The Columbian fountain., 1846-04-04
WASHINGTON,
THE YOUNG MANS WAY
TO INTELLIGENCE, RESPECTABILTTY, HO
NOR AND USEFULNESS

py. IL is contrary to law OF his creator that
he should be. Many hope for wealth and
the meanslto support them in inactivity.
This is all wrong. Why not hope and toll
for means of usefulness. The reason why
so many aged persons lose their faculties so
soon, is because they are not kept in exer-
else They rust for want of employment.
The most miserable, are those who have
nothing to do. The mind and body both
should be employed to the last, if we wish
to keep them vigorous. Man can be train
ed and accustomed to almost any thing
Bonaparte was born and trained in the heat
of revolution and war. A military life was
then and there almost the only road to dis
tinction. He caught the inspiration Of the
times, and by dint Of frmness and perseve-
rance became eminent. 1t may, or may not
have been natural to him. Had he been the
son of farmer, and spent his youth in per-
forming the duties of retired life, perhaps
he would not have been such prodigy Of
decision and frmness. What the world in
this case has, therefore, called natural en-
dowment, may have been the result of Cir
cumstances only. Many man has laid the
flattering JUNCTION to his soul, that he pos
sessed certain talents, friends have fattered
into belief that these must create for him
certain distinction in a future day but alas,
for lack of diligence in their development,
all has ended in disappointment. In cases
where nature has seemed most parsimoni-
Gus, industry and application has created
distinction. Most men rise because they
will rise-labor is every thing to the young,
and fortune is generally an idle word much
in use, but seldom understood.
Honesty and unyielding integrity in all
transactions--be they large and therefore
publicly known-or so small as never to.
come to the light of public observation, is
one of the most important attributes Of cha
racter, and never dispensed with without
manifest loss. No reproach so efectually
and completely blasts and ruins mans re-
putation as being called rogue and cheat.
Better be poorall the days Of your life, with
the consciousness of stern rectitude in pria-
ciple and practice, than rich as Cresus-
with the guilty reflection that wealth was
improperly accumulated. 1t is bad enough
to be called rogue, and forever branded in
society as dishonest man, but it is infn-
itely worse to feel the continual upbraidings
of an inward guiltiness which allows the
spirit no repose either by night or day. A
man may flee from the we'll aimed shafts of
others-and in his moments of domestic re-
tirement amidst his family and friends find
comfort provided he be innocent, but if
guilty, in vain may he attempt to escape
from the reprovings of his own conscience.
a1c ha hot
others may not be able to detect derelic-
ton from course of integrity, and we may
retire with some honor from the place Of
trade but there is no comfort-except to
the innocent; God and our own souls know
if others do not, and this is sufficient to bar
from all enjoyment. The open counte-
nance, and manly bearing-results of inno-
cency-are gone. The money taken from
an employers desk may never be missed,
but the fear that it will-the dread of de-
lection, will create burning sensation
quenchng forever the flame of Joy which
was wont to light up the countenance, and
fill with continual trepidation, utterly in
compatible with peace of mind. Other men
may never know the depth Of moral turpi-
tude into which such one has fallen, but
it is enough that he knows it himself, and
breads its fearful consequences.
Self-respect is wall of protection to in
nocency, But one dishonest act, however
trifing, weakens, and two or three destroys
it for ever. 1t matters but little where the
opinions of society place man, if he
knows himself to be numbered with the
dishonest and vulgar. The way is pre-
pared to every species of crime, no matter
how degrading. No man can be gentle
man after having lost self-respect Thou
sands are annually ruined by not needing
the first step in a downward passage. The
first guilty act relaxes the stern principle
of integrity, disorders the whole moral
machinery, and the man is in ruins with
out being aware of his condition. He is
then left a prey to the fierce anarchy of
every unruly passion--and the wild con-
troll of all those depravites which agitate
and deform poor human nature.
1t is my object to impress upon your
> minds in the outset of your career that the
sin of dishonesty is not to be measured by
the magnitude Of its gains; this principle
of judgment has obtained far too extern
r sively among men, and has doubtless mis-
: led many. I" He that ofendeth in one
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