The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-08-01
Don't Leave North Carolina.
SOME PERTINENT ADVICE TO THE
YOUNG MEN OF THIS STATE
By Il Young Tar Heel Living Else
where.
Winston Sentinel

Winston Sentinel
! The constitution Of the human mind
is such that it continually osclllates
between disposition to complain
| without sufficient reason and to be too
easily satisfied. Amidst the multi
piled activities and feverish unrest of
our intense civilization, however, the
former of these mental characteristics
is much more universally and harm
fully prevalent than the latter
| Especially is this true of the mind
of the young man who has just enlisted
in the ranks of the great industrial
army, with his eyes elernally on the
epaulettes of Generalship. Success is
thing that he is constantly clamor-
ing for and as constantly quarreling
with spurning all things attained in
his eager pursuit of the unattained !;
neglecting the fragrant roses within
his reach as he lifts his longing eyes to
the amaranths of elysum.
1t is this nervous unrest of mind,
clothing as it does the forms Of all
things known in the homely garb of
Truth, while casting around the forms
of the Unknown the brilliant, alluring
mantle of Hope, that carries the young
man from his home to swell the great
surging, struggling masses of our great
cities or to crowd the already over
flowing ranks of the army of Western
emigrants.
This condition of affairs is deplOra-
bic. 1t is disastrous in its effects upon
the State from which the emigration
moves, in that, leeCh-like. it is sucking
the very heart blood of the Common
wealth. 1t is disastrous in its effects
upon the young men themselves, in
that in the overwhelming majority of
cases, they find that the change has
not bettered, but injured their condi-
ton. In an especial manner is the
first of these conditions true of the
State of North Carolina, where the in
hux. of population from other quarters
is not great.
With these thoughts in my mind,
Mr. Editor, am glad that you have
asked for an expression of my opinion
on this subject, and if anything that |
, shall say will serve, even though in a
, small degree, to correct this prevail
ing American stavsm among the
young men of North Carolina, will
count myself fortunate.
Pausing, then, only to remark that
what follows is addressed to young
men as a class and has not to do with
, those of us whose outward lives are
fashioned by a series of fortuitons OF
: unfortuitous circumstances, or to many
other individual exceptions which
! readily suggest themselves, unhesi-
tatingly say to the young men Of
North Carolina, STAY AT HOME.
"You did not act on your own ad
vice." l hear them answer.
Precisely, and, perhaps, it is for thi:
very reason that l am giving you thai
: advice to-day. At any rate, you are
entitled to the reasons for the taitf
that is in me, and l will try to give
}, them to yon.
First, then, stay at home because
YOU are native there and to the man
ner born.
r In this social machine, of which we
), form part, each man has a function
# which is dependent for success upor
the function of every other man, jus
as the connecting rods depend upo1
the centrifugal balls, or the fly whee
1t depends on the pulleys, belts ano
=, shafting. These social cogwheels mus
IS fit into each other with perfect accu
racy, or else there comes an interrup
o. ton in that solemn and conventiona
o ORDER which is the handspring of tn
\. vast machine.
70 There is no such thing as independ
ence in this world and can never b
as long as society is organized upon it
present basis. | care not what avoca
7 ton you pursue, YOU are dependen
piness, upon the people among whor
you live, and the success of that dc
pendence, in turn, depends upon ho'
perfectly you understand and appre
! ciate that people upon how perfectl
your likes, dislikes, tastes, habits, Gus
ly toms, manners, thoughts, prejudice:
RS and the thousand and one little thing
that go to make up the sum of life, f
into their own.
With these conditions present III
s. lawyer examines his witness more skill
= fully, the physician makes more ac
curate diagnosis of his case, the mel
chant impresses his customers NOR
favorablv and the ministers sermon
become more eloquent; but withor
them the electric thrill of sympath
sends no life blood to the faintin
heart, and the music of applause send
{ no sweetness to the ever-longing sou
You are not to imagine that beCaus
" this is all one country the considers
' ton that am addressing to you