The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1880-12-02

And bids thee $50, and sin no morep'
-MOoRE
Common-Sense Spectacles.
There could scarcely be an idea more
mistaken and prejudicial to future success
in business-life and moral growth, than
. that young men should rush to cities with
the expectation of finding fame and for
tune. In ninety it might almost be said
ninety nine-cases out Of every hundred
the dclusion is soon dispelled and the
worst results follow, even to the wreck.
ling Of all that would otherwise have been
pure, good. noble and useful. The belief
that great cities imperatively need them;
that some great metropolis could not by
any possibility get along without their
valuable services; that the ponderous ma
chlnery OF government and trade would
speedily come to stop with out their
shoulder was put to the wheel, is the
baldest OF nonsense, and has about as
much of truth in it as that the oceaD
would miss single one of the herrings
out of the countless billions that swarm
its depths. Every large city has more
than supply, and when boy turns his
back upon home influences, country life,
interested friends and the guiding hands
and warm love of parents and sisters 10
tempt an unknown, he very soon gets be-
You'd the depth of his sounding-linc ana
has left behind the very best anchors Of
peace and safety.
But setting aside such considerations
and looking at the matter from the stand
point of trade, there is no room for them.
Every one is supplied with sufficiency
to do all required work, and the class Of
loafers needs no swelling and the graves
in paupers' cemeteries no additions
Heaven knows there is more than enough
in both. The hive is ever full and swarm
ing; the ranks of misery crowded, never
seeking in vain for recruits, and the cells
OF the prison and walls of the poor-h house
never wanting for inmates. And who,
most of all, swell the list? The question
is pertinent and the answer plain.
1t is the young men who come from
the country under the delusive dream Of
wealth, ease and honors.
Is this not truth? Stop ana consider
for moment. Freed from all the re-
straints of home, the over and falsely am
bilious boy rushes to the city He finds
what? In the first place, that lie is not
wanted, and IN the second, that what he
was led to believe by the hearthstone of
home was the most brilliant OF electric
lights is nothing more than the most fee
bic of "tallow dips" What then? He is
soon penniless; must earn something to
satisfy the pangs of hunger; literally sells
himself for bread; finds companions in
the lowest strata; finds he is no more con-
sequence than an atom of dust; becomes
dispirited; lives somehow, dies prema-
turely or fingers out a miserable existence,
and is forgotten even before buried.
This is the history of thousands upon
thousands. But young men appear never
to read it. The great cities do not want
them and they arc only in the way.
They are able to survive without their
transcendent abilities, or otherwise they
will be sought, and greatness, honor and
millions shOWered upon them. If you
are taller bya cubit in mental stature than
your fellows; if you have deeper pene-
trated the mystery of nature; if you have
evolved from the unknown some great
truth; if you have more successfully faith
omed the ocean, or your wings scared un-
til powdered with star dust, depend upon
| it you will be known, searched out, and
you can't hide your light under bushel,
or keep yourself from what smacks of
hero-worship. But remember also, there
| are two ways Gas we'll as two kinds) TO
gain fame-thc one legitimately and the
other to be-we were almost betrayed in.
| to using term not only intelligent but
profane-into it!
Plain talk? 1t lisa subject that demands
it. Do away, and as soon as possible,
with the preposterous idea that you are
needed in cities. Stay at home, surround
ed by comfort and cheered and guarded
| by love; grow up with the place; gain in
| t1uence and wealth there. You cannot
come to city and fight successfully, sim
gle handed, against 1.-THE world, the flesh
and the devil;'' you cannot battle even
| hopefully against long established and
powerful men and "soulless corporations. y
| The chance that some contingency will
arise, some accident occur, that will make
you world-famous, is about the same as
that you will discover and turn to practical
use the insane dream of perpetual motion.
| Stay at home. Make yourself the cen
trail figure there, if you can; improve the
years as they pass: exert yourself for good !,
Tor purity, temperance, humanity and
Christianity. Don't throw away love aud
peace and plenty for the tumult and
husks Of city life. Don't wreck yourself
both here and hereafter; don't fatter
yourself you are a big la veritable
whale among small fis1-a gigantic Guilt
yer among Lilliputians Don't willfully
4 shut your eyes to the right and EN- brace
the wrong.
"But," you ask, "what if cannot sue
coed at homer Cannot, when assisted
by friendship; pressed forward and pro-
tected by love; cared for in sickness and
in health; surrounded by everything fav-
orable? Then, how, in the name Of high
Heaven, would y0n expect to do so when
every hand would be raised against you
every one dragging you down and tram
ping you under foot, every tongue wag-
ging to your dishonor; every temptation
Turing you to destruction! The more
your failure, the better you are situated
at home-anywhere out of great city.