaps him on the back and
begs him to take "just another drink." No enemy laughs down his
poor, feeble attempts at reform. No enemy tells him that it will
not hurt him "just this time," and that he really must not refuse
to be a good fellow "just for once."
The drunkard is MADE a drunkard, is pushed into the last depths
of drunkenness, by his friends.
And it is his friends who kick him and leave him and despise him
when he has sunk into the mire.
Did ever the drunkard's enemy hurt him as much as the friend has
hurt him? ----
AMBITION KILLED BY FRIENDS
A young man starts out to succeed in life. His enemy may lie
about him, may call him worthless. He may think he is hurting
him. If there is anything in the young man, the enemy's lies and
discouraging words only spur him on to greater effort. They do
him good.
It is the friend that ruins the young man by false, injudicious,
unearned praise.
As artist, poet, writer, clerk, or in any other effort, the young
man begins his work.
It is his friends who tell him that he is a splendid success,
when he needs to be told that, at best, he has some slight chance
of success, and that everything depends on desperate effort.
Look at the young, conceited fool who, instead of struggling on,
rails at the world, feels that he is not appreciated.
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