Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-01-07
ADDRESS TO YOUNG MEN.

delivered by Rev w. C. Merrill at the MONDAY
meeting OF the annual reception, held Mon
day, January 2, lSSS.l
L have read, somewhere, that once in
time OF peace the Spartans marched to the
celebration of the public games in tri-
partite procession. First came the old
men, white-headed patriarchs of the coun-
ell, Scared and weather-beaten veterans of
the wars, bearing the trophies of many
hard-fought battle as witness of their
claim to place in the ranks of heroism
This was their only reward, this their
only plea, and as they marched they sang:
I'VE have been brave We have been
brave" Next came the young men and
the men of middle age-the nerve and
sinew of the land, and their exuItant pean
was: We are the brave, We are the
braveF Last of all came the children,
with life all untried before them, and
as they walked their anthem was:
!" We shall be brave. We shall be
braveP What a mighty inspiration
1t must have been to that central
band to feel that the thoughts of all before
and Of all behind were fixed on them
" We have been brave" as these plaintive
tones came floating back upon them, the
young men knew full well the sad, plead
ing look in the eyes that were growing
dim with age the yearning hearts of
those whose dearest hope was that the
mantle they had made honorable but had
now cast upon younger shoulders, should
never be dishonored. ave shall be
brave" those tones of childish hope and
exuberanee, the young men knew full we'll
would change to biting taunt and bitter
scorn should they ever prove recreant to
their trust. ave are the bravel" This
was the old mems past, this the children's
future, but grander than all, and better
than all, this was the young mans present.
Years come and go; the great relation
ships of life are changeless. No sooner
has man passed certain period-not
very late in life-than he begins to live
much in the past. Reluctantly, one after
another, he passes his pleasures over to
those who stand where he stood yesterday
in the exultant vigor of early manhood,
and sadly says, "These have been mine"
And not his pleasures only, but all too
many of the duties of life he lays upon
younger shoulders, with the belief that
his work will be better finished and the
hope that his confidence will not prove
misplaced. Or, if he does not do this, but
fingers little longer in the buster ranks,
he deceiyes no one but himself. Time,
with steady finger, is writing in ever
deepening lines the common epitaph of
all" Have beenl have beenp So, too,
inexperienced youth, never satisfied with
the present, is ever looking with hopeful
and longing eyes upon this active throng
who are in the thickest of the strife,
impatiently waiting for the day when the
coveted place of honor shall be theirs
There is, now and always large class of
men upon whom are thus turned the back
ward and forward look; they are the
young men, who stand with powers all I'M
impaired, in the full vigor of early man
hood; the bulwark of 4 nations defense
the pioneers of her only progress. OF this
vast army of young men, California, Sacra-
mento indeed, has her ample share. Is
the outlook for the future upon this basis
of youth as hopeful as 1t ought to be?
answer, frankly, no. And the reason is
not far TO seek 1t is not that our Young
men have failed to inherit qualities as
grand and noble as ever graced the life of
youth or age; it is not that honor and up
rightness have not been portrayed to
them in fidelity and simplicity; it
is not that they are wanting mental
power and keen preception-capacity to
discern and tenacity to grasp and hold
none of these; it is due, ! am convinced,
very largely to the fact that our young
men now, as always, do not fairly appreci-
ate the real power they hold and ought to
exercise; the stern responsibility that rests
upon them as the nerve of the nation; the
vital power of the city and the State
They forget too easily that the eyes of the
world are upon them; the hopes of the
older centered in them; the ambition of
the younger conditioned by their example
For young man to overestimate or to
falsely estimate his power and worth is n
mistake, bu. a mistake that experience will
almost certainly correct; for a young man
TO fail to appreciate bis true power, is n
weakness that will grow with his growth
and prove fatal to his manhood. This lat
ter, especially, believe to be the mistake
that all too many of our young men make
to-day.
We stand, to-day, young friends upon
the threshold of new year; az we open
the door to enter in, let US do so with the
full consciousness that we carry power
that it is difficult to over-estimate, power
that may be made to tell in the future of
this State for God, for ourselves and for
of completed effort, but upon high table
land where is to be fought in the next de
cade the battle that will determine the
civil and religious destiny of this Golden
State. Before YOU are the fathers bearing
upon thei weary shoulders the cares of
business, the construction of law, the man
agement of affairs. But their hearts are
soiicitous for the coming future; they must
J al. L..
to them as their own life-blood, for it rep
resents the toll and care, the sweat
and tears of long and arduous
life. Into this work they flung all the
ardor and ambition of an impetuous man
hood, an impetuosity such as only the
fever of a California experience can in
spire; into this they have wrought the
weary years of later life and now their
eager eyes are fixed on You and their
anxious hearts are saying: "Will these
young men prove themselves worthy of
the trust? Can we leave the weighty re-
sponsibility of the accumulation Of years
and the sensitive business prosperity of
State in these hands? These hard-won
honors that have come to us in the stern
discharge OF duty; in the strife for purity
of home and the sanctity of civil and re-
ligious liberty; will they be sacred in the
sight; will they be conserved in the ad-
ministration of these young men ?" If,
then, as l affirm, these are the questions
your fathers are asking to-day, where
rests the actual responsibility for the
future of our State? The answer is
manifest Upon you is to rest
responsibility under the springing growth
of this State greater than even your
fathers dream Westward the course of
Empire takes its way" but here the great
Western ocean arrests its course. Here
the wealth, the culture, the refinement,
-,uch of the religion of America, is soon
y find at least winter home. The ques-
ton that is presented to the native and
adopted sons of California, to-day, is this !:
"Will we prove true to the trust imposed
or soon to be imposed upon us, step man
fully into the ranks for the struggle for
civic purity, morality and Christian man
hood or shall we idle AWAY the wears for