The fact is, we are too hard with each other. If you
brand your fellow with infamy for one little act of indiscretion,
or, say crime, what hope is there for him."
"You go rather too far, Mr. May," the neighbor said, "in your
condemnation of the world. No doubt there are many who are really
uncharitable in their denunciations of their fellow man for a single
fault. But, on the other side, I am inclined to think, that there
are just as many who are equally uncharitable, in loosely passing
by, out of spurious kindness, what should mark a man with just
suspicion, and cause a withholding of confidence. Look at the case
now before us. You feel unwilling to keep a young man about you,
because he has betrayed your trust, and yet, out of kind feelings,
you give him a good character, and enable him to get a situation
where he may seriously wrong an unsuspecting man."
"But I am sure he will not do so."
"But what is your guarantee?"
"The impression that my act has evidently made upon him. If I had,
besides hushing up the whole matter, kept him still in my store, he
might again have been tempted. But the comparatively light
punishment of dismissing him with a good character, will prove a
salutary check upon him.
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