Which One Will He Choose?
By F. D. E. S.
THE artist gives an illustration of a young man, in the vigor of his strong manhood, standing hesitatingly before a road from which diverge many paths, and he is in perplexity as to which one to choose. One is a pleasant-looking path leading to ease, and the goal is idleness; another winds to a career of gambling, another to drink, still another to carousing, and one to dishonesty,—misappropriation of funds entrusted to him; and the road from which all these paths deflect leads to the city of light and beauty and truth. The road straight before him is long and steep and difficult; the others are closer at hand and present a more attractive appearance. So many ways that wind and wind! Which one will he choose? And this is the question that faces every youth starting out in life,—Which way will he choose,—the easy way, leading through paths of apparent pleasantness, but whose end is eternal destruction, or the more arduous one, which requires self-denial and privation, but which leads to the development of character that will endure eternally, and whose goal is life everlasting? Would that every young man would heed the wise man's admonition, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." And then the promise will be verified to him, "Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." F. D. E. S.