Eaton Democrat

It was only the other day that a man fell asleep in his boat on the Niagara river. During his slumber the boat broke loose from her moorings, and he awoke to find himself shooting down the rapids directly towards the cataract. In vain he shrieked for help, in vain he tried to row against the current, he drifted on, and on, till his light craft upset, when he was borne rapidly to the brink of the abyss, and leaping up, with a wild cry, went over and disappeared forever.

In the great battle of Gibraltar, when the united fleets of France and Spain attacked the impregnable fortress, one of the gigantic floating batteries broke from her anchorage and began to drift directly into the hottest of the British fire. The thousand men, who formed the crew of the unwieldy mass, vainly strove to arrest its progress or divert it from its path. Every minute it drifted nearer to the English guns, every minute some new part took fire from the red-hot shot, every minute another score of its hapless defenders were swept, like chaff, from its decks. The most superhuman efforts failed to prevent its drifting, with its human freight, to inevitable death.

A ship was wrecked at sea. The passengers and crew took refuge on a raft, the boats having been stove in the attempt to launch them. For days and weeks these unfortunates drifted about without oar or sail, on the hot, brazen tropical ocean. At last their provisions failed, and then their water. Still they drifted about, vainly looking for a sail, or hoping for a sight of land. The time had now come when that fearful alternative became inevitable--death from starvation or feeding on human flesh--and they were just beginning to cast lots for a victim when a vessel was seen far away on the distant horizon, they abandoned their terrible design; the stranger would approach. The ship came towards them. She drew nearer and nearer. They strove to attract her attention by shouts and by raising their clothing; but the indolent look-out saw them not. They shouted louder; still they were not seen. At last the vessel tacked. With frantic terror they arose in one body shouting and waving their garments. It was vain. The unconscious ship stood steadily away. Night came on, and as the darkness fell the raft drifted and drifted in the other direction, till the last trace of the vessel was lost forever.

So it is in life. The intemperate man, who thinks he, at least, will never die a drunkard, whatever his neighbor may do, only wakes to find himself drifting down the cataract, and all hope gone. The sensualist, who lives merely for his own gratification, drifts into an emasculated old age, to be tortured with passions he cannot gratify, and perish by merciless, agonizing diseases. The undisciplined, who never learn to control themselves, who are spendthrifts or passionate, or indolent, or visionary, soon make shipwreck of themselves, and drift about the sea of life, the prey of every wind and current, vainly shrieking for help, till at last they drift away into darkness and death.

Take care that you are not drifting. See that you have fast hold of the helm. The breakers of life forever roar under the lee, and adverse gales continually blow on the shore. Are you watching how she heads? Do you keep a firm grip of the wheel? If you give way for but one moment you may drift helplessly into the boiling vortex. Young man, take care! It rests with yourself alone, under God, whether you reach port triumphantly, or drift to ruin.--Baltimore Sun.