Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-03
A CLEAN RECORD IN YOUTH.

"The latter part of a wise mans life"
says a distinguished writer of the last
century, sis spent in correcting the pre-
JUDGES, vices and evil habits contracted
in the former" Perhaps this is the old
English view of the best way of attain
ing to a life of virtue and an old age of
peace. But q more Christian way of
seeking the same end is rather to seek
out by what means can a young man
keep so clean a record that his old age
shall be, as it were, unrutied and I'M
sullied, reaping the ease and enjoyment
Of good habits earlier formed, the end
Of life being free from the struggles Of
youth, and the carrying out of practices
then formed. DR.. A~lexander's new
translation of Psalms cxix. 8, reads,
"By what means al a youth keep clean
his path" Perhaps this is very rare
and difficult, yet possible and impor-
tant.
A young man possesses the strongest
force Of all nature, and therefore it is
the most difficult to get it directed with
sufficient precision and to move exactly
in the right direction. In youth impulse
is strong, habit is partly uniformed, and
experience nothing as a guide. Impulse,
passion, energy, and a sort of bouudless
self-con6dence and faith in the future,
are the great guides Of most youth at
eighteen. They are ready to rush into
war or into love, into business, and
sometimes into dissipation, thought
lessly, as at no other period Of life. All
the loftiest virtues and all the deadliest
vices present themselves to the choice
of each young man with a solicitation
and vehemence at this period not known
before or after. He loves novelty, too,
at this period, and a wide range from
which to choose; and all things, good
and bad, fill his mind alternately, SIM
ply because his habits are not yet fixed.
He is ready at a moment to rush into
the noblest and Hottest enterprises most
u~nsel6shly, and rise at once; or he is
liable to dash of into some wild freak,
break q parents heart, and wreck his
own hopes and prospects for the future.
How shall q young man guide himself
successfully and wisely, and direct his
energies to the best ends? If any man
of forty will look back on the dreams
and projects of his youth, he will be sur
prised to find how many of the things he
felt most sure of easily and certainly ac-
eomplishing he has utterly failed to
effect, and yet how many things he
thought hardly possible to him, but re-
solved to keep aiming at, which he has
succeeded in beyond his expectations.
The poor young man has thus become
rieh-the ignorant learned, and the youth
of fierce tempers, self-poised, restrained,
decorous and powerful. In fact there
10 hardly anything to which a young
mans energies are accurately directed
that he cannot succeed in but without
that steady constant aim, the strong
will become weak, and early success
and natural promise will do nothing but
disappoint.
Hoe, then, shall a youth attain that
happy self-directing power that shall in
sure a successful and wise course ?
There are two voices that prefer their
guidance. Some have supposed them
contradictory, yet they really are COM
Elemental. The voice of Reason is one,
and that of authority the other.
TIE body is one great authority-a
ixed fact, and yet overlooked by most
young men, who seldom really believe
in their own bodies till compelled in old
age. They eat and drink by appetite
and impulse until compelled by dyspep-
STA to reason, aud 50 they sleep or keep
awake at night, until their nervous sys-
TENS are all disordered. Yet to learn
bodily circumspection for the sake of
the body alone is not the highest or best
or strongest motive. But a man a far
more easily learn to control the body
for the sake of the mind, and from habits
Of alternate exercise and repose for all
his bodily powers, as the best and easiest
mode of keeping the mind and will in
the most perfect health for every duty.
In like manner every man knows the
value of a clear, sound mind. Different
sorts and degrees Of education may be
best for different persons, but good
sense and clear thinking powers are the
wisdom of oil. And yet how many
plead their genius as an excuse for want
Of application and Of steady efforts to
overcome weakness Of the mind. In
fine, few find mental cultivation for its
own sake most easy or useful. Reason
itself is but a means to an end.
Hence we cultivate the intellect best
for some moral end-to know how to
perform perfectly something that we
ought to do. Our obligations to other
beings or TO ourselves will best make it
Easy and reasonable to form those habits
that shall most perfectly cultivate both
the body and the mind. For a man to
have o firm faith in his otcn nature, body,
intellect and moral powers, to reason
from them and let them speak to him,
and cultivhte each to the highest de-
gree, will be one great and good guide
to every young man if rightly followed.
But there are other voices and author
tiles ever speaking to the man who will
listen and reason. Nature all round
him and conscience within; the changes
of Providence in each mans lot; the
experiences of friends and the counsels
Of parents and loving ones; the words
Of the wise, the aged and the good
these the Church Of all ages and the