Your ShelfYour Projects

I Know a Thing or Two

17%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jun 20, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 25.

Read the full edition

I Know a Thing or Two

“My dear boy,” said the father to his only son, “you are in bad company. The lads with whom you associate indulge in bad habits. They drink, smoke, swear, play cards, and visit theaters. They are not safe company for you. I beg you to quit their society.”
“You needn’t be afraid of me, father,” replied the boy, laughingly; “I guess I know a thing or two. I know how far to go and when to stop.”
The lad left his father’s house, twirling his cane in his fingers, and laughing at the “old man’s notions.”
A few years later, and that lad, grown to manhood, stood before the bar of a court, before a jury that had just brought in a verdict of guilty against some crime in which he had been concerned. Before he was sentenced, he addressed the court, and said, among other things: “My downward course began in disobedience to my parents. I thought I knew as much as my father did, and I spurned his advice; but as soon as I turned my back on my home, temptations came upon me like a drove of hyenas, and lured me into ruin.”
Mark that confession, ye boys who are beginning to be wiser than your parents. Mark it, and learn that disobedience is the first step on the road to ruin. Don’t take it.—Selected.