Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1895-10-25
ONE DOLLAR per year in advance.
THE DAY OF YOUNG MEN
THEY ARE AT THE FRONT IN
LARGER NUMBERS THAN
EVER BEFORE

The young man who hesitates
to accept or assume stations OF
responsibility and trust because
OF his youthfulness, and waits for
the dignifying and soHfying in
Huence of mature years to fit him
for the position, is not a close
student Of the lives of men who
have impressed their names on
their country's history. While
old men shake their heads and
remark Il half>co,nplaining
tones that boys know more than
their fathers these days, yet
from no source does the ambie
tlous, determined young man re-
ceive more cordial encourage
ment and support than from
those same men who declare
they are being sheived for the
boys. 1t is not that youth knows
more than age But when a
youth, buoyant with hope and
confidence, his vision undimmed
by the doubts and prejudices
eugendered by long acquaintance
with the world, his ambition not
withered by years of dreary
struggle for subsistence, his heart
full Of love for humanity, and
his soul vibrant with the grand
posi- Utilities of life-When such
a youth, fresh from study and
with intellect we'll stored, can
mount at once to the point reach
ed by his father through years of
bitter experience. and from the
vantage ground begin the battle
of life, he is the better equipped
of the two, just as "dwarf
perched upon the shoulders of a
giant can see further than the
giant"
Those youths who think young
men have NOT y fair chance and
those older men who think
young men not able to fill i'm
portant stations, may each learn
a lesson from the record of the
past.
Henry Clay was in the Senate
of the United States, contrary to
the Constitution, at tWenty-one.
Webster was III a college at fit
teen, gave evidence Of his great
future before he was twenty-five
and at thirty he was the peer Of
the ablest man in Congress.
Charles James Fox was in Par
lament at nineteen. Martin
Luther had become largely dis
tinguished at twenty-four and at
thirty-six had reached the top
most round of his world wide
fame. Peel was in Parliament at
tWenty>one. Napolean at TWEEN,
ty-fve commanded the army Of
Italy. At forty he was not only
one of the most illustrious Gen
erals of the time, but one of the
great lawgivers Of the world. At
forty-six Il e saw Waterloo.
Washington was a colonel in the
army at twenty-five, President at
thirty-seven. Judge Story was
in Harvard at fifteen, in Congress
1T twenty-nine and Judge of the
Supreme Court of the United
States at thirty-two. Gladstone
was in Parliament at twenty-five,
and at twenty~four was First
Lord OF the Treasury. William
Pitt entered college at fourteen,
was Chancellor of the Exchquer
at twenty-five, Prime Minister at
twenty-four, and when thirty
five was the most powerful I'M
crowned head in Europe. Byron
wrote "English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers" at twenty-one and
published "Childe Harold at
twenty-fcur. Alexander Steph
ems went to the Legislature at
twenty-four and Congress at
thirty-one. Henry Grady re-
fused a nomination to Congress
at thirty-two and made his New
England speech, which gave him
National reputation, at thirty
six.
These instances are only cited
to remind older men that the
world has ever been ready to
give distinction to young men
who command it by their abili
ties and to show young men of
brains and pluck that nobody is
trying to keep them back. At
no time in the worlds history has