And all because he had been
overtaken by sexual sin of an indescribably shameful kind. The shock he
gave me was one of sorrow, for he had been a friend. But it was
still more one of amazement that such a thing could have happened to
such a man. Later I came to understand. When his effects were being
sold there was found in his study cupboard a great pile of indecent
French plays and novels. That was what did it. In secret he had for
years debauched his mind, and inevitably in the end his thoughts
brought forth fruit. That experience taught me once for all how certain
it is that the inner world of thoughts is the real place where a man
attains or misses purity.
There is something grim and stern about this business. I confess to a
certain wholesome fear in connection with it which I hope never to
lose; though fear will never do as our predominating emotion in this
respect. But I keep a place for fear--enough of it to drive me to my
knees. I have seen boys go wrong at fifteen, and I have seen old men
go wrong at sixty. I believe that no man is safe until he is dead.
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