Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-01-15
A Word to Young Men.

lnen LCCblI0IS Diu 1Oi pOPuie1Aty
by fine and wise exhortations to the
young The book makers are cons
tinuaIly shying volumes at the young
mans head, and every few days the
papers preach at him in articles full
of savage advice. Certainly, if the
young men of this generation do not
make mark in the world, and be-
come heroes and statesmen and phil
osophers, it will not be for want Of
instruction. How can they miss the
road and wander off into by-paths
when the track is pointed out by a
regiment of guides and is lined
with guide-boards? 1t is just
possible that young men may
be instructed too much.
There is such a thing as killing by
kindness. Stufing is as bad as
starving in it's effects, though rather
pleasanter in its operation. 1t is
notable that in the counsel given to
our young men the negative element
gets more than it's share of atten
n. They are advised against an
abundance of things. They are
treated to a dispensation of nots.
They are warned against this
pleasure, forbidden that indulgence,
prohibited from a score of entertain-
ments. At every tempting opening
they are met by moral placard tell
| ing them that no young man must
enter at his peril, and whenever they
turn their heads towards an alluring
prospect they are brought up with a
very sharp pull of the moral check
rein. Most of the moralizing plas-
tered over them is made up of Mega
tives. It is assumed that they need
nothing so much as holdbacks.
Good young men were never so
plenty as at the present day, Our
good homes, excellent schools, i'm
proving social apparatus, and the
genial influences of our civilization
show their best results in the finer
type of young men and maidens
growing up in our community. Still
there is good deal of vice and dis
sipation, and certain want OF the
tough and hardy virtues which char
acterized former generation. Not
withstanding the Sunday schools,
the pious instructions lavished on
our young people, and the literary
confectionery served up for them IN
the namby PANTY fiction manufac
tured for their reading, there is a
great deal of rowdyism, and actual
vice among them, while the
hardy virtues which go to make
men strong and serviceable pill
lars of society are at a discount,
There is a growing impression that
coddling and caressing and the dis
pensation of nots and literary sugar.
plums are not enough 10 save boys
from the bad and make stalwart, Ell =
ergetic men of them. They need a
more active and energetic discipline,
more bracing regimen than modern
culture affords. There are elements
of overlooked Importance in the hard
methods, the self-denial, the expos
ures, the rough and burly treatment
of bygone days. There are qualities
in human nature which requ re hard
ship and exposure, the rough-and
tumble of life in the actual world, to
bring out. Self-reliance, industry,
self denial, contact with others, are
absolutely necessary to develop the
manher elements, and turn gristle
into bone, and the fabby impulses and
mushy sentiments into infexible
principle and indomitable will. In
nocence is of no account whatever in
this every day world without grit to
back and ambition to vitalize it.
There is an element of reason in the
almost universal preference for a
man who is smart and clever and en-
ergetic, even though the robes of
his reputation are somewhat stained,
to the good enough namby-pamby
or the cultured and conscientious no
body.
The first advice of man of the
world to young men who expect to
live in this world, is to be somebody.
The culture that does not eliminate
in action is useless. The education
that does not sharpen the faculties,
and train the judgment, and fit its
possessor for tougher wrestle with
obstacles, and more energetic or
useful career, is a wicked waste of
the time and privilege spent in getting
| it. At the bottom of Horace Gree
leys advice to young men to go West
was an admirable element
of relf-reliance and activity.
His "West was everywhere and
anywhere a man could do anything
on his own account. The bottom
fact of it was self-directing, self
reliant action. It was command to
go and do something instead of lott
ering about in other peoples way,
and hanging on to the skirts of other
peoples garments. And it is here
that the sturdy and tonic Counsel of
the self>made man of the world is so
much better than the sentimental
and gilt-edged and perfumed advices
that are given young men from the
pulpit and platform. Half the vice
and dissipation of our young men
come from sheer do.nothlngism.
They are not engaged in anything
important and urgent enough to call
their faculties into play, and develop
their manhood, and make them feel
their own weight, and inspire them
with a proper self-respect.
The scum collects from stag
nation. The rot comes from
living still There is nothing
after all, to save young men from the
temptations of modern life and draw
out their latent capacity, and make
] ] <sE lacas,