p. 12 | Aged Man's Advice

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 29, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 17.

Aged Man's Advice

NEARLY a score of young men, all under twenty years of age, were awaiting sentence in a New York court the other day, and with them stood an old man, hardened with crime, to receive his punishment. The young criminals laughed and jeered at the old man in his predicament. He turned seriously toward them, and said: "I have spent thirty years of my life in prison; and now that I am down and out, you young fools taunt me with my age. I am no preacher, but I want to tell you that crime does not pay. You should thank God that you are not as old as I am, and that there is still some hope for you." There was shame in the faces of the young men, and silence except the bitter sobbing of one of their number, a lad of sixteen. What an eloquent sermon out of such a sad experience! It is to be hoped it did some good. If the old man had in the beginning of life followed the advice he gave the young men, his gray hairs would have been a crown of glory instead of shame.—Christian Herald.