Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1876-02-03

yourself into the sea or u0Wn the pftEl-
pice Into this God made balance place
the good and i'll of earth and weigh them
and then hold fast TO that which is good.
The young of the past have been deeply
injured by a philosophy which informed
them that they possessed no power, that
they must seek some day divine over
shadowing that would in an instant change
their natures and set them out upon the
new career of saints. Under the influence
ofthis blight our youth have assumed them
selves IN be powerless, and have drifted
along in every folly and weakness. ex-
pecting the Deity to come and remake
them at some later day. The tens of mil
lions of ruined youth in the world now
show that God does not often come 10 a
life that has neglected itself. God sent
His angel of human will and human
Judgment before Him, and He loves TO
enter the heart, not that rejected His mes
sengers, but that received them.
Hence, the first law of reform or of pro-
lection is that we dare not think the
thought or do the deed of fool. Caste
lar says that Alexandra Dumas failed of
greatness because she was willing to tell
lie in his books" Literature reposes
upon truth. SO good life reposes upon
common sense, and cannot stand upon a
basis of folly. Why should God send 9TH
er angels If We despise the firsts
Second law of success This intelligence
must busy itself chiefly In keeping al
ways before the mind thigh ideals" Life
must not be projected upon scale OF
simple amusement, or of riches. or ease,
but upon the plan Of high-spirited ma
ture. This thought has already been In.
volved In what we have said about the
beautiful outlook of youth. Setting forth
in his career, each human being living In
our land and century perceives light on
the far-off horizon. Before us in early
years this light is white and charming.
To compel the will to look always toward
il, and 10 persuade the heart always 10
love it, is the highest duty of early life.
This ideal will be found composed of two
things-an integrity toward man and God,
and then some idol of this life. Follow
it, and you will find religion as to God
and glorious fe-pursuit as to earth.
Byron held TO only one-half the vision,
But he made gigantic world out of that
half. His ideal never moved from its
place. The Scotch reviewers could not
extinguish or eclipse the star. Wherever
the unhappy Lord went his harp was in
his hand, and all the world of beauty, all
the seas, all the mountains, all the joys
and griefs of mankind came to him to be
blessed with the Immortality of song,
Before Franklin stood the dream of wis
dom and knowledge. Before all who have
ever reached valuable distinction there
has stood a future full of a light that has new
er once gone out. With these two lofty
heights before the eye, the height OF NOR
ais and of personal development, life can.
not be failure, end where IL may, in mid
die wears or in old age.
But these thoughts bring US now to one
Of the most powerful enemies Of the young.
There Is a foe on the field that Is van
gushing many gifted brain. OF the
power Of sin and folly / have always
spoken. Let Us confess now the hunger
for riches 10 be one of the most injurious
appetites that gnaws al the modern heart
strings. Ii is all the more 10 be dreaded
because 1t comes backed by the philoso-
ply of the whole century. The philoso.
ply Of Plato and the Bible turned men
toward spirituality, and forth came the
thinkers, the poets, the philosophers and
the apostles. The philosophy of Bacon
came and turned men toward things.
Railways and ships and carriages and
houses and farms and stores and all the
million Of things poured out Of the new
shape of reason like sparks from confia.
grafton. Whereas once the world was
full of beauty or chivalry, 1t Is now over.
flowing with things. Money represents
all these things. II will buy anything
from a diamond to railway. Hence
money stands for almost ali the world
material and dust made and perishable. In
other times il might have stood for religion
or knowledge or culture. But our phil
osophy being material, money follows the
genius of the times and stands for things
and not for soul. Thus before the mil
lions of the young shines star unw0thy
10 guide the spirit, yellow star lurid as
Mars, sickly as the Dog.star in August.
The Astor who has just died, the great
millionaires about TO go from earth, have
written over their own pursuits, "All Is
vanity" Ii only a few men In a genera
ton were struggling for gold, the world
could bear the strain, but when the public
philosophy Is material and all the sweet
infants are born into the passion for money
as they are born into liberty and Ian guage,
the outlook seems draped with clouds.
Such being the weakness of the age, the
youth III whose DDsOHl tueIt IeHlhlnh some
of the spiritual power accustomed 10 shed
over the future something OF divine
light must battle against the sin OF mis-
day, and set up again some ideal holicr
than money. He mus. open the hearts OF
all the great dead that lie dreaming in the
silent past and find how feeble In all Of
them was the love Of money, but how
powerful the love Of the true, the beauti.
full and the good. He must lift the
shroud from the forehead of all, all from
the Sappho of old Greece and the Terence
and Virgil of Rome 10 the last great soul
that has left earth, and there see that
for none of them did riches weave single
wreath Humility of poverty and Of
soul inserted all the flowers in their chap,
lets.
1t Is the custom now Of those who have
lived for money alone 10 be urged In their
last DAYS 10 make large requests 10 schools,
colleges, libraries; and some of them less
perfectly ruined by the passion than
Others do surrender at last the riches tina,
cannot follow them. This dying act We
call charity. And such it Is. But such a
final administration Of the effects of the
dead only shows that our little money,
before we come to the grave, should take
these spiritual paths confessed 10 be 80
noble. The Wills of the rich are thus
only penitentiai tears falling over mis-.
..If Y,Xy sEa.,lI