CONCLUSION.

The way of transgressors is hard. Early did Charles Duran indulge in habits of disobedience, early was he forgetful of God, early did he run into the paths of vice and intemperance, and early did he go down to his grave.

Disobedience to parents is a fearful sin! Children think they know what is best for themselves. Parental restraint sometimes seems irksome to them; but God has wisely ordained that in our youth we should be under the instruction and control of our parents. Children, instead of feeling that parental control is oppressive to them, should learn to be thankful for it. It is enough for well-instructed and well-disposed children, generally, to know what the wishes of their parents are. Much of their happiness is derived from compliance with those wishes. The approbation of their parents will afford such children far more pleasure than all their forbidden indulgences.

The school history of Charles Duran will not fail, I trust, to make a suitable impression upon the minds of my youthful readers. Scholars sometimes think that it is not a great offense for them to violate the rules of their school, neglect their books, or be unkind even to some of their school-associates. So this boy thought. The result of his course is before us. All such children should know that by such a course of conduct they are laying the foundation for a bad character. They may, for awhile, escape punishment; they may not be expelled from school; they may possibly retain their places in their class; but they are acquiring those habits which, if not corrected, will bring ruin upon them by and by.

This boy’s sporting habits ought not to be lightly passed over. He was exceedingly fond of a gun. The indulgence of this passion led him into habits of idleness and cruelty. Boys should rarely, if ever, be allowed the use of fire-arms: they are always dangerous. The habits and associations to which their use leads are generally objectionable. Boys that are constantly around the brooks after little fishes, and in the woods in pursuit of little birds, had better be at their books. We always fear that idle boys will make idle men.

We see from the history of Charles Duran the importance of early religious training. Had his parents pursued a different course with him, he might have grown up to be a blessing to them, and a useful member of society: “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Prov. xxii, 6.

When, O when will parents lay this to heart! How many fathers and mothers have been brought down to the grave with sorrow, by neglecting this important duty!

The history of Charles Duran is a warning to all boys who are inclined to indulge in Sabbath-breaking; to form bad associations; to tipple; or to visit places of improper amusement. See his dreadful end! Mark that fatal night! Remember that he had been preparing for that season of riot and debauch by previous indulgence. He came not to his wretched condition all at once. He was preparing for it in his early disobedience, in his neglect of instruction, in his unkindness to his school-mates, in delighting to injure those who were smaller and weaker than himself, in his idle sporting habits, in the indulgence of his bad temper, in ministering to his perverse will, in his Sunday rambling, in associating with the vile, in his tippling habits, and, finally, in throwing off all parental regard and restraint. He had now come to the verge of the whirlpool of destruction, and, in a frenzied moment, he threw himself into the awful vortex! Beware of the first sin! “Enter not into the paths of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” Prov. iv, 14, 15.