The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-03-04
NEW BLOOMFIELD, PA, TUESDAY, MARCH 4 1879.
Duties Of Tho Young Man.

Duties Of Tho Young Man.
TT IS important that young man
i should at once understand that he
has duties-that his is not to be the only
selfish, outside existence; that he has
not merely pleasant life before him, In
which he shall consult his own conven-
ienoe; not merely nm existence Of toll,
as the condition Of present comfort and
future wealth but an existence in which
he shall do something direct and tangi-
bic for his own moral welfare and the
real good of the world about him. He
must make his life necessary to others.
1T is best that young man should face
this fact ut once. Duty Is lies impera-
tive demand upon him. He may have
regarded his boyhood as time OF irk-
some restraint, and longed 10 be his own
master, when he could do "just as he
had mind to-" But no man can ever
do that. SO soon rs he passes out OF the
government and control of parent and
teacher, he passes under the control of
duty. There Is no escape from an obli-
CATION inhering in our very nature.
Manhood brings no exemption from
tasks. 1t only shifts the master. / wish
it were so obvious that / need not men
tion 1t, that young mans first need Is
character not principle merely, but
character, the result of principle. He
will not find this has been done in any
way for him. Principles have been in
stilled, examples set; but they have not
given, they cannot give, character, that
most costly of all attainments, that
most priceless of ell gains. That he has
to make. He win find nothing so val
liable, so in-valuable nothing that can
supply its place. Young men regard
with envy those whom they think more
favorably situated than themselves
who can get, as they think, better
start. They love to be boosted rather
than to climb. They think outside
things are going TO make success-tbat
success comes of what is done for them,
not by them. This is n young mans
fallacy. a start giren is of very little
moment. 1t is not money, or favor, or
family that starts man. Think what
you will of these, the truth is that
man starts himself, and the thing he
starts on IL character: and he who makes
the best start, and has the best chance
for every kind Of success, is he who has
the broadest, and deepest, and firmest
principle. Without that, every other
| advantage Is valueless with It man
can afford to forego every other aid. 1t
may not make him rich or a leading
man it may not be the way to immedi-
ate and fiashy results. Perhaps it may
never give these but these are not what
young men ought to want. They ought
not to occupy so much influence. In
themselves, they are of no possible val
ue. They will do very well should they
come in honorably by the way but we
are foolishly perverse when we rank
money or family above character, or
suppose that, with any decent man or
woman, they ever take its place. The
young man who starts in life with a
clear, moral sense, with firm resolve to
abide by principle-who has no mean
ness, and will stoop to no deceit-who
despises policy, and will none of it.
that is the young man who shall win
life's truest rewards, and wear the crown
immortal that Is the young man who
shall have respect, and confidence, and
love, and grow with God and man.