Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1853-05-31
BE SOMETHING.
nY NELL TRrTuMoop.

Yes, be something. Begin this very hour.
You have been just no where and nobody long
enough. Cast aside that don't care spirit that
you lOssess, and stand before the world rs a
man !-as such, act. You can do it-bc some
thing if you choose You were not placed
here to be a tax upon mankind-a do-no-
thing-far from it! Each one of us has task
allotted to us-a task which should be, if it is
not, performed.
Suppose our predecessors ambitious spirit
had been kept i'll the background, Just because
of some trivial disappointment or failure attend
ing its first appearance little discourage
ment at the onset; what then? America had
not been discovered! Invention, that which
has awakened dormant powers and nerved the
soul of man for some great undertaking
ken the spell which was thrown over inanimate
nature, rendering it thing of life, chad re-
manned dormant.
will be somethingr spoke the brave perse-
vering spirits of the past-and they became
something. Obstacles, it is true, were in their
way, but they overcame them. Poverty stared
them threateningly in the face-they met un-
daunted its fierce gaze. Friends, when most
needed, forsook them-still they remained un-
shaken in their purpose. The spirit of perseve-
rance had been awakened, and despite of all
Instructions, it would go on and onward until
There a few, at the present day. who are
imbued with a spirit of the past-who have
said-I will be something and are fast fulfil
ling their promise.
To such as have made this resolve would
say-on, on my friends in the course COM
menced. Yes, on! though the fiery bolts of
heaven should threaten to consume YOU! On
through the hurricane of strife-the wild sea
of passion-the storm of treachery! On through
all, until you arrive at the summit for which
you started. Would that this world con-
tanned greater number of these 'be something
spirits.
Young man-young woman-yc who have
just launched your bark upon the waves of 'life's
uncertain sea- listen, l entreat you, to what l
am about to remark.
Would you be happy and useful in this life
be something; be not afraid to undertake
great things, you can accomplish them. The
summit ofFame can be attained; the road that
leads to it may, at time, be intricate, and al
most inacccssible-you may lose sight of the
tar-otf and dimly-ightcd beacon that crowns
its summit; ebon darkness may surround you;
you may lose your way, yet you should not de-
spair. Commence anew in the chase, and then
on-on, with the desperation of wrecked sea-
man, while swimming towards the distant, vet
he thinks, can-be-ohtained shore.
As the ambition of the mariner urges him
over the waves that threaten to engul ph him,
so let your ambition urge you over the stormy
pillows of the sea of life, until the point-the
point for which you have started, is reached.
One word in conclusion. Arise, We that
have become discouraged at trifes-bestiry your
self; the spirit of ambition is in you, throw it
forth to the world. God did not design for it
to remain dormant-useless; therefore he sent
the spirit of adversely to bring it to light and
instead of being thankful and profting, as you
should, by the same. Yes-you have said 'an
unwise Providence has laid upon me greater
burden than l can bear, and l must sink be-
meath its oppressive yoke Now, this were
wrong. Trials should be considered as bles-
sings regarded as necessary requisites to bring
forth the ennobling qualities of the inner man.
.Stnr-, ,SrnnnleG Rnrner