Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1877 — Our Young Readers. [ARTICLE]

Our Young Readers.

WERE I A BOY AGAIN. .IwoXDKHif any of you, my young friends, ever happened to read of a poor, unhappy old man who stood one New Years night at the window of hi* dwelling and thought over all the error* of his youth, what he had neglected to do of pod, and what he had committed of evil; tow his bosom was filled with remorse, how his desolate soul was wrung aa he reflected on the past follies of a long life. The days when he was strong and active wandered about him like ghosts. It was too late to retrieve his lost youth. The grave was waiting for him, and with unspeakable grief he bethought him of the time spent in idleness, of the left-hand road he had chosen which had led him into ruinous follies and years of slothfulness. Then he recalled the name of his early companions ' who had selected the right-hana path and were now happy and content in their declining days, having lived the lives of virtuous, studious men, doing the best they were able in the world. Then he cried to his dead father who had warned him when he was a lad to follow the good and shun the evil pathways of existence, u O father, give roe back my lost youth, that I may live a different life from the one I have so long pursued!’’ But it was too late Dow to make moan. His fattier and his youth had gone together! There the poor bewildered creature stands, blinded with tears, but still beseeching Heaven to give him back his youth once more. Few spectacles are more terrible to contemplate than the broken-down figure of that weeping old man, lamenting that be cannot De young again, for -then he would lead a life so different from the one he had lived.

But what a thrill of pleasure follows the sad picture we have been contemplating when we are told it was only a fearfill dream that a certain young man was Sassing through —a vision only of possile degradation, and that Heaven had taken this method of counseling the youth to turn aside from the allurements that might beset bis path, and thus be spared tfie undying remorse that would surely take possession of him when he grew to be a man, if he gave way to selLinduigence, and these wandering, idle ways that lead to error, and oftentimes to vice and crime. The misery of a life to be avoided was thus prefigured, and the young man awoke to thank Heaven it was only a dream, and resolve so to spend God’s great gift of time that no horror, such as ne had suffered that night in sleep, should ever arise to haunt his waking hours. If I were a boy again, one of the first tilings I would strive to do would be this: I woulfl, as soon as possible, try hard to become acquainted with, and then deal honestly with, myself, to study up my own deficiencies and capabilities; and 1 would begin early enough, before faults had time to become habits. I would seek out earnestly all the weak spots in my character, and then go to work speedily and mend them with better material. If I found that I was capable of some one thing in a special degree, I would ask counsel on that point or some judicious friend, and, if advised to pursue it, I would devote myself to that particular matter, to the exclusion of much that is foolishly followed in boyhood. If I were a boy again I would practice perseverance oftener, and never give a thing up because it was hard or inconvenient to do it. If we want light, we must conquer darkness. When 1 think of mathematics I blush at the recollection of how often I “ caved in ” years ago. There is no trait more valuable than a determination to persevere when the right thing is to be accomplished. We are all inclined to give up too easily in trying or unpleasant situations, and' the point I would establish with myself, if the choice were again within my grasp, would be never to relinquish my hold on a possible success if mortal strength or brains, in my case, were adequate to the occasion. That was a capital lesson which Prof. Faraday taught one of his students in the lectureroom after some chemical experiments. The lights had been put out in the hall and by accident some small article dropped on the floor from the Professor’s hand. The Professor lingered behind, endeavoring to pick it up. “ Never mind,” said the student, “ it is of noconsequence to-night, sir, whether we find it or no.” “That is true,” replied the Professor; “ but it is of grave consequence to me as a principle that I am not foiled in my determinatiun to find it.” Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. “ There are only two creatures,” says the Eastern proverb, “ who can surmount the pyramids—the eagle and the snail.” If I were a boy again I would school myself into a habit of attention oftener, I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that an expert on the ice never tries to skate in two directions at once. One of our great mistakes, while we are young, is that we do not attend strictly to what we are about just then, at that particular moment; we do not bend ohr energies close enough to what we are doing or learning; we wander into a half-interest only and so never acquire fully what is needfulJbr us to become master of. The practice of being habitually attentive is one easily obtained if ,we begin early enough. I often hear grown-up people say, “ I couldn't fix my attention on the Sermon, or book, although I wished to do the reason is a habit of attention Waß never formed in youth. Let me tell you a sad instanco of' a neglected power at concentration. A friend asked me pnea to lend him an interesting book, tomething that would enchain his attention, for he said he was losing the power U> read. After a few days he brought batik the volume, agying it was no doubt a work of great value and beauty, but Ee will to enjoy it had gone from rever, for other matters would inhemselvea on the page he was tryunderstand and.enjoy, and rows of constantly marshalled themselves margin, adding themselves up at tne bottom of the leaf! If I were to «lfvt my life over again I. would, pay more... attention to |he cultivation o( memory. 1 would K**«fcngthen that faculty-by every possible ans and on every possible occasion. It ;es a little hard work at first to rememr things accurately» ,But memory soon 'ps itself an£ jgivMryery little trouble. -Monly needs early ctwivatioa to become ojxnrer. Everybody t!Sn Require* it. S-,-*lf I were a boy again, I would know .more about the history of my own country than is usual, lam Sorry to say, with young Americans. When in England, I have always been impressed with the .flrejnmute and accurate knowledge con "etoktiy .observable in young English lads <K aftiue intelligence and culture concerning t!K history of Great Britain. They not only have a clear and available •More of. historical dates at hand for use on any occasion, but they have a wonder-

fully good ideaof the policy of government adopted by all the prominent statesmen in different eras down to the present time. An acquaintance of mine in England, a boy of fourteen, gave me one day such eloquent and intelligent reasons for his pre/ereice to Edmund Burke above all other patriotic statesmen of his time, as made me reflect how little the average American lad of that age would be apt, to know of the comparative merits of Webster and Calhoan as men of mark and holding the highest consideration thirty years ago in the United States. If the history of any country is worth an earnest study it is surely the history of our own land, and we cannot liegin too early in our lives to master it fully and completely. What a confused notion of distinguished Americans a boy must have to reply, as one did not long ago, when asxed by his teacher, “ Who was Washington Irving?” “A General in the Revolutionary War, sir.”

If I were a boy again I would strive to become a fearless person. I would cultivate courage as one of the highest achievements of life. “ Nothing is so mild and gentie as courage, nothing is so cruel and vindictive as cowardice,” says the wise authorof alate essay on conduct. Too many of us now-a-days are overcome by fancied lions in the way, lions that never existed out of our own brains. Nothing is so credulous as fear. Some weak-minded horses are forever looking around for white stones to shy at, and if we are hunting for terrors thiy will be sure to turn up in some shape or other. In America we are too prone to borrow trouble and anticipate evils that may never appear. “ The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear.” Abraham Lincoln once said he never crossed Fox River, no matter how high the stream Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any fate and there is no harm to be feared. Achilles, you remember, was said to be invulnerable, but he never went into battle without being completely armed I If I were a boy again I would look on the cheerful side of everything, for everything almost has a cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror; if you smile upon it, it smiles back again on you, but if you frown and look doubtful upon it, you will be sure to get a similar look in return. I once heard it said of a grumbling, unthankful person, “He would have made an uncommonly fine sour apple, if he had happened to be born in that station of life!” Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but all who come in contact with it. Indifference begets indifference. “ Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut out from love.”

If I were a boy again I would school myself to so " ]fo" oftener. I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young man can stand erect and decline doing an unworthy thing because it is unworthy, but the whole subject is so admirably treated by dear old President James Walker, who wis once the head of Harvard Coliege, that I beg you to get his volume of discourses and read what he has to tell you about saying on every proper occasion. Dr. Walker had that supreme art of “ putting things” wnich is now so rare among instructors of youth or age, and what he has left for mankind to read is written in permanent ink. If 1 were a boy again I would demand of myself more courtesy toward my companions and friends. Indeed, I would rigorously exact it of myself toward strangers as well. The smallest courtesies interspersed along the rough roads of life are like the little English sparrows thht now sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable to everybody. Instead of trying so hard as some of us do to be happy , as if that were the sole purpose of life, 1 would, if I were a boy again, try still harder to deserve happiness.—James T. Fields, in Youth's Companion.