The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-02-13

w
Vulgar and Tyrannical Men Worse
Than serpents-The Domestic Des-
pot.
I have heard my grandmother tell Off
dear old Scotch dominic who assembled
the parish pulpit once upon time with
the announced purpose of preaching
sermon to young men. In odd reversal
of conformist creeds, he began his dis
course by beseeching young men to be
peaceable, gentle and tender-hearted.
He said nothing about pluck, or grit, or
bravery, but he emphasized the three
headings of his discourse above named.
Strange teaching that, and stranger still
when, in the course of his sermon, he
asked the maidens who accompanied the
young men, to be brave, fearless and
quickly reused to battle. There was, nc
doubt, ripple of amused laughter on the
lips of the old mans hearers, such as
thrills across a ripe wheat field when
light winds blow, but l think the
preacher knew what he was talking
about and meant just what he said.
The world is full of young men who
seek to be manly at the expense of every
softer virtue, and of maidens who NOPE
like silly doves.
l will tell you right now that an out
and-out nice girl has no more use for an
excessively knowing, hard-headed and
deliberately conceited young man than a
thoroughly nice young man has for
1eather-headed girl. l think l shall try
to put myself in a nice young girls place
to-day, and tell you, if can, the sort OF
man she likes.
THE IDEAL YOUNG MAN.
Her ideal is strong without being brutal
good, without being goody; fun-loving,
without being smutty; firm, without be-
ing mulish, and tender-hearted without
being sappy. The excessively mannish
young fellow we meet with now and
then, who thinks that tears and sympathy
for poor folks woes, prayer to God and
belief in better life to come, are attrib-
utes that appertaln to women alone, and
of which men should be ashamed, is not
the man to please the fancy of any
womanly girl. She knows that life, how
ever happy, is like a meadow-lot that
grows thistles along with its blossoms,
and wherein one must meet with many a
thorn and many a sliding serpent in the
grasses. Knowing all this, and looking
Tor one to walk by her side, across lots to
the grave, she will choose a companion
who carries the precious ointment box OF
tenderness rather than the bludgeon of
Hercules. OF what use is a club when
one has thorn-riven heart, or a trumpet
when one has been bitten by sorrow?
Life is not stage so much as 1t Is hos
pital ward. There is not half the scope
1or ranter and a strutter that there Is tor
a healer and binder-up of wounds. So,
young man, whoever you may be, who
reads this letter. forbear for bit your
mannishness and learn to be womanly, so
lar as ready sympathy and helpful tender
ness go. Gentleness, united to strength,
forms combination something like a
kind disposition in a blooded horse.
Speed without kindness renders horse a
vain thing for safety, and merely manly
spirit without good big strain of ten
derness will make a brute rather than a
man.
l have been struck in my dealings with
young men to find how averse they are to
being looked upon as green or ''fresh''
in the sense of innocence and Ignorance
of evil. Almost any young man, know
would really prefer the reputation o.
wickedness to that of verdancy. From
the time he is able to wear his first cape
overcoat and long trousers, up to the day
of his latest breath, the average masculine
creature deems a blush incompatible witt
manliness. For my part, l adore young
man who has not lost the ability 10 blush
and so does the nice girl | seek to repre-
sent. We don't like pumpkins and fools
but we love those mother boys anC
''big Isister'' boys, who retain the intlu
ence of sweet feminine training as the
peach retains the bloom after the blossom
has fallen. We can soon tell the differ
ence between the fool and the modes
youth. 1t doesn't take any longer to dis
criminate between the two than it does Il
get at the flavor of an apple. No need t,
eat down to the core-the first tale tells
wi \,
clear and steadfast eyes of pretty cir
meet his own, who colors as he offers he
his seat, or trembles little at the touci
of her hand, may be a bit susceptible ant
trifle green, but he is infinitely pretera
BILE to the stoical young reprobate who ha
dallied in the flame of precocious expert
ence until the verdure of his youth i
shriveled into hay, like June prairi
overswept by fire. Green? So is sum
mer It's only winter, and desolation an,
death that take on another color B
thankful to God, then, young man,
there is enough freshness left in your sou
to raise blush; it is a sign that the sa
of life is not all dead, like the flow OF
maple tree in frosty weather. When yo
are so withered and dried up and spen
that you can't blush, pray to be came
and set away on cellar shelf.
BE TRUE TO HOME INFLUENCES.
We love young men who cannot b
laughed out of duty or ridiculed out {
good habit. Sometimes there chance
to come to this big town young ma
who has been brought up in Christia
home. The thunderbolt of sudden sol
row has fallen upon that home and rer
its four walls asunder. He finds the cit
bristling with temptations as an Africa
Jungle with tiger tails. Saloons out-nunl
Der the reading-rooms, and dens of vic
lie open-doored all about him. He is
strong blooded, human fellow, and cur
osity claps him on the shoulder and say:
"Come along with me, my boy, and sc
lifer'
The churches are dry, the boarding
house is unattractive, the girls he meet
are SLOPPY and loud, he doesn't kno'
what to do with his evenings, and he fall
in with lot of gay fellows who invit
him to be one of them. Now comes til
test of the Christian-reared boy. If b
has the strength to hold on to his prime
pies and live somewhere near his teach
ings, he is hero greater than Napoleo
was when he rode over the wintry Alp
There is no reason why young ma
should shut himself up in closet an
put cotton in his ears to escape evi
Evil is in the world and must be me
The test is in the meeting. Which sha
be master, evil or principle? We ador
my nice girl and l, the young man VIII
can walk right up TO glass of whisk,
stand alongside of 1t If need be and NJ
he dominated by it. What glory is thel
in being a soldier and wearing brass bu
tons if every time the enemy shows
gun YOU hide behind a.tree and say yor
Drawers The test of soldier is his abb
ity to stand fire. The test of the strengi
there is in u young fellow is his nerve III
der temptation. This city is full of den
which make me think of spider web