Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1866-02-22
To Young Men.


One of the NEST important considers
tions Of human life, and that which aim
at the highest good of the race, is tbs
early training and educational appli
ances to unas7eloped nature. Educa
ton is to the human soul what sculpture
is to block of marble-it shows none
of it's inherent beauties until the skill o.
the polisher brings out the color and
makes the surface shine. The boy leave:
his indulgent mothers embrace, with
cakes and candies, for the distant schoo
room, As he moves along, very reluct.
antly, his attention is often arrested b,
persons 10 the street and by surrounding
objects, until he has quite forgotten tbs
attracticps of the school room. Hf
is now nnder the keen eye of his
teacher His books are open, the irk-
some studies commenced The teacher
stimulates him by telling him what he
will gain by committing to mew0-y this
page, and learning this and thai table,
until he taxes every power of his mind
to obtain little praise In this course,
we see at once that bis love of approba-
ton has induced him to acquire super
fetal knowledge at the expense of the
reflective organs, having 30 appreeiation
or adaptedness to anything. Many a
dear youth is cheated out of thorough
practical education by getting this wrong
start ASK
Sometimes little praise is necessary,
but administered too often, will surely
eat out the wholesome channel through
which all solid and practical truthsmust
daily traverse AS this love of praise
increases, the young student longs for
more studies; not satisfied to learn thor
oughlyithe English grammar and use it,
for that which it is intended, in making
poetry and prose writer's fully understood,
but Latin, Greek, &c, too often thrown
into the hopper of the scholar until
scarcely any one branch of learning ia
digested and sufficiently understood to be
used in business--the love of appreciation
increasing in proportion TO the number
of branches persaed. Whatever is worth
learning at all is worth learning we'll.
The chambers of the mind shouldn't be
filed with useless lumber, which destroys
the balance, and produces would be
literary ignoramus. Now, as we travel
along this road with an ardent desire to
obtain knowledge, we must not allow the
votaries of fashion to crowd as of the
track; the mind must be collected, com
centrated, and wrapped up in close in
vestigation of that particular theme
which in the perceptive, waiting to be
ground through the reflective, and rivet-
ed home on the mind whenever occasion
requires. Thia gay young crowd which
continually files our streets, are court
ing admiration and admiring themselves,
until all desire for knowledge has passed
away. A new coat is often a very great
hinderanceinth the way Of learning. Now,
my dear young man, who is resolved to
make himself useful in the world, and
make himself happy, let me make one
or two suggestions.
1st We will invite you to leave the
world of fashion and wicked extrava-
gance; attend thoroughly to your own
affairs; contract no debates; pay for
thing when you buy il; and only pnr-
chase when you really need, always bear
ing strictly in mind that considerably
less must go out than you receive.
I'd. Never make mp your mind that
you are any other person than yourself;
act and think for yourself; speak the
truth always when you say anything; in
short, do, unto others as you would that
others should do unto you, and your life
will be happy in the fear of God and not
man. Then let US stand q moment and
contemplate this God, together with our
selves. in relative view. IF we reflect on
the work of material nature, their num-
Der incomprehensible and their extent
unreasonable, each of them a part so
admirably framed, the connections Of the
whole SO axqnisitely regulated, and oil
derived from one and the same agent.
II we recollect the far more noble ec-
complishments of elegant taste and dis
eerning judgment, of refined affections
and exalted sentiments, which are to be
found among the several orders of in
telligent existence, and all of them flow
ing in rich emanations from the one sole
foundation of intellectual light. If we
farther consider this author Of material
beauty and moral excellency as q guard
ian, 3 governor and benefactoT to all
his creatures, supporting the whole sys-
tenn and protecting each individual by a
ever watchful Providence presiding over
the minutest affairs, and causing all
events to exterminate in the most ex-
tensive good-hespi Ig, with unremitted
hberality, his benefits upon every capa-
bic object, and making the circuit of the
universe seminary of happiness.