Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-05-27
The YOunng Mans Needs.

IL Is lmpOltdut tudL d young udu
should at once understand that he has
duties-that his is not to be only selfish
outside existence /; that he has not mere.
ly a pleasant life before him, in which
he shall consult his own convenience
condition of present comfort Snd future
wealth; but an existence in which he
shall do something direct and tangible
for his own moral welfare and the real
good of the world about him. He must
make his life necessary to others. It is
best that young man should face this
fact at once. Duty is life's imperative
demand upon him. He may have re-
garded his boyhood as a time of irksome
restraint, and longed to be his own mas
ter. when he could do ''just as he had a
mind to-" But no man can ever do
that. So soon as 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. It only shifts the matter. I wish
1t were go obvious that I need not men
tion that a young mans first need is
character-not principle merely, but
character, the result of principle. He will
not find that 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 all gains. That he has to
make. He will find nothing SO valua-
BILE, SO Sn-valuable; nothing that can
stand him in its stead. nothing that can
supply its place. Young men regard
with MI, l. l.
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-that
success comes of what is done for them,
not by them. This is a young mans
fallacy. A start givee 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 q
man starts himself, and the thing he
starts on is 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 q
man can afford to forego every other aid.
1t may not make him rich or leading
man it may not be the way to lmme-
diate and flashy results. Perhaps it
may never give these; but these are
not what young men ought to want.
They ought not to occupy SO much
thought and exert so much influence.
In themselves. they are of no possible
value. They will do very well should
they come in honorably by the way
but we are foolishly perverse when we
rank money or family abeve 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 a firm re-
solve to abide by principle-who has no
meanness, and will stoop to no deceit
who despises policy, and will have 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 conf
dence, and love, and grow with God
and man.