Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1852-10-27

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heart for the realization Of all those proud
and brilliant hopes it has centered in you.
The community is gazing upon you as those
to whose hands must shortly be delegated
that most important trust, the conservation
of its great and vital interests. The old
have well.nigh accomplished their mission
their career of active usefulness is closed,
and they arc fast leaning to the grave. Age
has overlaken them with its infrmi,cs and
iecrepitude, and soon they will forever pass
from the scenes of time and the pursuits of
earth. You will succeed to the places they
have filled-and the stations they have oc-
cmpied Upon you will dcvolve, and espe.
cialy the more educated among you, all
those grave responsibilities, those impressive
obligations, and those weighty duties, which
the complicated relations Of society impose.
Your country, too, is anxiously looking to
YOU, for your ranks must shortly supply
those public characters, to whom her desti'
nes will be committed-the future leglsla'
tors and statesmen who are to direct her
councils-to guard her rights-to preserve
her libertics-to guide her fortunes. Yea,
and the rord is fixing its eye upon you, to
sec if it will derive blessing, or incur Il
curse from your example.
You are now, young men, laying the
foundations of that character, the suporstruc
ture of which coming years will complete
The habits you now cultivate--the sentl
ments YOU chersh--the opinions you form
and the principles you adopt, will impar'
their complexion to the future of your life
They will cleavc to yon for veal or wot
through the maturity of your manhood. The
present with you is the season Of that pre-
paratory discipline, which is to qualify you
ior the contests of life. You are now ad
justing your armor aud forging your wea
pons for those struggles which await you OF
the battle-ground OF the world. On thu
proper disposition of that armor, and the fe
licitous selection of those weapons, will de
reud in a great degree your triumph or de
feat.
From the point where you now stand, two
channels run, in one of which the lines o
your destiny will lie-two paths diverge, II
ore of which your fortunes will be found
The one is course of active industry, o
resolute firmness, of undertaking integrity
and will conduct you BY sure gradatlons tt
honorable usefulness, to Independent compe
tence. and to virtuous fame. The other is
career of inglorious Incidence and proaigat
excess, and will terminate in disaster, degra
dation and iufamy.
Young men, as we would rejoice in you
prosperity, aud mourn your overthrow, ~
entreat you, above all things, seriously t
ponder the words Of this timely counsel. L
whatever pursuit you may engage--in what
ever terprise you may embark, erer remem
Der, that there is one great rirtue. which fror
its alliance with almost every other canno
fail to facilitate your progress, and ensur
YOUR ultimate success--and that there is on
great and damning uicc, which breeds a fea'
, ful progeny, that will inevitably blast you
prospects aud seal your irretricvable rui!
Let the golden rule Of Temperance presid
over and regulate your lives. Let its pr
, cepts not only be written on the palms
t your hands, but craven oil your hearts, an
stamped upon your minds. Suffer not I'll