The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1896-08-06
YOUTH ISN'T A CRIME :
Bryan Not the Only Young Man Who
Early Won Fame.
HISTORY FULL OF THEIR DEEDS
Alexander the Great, Popmey, Napole-
on, Pitt and a Host of Others Were
Famous Before Forty.

Each generation believes in it's own
miracles. The vast majority of men
have neither the time nor the inclina-
tion to seek precedents for the history
their own time is making. A genera
tion is microcosm. Within it can
be found an old story told in new
way.
Men carelessly accept the new YER
sion as PROOF of the anna ling versatil-
ity of the human race. They fail to
grasp the full significance Of the old
saying that "history repeats itself. -
It is this egotism that pertains to
any given generation that causes so
many Americans at this crisis to
throw up their hands in astonishment
at the nomination of William Jennings
Bryan for President. "He is only
thirty !" they cry. els it not mar
yelods:'
Let them turn for moment to the
scroll upon which time has written
the names OF men who have changed
the destinies of nations. They will
find thereon sufficient cause for amaze
ment.
They will discover that in the past
the genius OF young men has been a
potent factor in making the history of
the human race the grand and moving
| tale it is.
Men under the age of thirty-six nave
founded dynasties, have remodelled
the geography of the known world,
have made and unmade kings and peo-
pies, have formulated principles of gov
ernment that have changed the aspect
of the race itself.
Alexander was a boy conqueror.
Jefferson was boy statesman. John
Jay was boy statesman. Mcclellan
was a boy General and a boy candi-
date for President
These men ripened early. They
placed their names on the scroll of
fame because their opportunities came
to them early in their careers, nd
they were sufficiently prepared to
seize the time when it was ripe. Call
it genius OF call it destiny, as you will,
the fact remains that youth has never
been, per Sc, a bar to great achieve
ments.
Let us take a hasty bird 's-eye view
OF human history and note thereon the
gigantic figures that young men throw
against the background Of the tumult-
uOuS past.
1t is not Necessary to go far afield to
prove that youth has been mighty in
its influence upon the 6estinies of the
race. Read the incomplete record here
| 7py,,J tod Of ,.,,%rx II,
whose influence has been powerful in
its effect upon the American people.
How great a debt of gratitude Free
dom owes to Patrick Henry, boy ora
tor whose fearless tongue was worth an
army to the oppressed colonists of
America.
Henry was only twenty-nine years
of age when he entered the Virginia
House of Burgesses, and became at a
bound the leader in that body of those
who protested against England S tyr
amy. His resolutions declaring the
Stamp act unconstitutional were
offered in May, 1865, before Henry had
reached his thirtieth year.
Thomas Jefferson was a boy when
he drafted the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, in many respects the grandest
document ever penned by the hand of
man. Jefferson was born in 1743, and
was only thirty-three years of age i'll
1776, the year in which he put into
immortal words the protest of the fu-
ture against the past
The State of New York owes it's con-
stitution to boy statesman. John
Jay was only thirty-two years of
age when he drew up the instrument
upon which the Empire State was to
erect great commonwealth.
At thirty five John Jay was United
States Minister to Spain. By this
time in his career nobody dared to ac-
cuse him of the crime of precocity ;"
Our early history is made up III
large part of the achievements of young
men. Alexander Hamilton was Secre-
tary of the United States Treasury at
thess age of thirty-two The man to
whom he owed his death, Aaron Burr,
was United States Senator from New
York at the age Of thirty-six.
Henry Clay matured early. His elo-
quence had made him famous in his
early twenties. Clay was elected
United States Senator from Kentucky
before he was thirty.
John G. Calhoun was Secretary Of
War in President Monroe's Cabinet at
the age of thirty six.
George B. Mcclellan, candidate for
President of the United States in 1864.
was born thirty eight years before s
nomination for that Office. He hao
been famous for several years before he
became Presidential candidate.
Philip H. Sheridan was only thirty
years of age at the outbreak of the war
Before the war was ended Sheridan
had won a fame that was worldwide.
The list given above could be elong-
ated almost indefinitely The Colonial
and Revolutionary periods Of Ameri-
can history were prolific of great young
men. Later on, our halls of Congress,
our army ana our navy brought to
the front men whose genius made it's
impress in defiance of the narrow idea
| that no man is fitted for great achiey.