Letters from a Father to His Son

got older he went to the pastry-cooks and confectioners' shops in
the town, and purchased more expensive dainties. I remember
very well one day seeing him with a large paper-bag before him,
seated in a corner by himself, and devouring sweet cakes as fast
as he could cram them down his throat!
You will be surprised when I tell you that this boy had an intellect
of no common order. He was a very quick, capable, and clever
lad; not only a good scholar, but also a capital hand at all school
games which required alertness and dexterity, and the fastest
runner in the school. Had this unfortunate and foolish
boy restrained his appetites in his youth, and cultivated the
excellent abilities he possessed, there was nothing to have
prevented his attaining a very high station. He had all those
qualities which ensure success in this bustling world, added to a
fine constitution. He went on, however, from one indulgence to
another. As he grew up and became a man, he gave way to every
inclination, very shortly took to drinking, and finally, after being
ruined both in health and prospects, died of a disease brought on
by habits of intoxication.
Bear in mind that all this misery, misfortune, and death was
brought about to this person entirely by the lack of a little timely
self-denial, when he first began to indulge his appetite without
control in his youth.
Besides its effect on the body, self-denial is of great use to the
mind. It removes selfishness, and prevents us from entertaining a
grasping and greedy spirit with respect to every apparently
desirable object of which we see or hear. You should accustom
yourself, when there is anything nice to be given away, whether
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