Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1846-09-25
COUNsELs TO THE YOUNG.
By HORACE GREELEY.

SIX and tweniy-One, are now rapidly coming for
ward, 10 take rank as the future husbands and
fathers, Legislators and dynes, instructors and
governors, politicians and voters, capitalists and
laborcrs, arlIzans and cultiyatOrs, Of this vast
country, whose deslinies are vet so fainty ina
ged, much less developed. Not one is 50 hum.
bic that he will not certainly exert an influence
1T may be- an immense and iInpcrishable inhu-
ence-on the happiness and elevation Of his
country and his race. The humbest cottage
maiden, now tOiling thankfully as the household
servant Of some proud family, by whom she is
regarded as nobody, may yet be the mother Of
luture President; or, nObcr sill, Of some unas-
plrng but God-directed man, who as a teacher
ol righteousness; an .ameliator Of human suffer-
ing, successful rcprovcr Of wrong, scnsualitv
or sefshness, may leave his impress on the an
nails Of the world as a lover and server Of his
race. Early all our now eminent men, poiti-
cally-Jackson, Clay, Van Buren, &C., were not
merely of poor and humble parentage, but left
orphans in early life, and thus deprived Of the
support and counsel which seems most eminent
ly necessary 10 success in the worlds rugged
ways.
In the higher walks Of genuine usefulness. the
proportion of those enjoying no advantages Of
family influence or hereditary wealth, who at.
tam the loitiest emlnence, is very great. Call
TO mind the first twenty names that occur 10 YOU
OF men distinguished for ability, energy, phiian-
thropy, or lofty achievement, and generally
three-tourths of them will be those of men born
in obscurty and dependence.
All literature is full Of anecdotes Illustrative Of
these encouraging truths; a single fact now oc-
ours TO me which | have never seen recorded
have often worshipped in a Baptist meeting
house in Vermont, whereon, at its construction,
some thirty years since, studious and eyempla-
ry young man was for some time employed as
u carpenter, who afterwards qualified himself
and entered upon the responsibilities ofthc Chris
tian ministry. That young man was Jared
Sparks, since editor Of the North American Re-
view, of Washington's voluminous writings. &C..
and now recognized as one ofthe foremost schol-
ars, historians, and critics in America.
l propose here to set forth few important
maXims for the guidance and encouragement of
those youth who will hcarken to me, maXims
based on my own immature experience and OBJ
servauon, but which have doubtless in substance
been propounded and enforced bv older and
wiser men long ago and often. Still as they do
not yet appear to have cXerted their full and pro.
per effect on the rpening intellect of the coun-
uy-as thousands on thousands are toilsomeIv.
painfully struggling forward in the race for posi-
ton and knowledge, in paIpable defiance of their
scope and spirit will hope that their presenta-
uon at this time cannot be without some effect
on at least few expanding minds. They are as
follows:
|. Avoid the common error of esteeming a
college education necessary to usefulness or en-
lnence IN life. Such an education may be deS-
rabe and benefcial-to many it doubtless is SO.
But Greek and Latin are not real knowIedge;
they are only the means of acquiring such
knowledge; there have been great, and wise, and
Surprising useful men, in all ages, who knew no
language but their mother tongue. Besides, in
our day the treasures of ancient and contempora-
ry foreign literature are brought home TO every
mans door by translation, which embody the
substance if they do not exhibit all the beauties
OF the originals. If your circumstances in life
enable you to enjoy the advantages of college
education, do not neglect them-above all, do
not misimprove them. Butt your lot be differ
ent, waste no time in idle repining, in humiliat-
ing beggary. The stern, selfrespecting inde-
pendence of your own soul is worth whole shelves
of classics. All men need not and cannot be
college bred-not even those who are born to in
struct and improve their kind. You can never
be justly deemed ignorant, or your acquire.
ments contemtible, if you embrace and fully i'm.
prove the opportunities which are fairly offered
you.
IL. Avoid likewise the kindred and penicious
error that you must have profcssion-must be
a clergyman, lawyer, doctor, or something of the
sort-ln order TO be influential, useful, respected
Or, to state the case in its best aspect that vou
may lead an Intellectual life. Nothing of the
kind is necessary-very far from it. If YOU
tendencies are intelectual-if YOU love knowl
edge, wisdom, virtue, for themselves-you will
grow in them, whether you earn your bread bv
! profession, trade, or by tillng the ground.-
; Nay, it may be doubted whether the farmer O
mechanic who devotes his leisure hours to intel
lectuaI pursuits from pure love of them has no
some advantages therein over the professiona
man. He comes TO his book at evening witt
his head clear and his mental appetite sharpenec
by the manual labors, taxing highly the spirit o
brain; while the lawyer, who has been running
over dry old books for procedents, the doctor
r who has been racking his wits for remedy a
dapted TO some new modification of disease, o
the divine who, immmed in his closet, has bee
busy preparing his next sermon, may we'll ap
proach the evening volume with senses Jade
, and pallid. There are few men; and perhap
fewer women, who do not spend useIessly i
sleep, or play, or frivolous employments, NOR
time than would be required to render them
thirty well vcrsed in history, philosophy, ethics
as well as physical sciences, &e.
ILL., Neither is an advantageous location esser
tia to the prosecution of enobling studies, to a
Intellectual life; on this point misapprchcnson
t very prevalent and very pernicious. A yout
4 born IN some rural or but thinIy settled distric
!, where books are few and unfit and the means {
intellectual culture apparently scanty, feels witt
y IN hlm the spirit of inquiry, craving to acquir
r and to know aspirations for an Intellectual cond
d ton above the dead level around him. At one
: he jumps to the conclusion that a change of plac
is necessary to the satisfaction of his desires
THAT he must resort if MOI IN the univerSitv Or III