Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-07-19
Che frsemau.
MONTPELIER. VT.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1882.
A Letter to our Youth.

To TIE You've PEOPLE OF VERMONT,
GREETING:-I make no question that in
these days when the higher schools and
colleges of the state, and throughout the
country, have closed the work of another
yoar, and your associates who have been
engaged in study are with you once more,
you have been brought specially to con-
slider the question of a course of study for
yourselves. You have thought differently
about the matter. Some have said the
confinement of school life is too close, the
work distastciul to me; | will keep out of
the schools. Othor5 of you have said,
am 50 much needed at home that tho mat
ter must be delayed for the present. When
the farm work is in different hands, as
whom Il sister in-law comes into tho home
80 that | can be excused from the kitchen,
then | will consider the matter OJhors
hlvo said yes, see no reason why I may
not 20 rs woll MS others. Father has the
stamps, and he may as well spend them
on mo as to keep them for mo- Still an
other class have been saying, out of the
depths of natures thirsting for better
things, how much | wish I might have
some advantages in the schools, but it
seems impossible under my circun stances.
Give me your attention for moment,
young people, I have something to sug-
sest; and in the beginning let me tell you
that there never has been time when
there was such an opportunity for live,
etrnest, culturol young men and women
as at the present. The places stand beck-
onng you. and are ready to give you
labor and its honorable reward AS soon as
you are ftte to fill them WE'LL The eyes
OF the world, too, are largely turned to-
wards New Elgland, as the source from
which many of the best workers of the
world are to come. 1t is literally true
that such premium is not put upon work
ers from any other spot on earth The
world, to be sure, is not particular as to
where man comes from if only he is able
to do efficient work yet in the start when
all ones record is yet to be made, to have
come from New England is great recon-.
mend. A careful observer says that in the
older western states the young man from
New England has an advantage of moro
than thirty per cent over the young man |
native there. There Is reason for all |
this; it is not mere casualty. Men from
these regions have made honorable re-
cords in the past and the world wants
more Of the same stamp.
Reflect for nome mt how large share
OF the enterprise and vigorous thinking of
our age is in the hands and brains of men
reared among the hills of New England
or who are but generation removed from
residence here. We have come to n time
when this enterprise and vigorous think
ing are demanded more than ever before.
Then, too, there is a kind of patient pluck,
that IS developed in the struggle with our
rocky soil and rigorous climate, which is
always at premium everywhere. All this
call for mon and women from these parts
Is but the voice of God calling you to be
ready for noble work when the more
direct and personal call comes for you to
take this or that place. The time has now
come also when tho great Battles of the
world are not to be won by personal
prowess and vlgor of muscle, but by the
power of intellect and strength of thought.
The present demand is more for brain than
Drawn. We get vast power of muscle
IN this cou ntry by immigration, but some
body m ust dothc thinking for these hordcs .
or onr nation will be ruined by their COM
lng When the lad of fifteen years ia
ready to begin his life work we shall have
seventy millions of people; aud few
thousand must DO the thinking for all .
these millions. So tho times demand of
you young people thorough training for
this great work.
YoUH FRENp. }