Grass Valley telegraph., 1854-01-19
GEMS OF THOUGHT.

GEHS OF IuUUGHI.
Professor THOMAS RAINEY, in a recent lee
ture, delivered before the United States Ne
chanic's Institute, on the subject of :. Genius
in it's aptitudes, Odds and Ends,' thus beau
tifully expresses important truths, which are
well worthy the thought of all young men
''The idea of the age is not what do you
believe, but what do you know, and what can
you do? This query appeals with peculiar
force to every young man, as he enters his
trade or profession, and especially when he
seeks employment from others who seldom
give their money but for a consideration. A
young man who deceives himself by assum-
ing responsibilities that he cannot discharge.
finds that the failure wounds him for life, and
influences every subsequent action. Most
young men possess tendency toward the in
diligence of the widest Imagination. They
fondly dream of bliss or power, without MAX
ing one step toward the attainment of either.
They cut themselves fully loose from all the
shores of real life, and with full sail, without
a pilot, no unerring compass of experience,
skim away into the unknown seas of specu-
lation and fancy, reckless alike of all the
breakers that lie along the coast of youth, or
the fearful maelstrom which ere long swal-
lows all their reckless hopes.
+ "Young gentlemen, it becomes you to la
Dor. Idleness is apt to picture to you that
''good time coming" when, free from toll
and care, you, can learn all things as by intui-
tion. Be not deceived-that day will never
come. You must gather the gems Of knoWl-
edge as they are turned up day by day by the
plOughshare of experience and toll Ambi-
tion, too, becomes you. 1t is your privilege,
in our beloved country, to do whatever man
has done or man may do. It is right that
you should realize your privilege to tread in
any path that leads to greatness or renown.
II know that the young mechanic frequent
ly feels disheartened. He enters life without
flourish of the ''family'' trumpet He
bears no flaming letters of introduction all
relative to what his father, his uncle, or some
one of the same name, was, or did He is to
be the architect of his own fortune or fame.
He is stranger, and frequently feels like
pilgrim, too. He is foreigner, for he comes
up from the unknown walks Of life and
thank God for these and such. He is not
compelled to fritter and waste his genius, i'm
molate his life in family pomp, parade and
Importance, in the genealogy Of defunct
family, and bend his mind to science rather
than to the mysterious genealogy of " coat
of arms" A noble spirit moves him-his
soul is nerved by truth and thought. Butso-
ciety discourages his approaches, although it
tclerates him in the abstract. Its language
to him is
''Honor and wealth from no exertion rise,
Cheat all you can, and tell as many lies"
Society, instead Of surrounding him with
its real sympathies, taking him to its honors,
and familiarizing him with eleyating and en-
nobling associations, keeps him at a distance,
until by act upon act, and triumph upon tri-
umph, he has struggled up and fought his
way into usefulness and renown. And it is
truly painful to sec how many young men of
glowing souls, thus discarded from the society
of the virtuous and good, turn almost by in
stinctive necessity, to the downward path Of
ruin, and end the lives Of usefulness and hon
or which they have proposed to society, but
which it has rejected, in loose abandonment
and shame. But be not dismayed, young
man, when society leaves you alone. It thus
rejected every one of the bright names that
glow on the history Of greatness. While the
rejection has abandoned or ruined thousands,
it only nerved the ambition Of the earnest
few, and the more certainly hurried them on
to greatness. Nothing is stable but labor.
The follies of two, or at most three genera
tions Of those you envy, viii, with unerring
certainty, bring them to the lower side of the
wheel again until their sons and grandsons
coming again from the unknown walks, with
out family prestige, fame or power, shall turn
to honest toll to gain name"
Gg- Mrs. Partington says her minister