Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1855-08-21
From TX Marvels Dream Life.
Dreams of Manliness,

AND has manhood no dreams Does
the soul wther at that Rubicon, which
lies between the Gallic country Of youth
and the Rome of manliness Does not
fancy still love to cheat the heart, and
weave gorgeous tissues to hang upon thai
horizon which lies along the years that
are to come :? Is happiness so exhaust.
ed, that no new forms of it lie in the
mines of imagination, for busy hopes 10
drag up to-day?
Where then would live the motives to
an upward looking of the eye, and of
the soul where the beckonings that bid
US ever-OnUard.
But these later dreams are not the
dreams OF fond boyhood, whose eye sees
rarely below the surface of things nor
yet the delicious hopes of sparkling.
bio oded youth they are dreams Of sober
truStfmlnesS ofpractical results, ofhard
wrought aoorld success, and-may be-
of Love and of Joy.
Ambitious forays do not rest where
they rested once hitherto, the balance
Of youth has given you in all that you
have dreamed of accomplishment "a
strong vantage against age: hitherto, in
all your estimates, you have been able to
multiply them by that access Of thought
aud Of strength which manhood would
bring 10 you. Now, this is forever ended
There is great meaning in that word
MANHOOD. 1t covers all human growth.
1t supposes no extensions or increase ;
it is integral, fixed, perfcct-the whole.
There is no getting beyond manhood ;
it is much to live up to it; but once
reached, you are all that man was made
to be in this world.
1t is a strong thought-that man is
perfected, so far as strength goes that
he aOHl meuer be ADLER to do his vork than
under the Uery sun auhich is 7,ow shining
on him. There is seriousness-tha
few call to mind-in the reflection tha,
acAateuer yow do in this age of manhood
is an unalterable type Of your soholl
Jigness. You may qualify particulars
Of your character, by re6nements, by
special studies, and practice; but, once
man--and there is no more manliness
to be lived for.
This thought kindles your soul to new
and swifter dreams Of ambition than be
longed 10 youth. They were toys: these
are weapons. They were !ancies +; thes'
are motives. The soul begins to strug
gle with the dust, the sloth, the circum
stance, that beleaguer humanity, and tt
stagger into The van Of action.
Perception, whose limits lay along 1
narrow horizon, now tops that horizon
and spreads and reaches toward the hea
ven Of the Infnitude. The mind feel
its birth, and struggles toward the grea
birth master. The heart glows its hu
} manities, even, yield aud crimple unde
} the fierce heat Of meatal pride. Vow
leap upward, and pile rampant upo1
rampant, to scale all the degrees of hu
man power.
Are there not times in every man
life when there flashes upon him feel
ing-nuy, more, an abs olute conviction
that this soul is but spark belongin
to some upper fire and that by as niue
as we draw near by effort, by resolve, b
s intensity Of endeavor, to that upper fir
+ by so much we draw nearer to on
/ home, and mate ourselves with angels
8 Is there not a ringing desire in man
minds to seize hold of what floats sbov
}. US in the universe Of thought, and
h orag down what shreds we can to sea
d ter in the world Is it not belonging
). greatness to catch lightning from II
4 plains where lightning lives, and curb
/. for tho handling of man
}. Resolve is What makes man mani
It est; not puny resolve, not crude dete
n mination, not errant Purpose.-bus tn
70 strong and indelatigable Will, whi'
10 ltRAada down dificultias and dansaP. m