The blade and the ear. Thoughts for a young man

Preface

This little book has been written in the hope of doing something for those who hold in their hands the destinies of our community and country. Its word is direct ; and comes from a heart that is still young, and in sympathy with all that is noblest in those it addresses, while not inexperienced in the temptations here so plainly set forth. A youth once myself, I know full well both the aspirations and the enticements of that period of life. If I seem to some an alarmist, they should reflect that age is fast introducing among us those vices that beset the old world. I have seen enough, at home and abroad, to convince me that our moral Mentors are in danger of losing sight of those sins which are the more terrible for their secrecy.

iv PREFACE.

I have said many things in relation to the present struggle for our national life. May its speedy ancf successful termination, accompanied by a broad freedom and a lasting peace, soon render these the counsels of the past ; and inspire our young men with a fresh love of liberty with order; and brace them with an abiding moral, as well as mental vigor for the future. If any word of mine shall, under God, contribute to that great result, my object will be accomplished.

Newburyport, Nov. 1, 1864.

THE BLADE AND THE EAR.

>X*c

Introduction

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE YOUNG MAN.

WITHIN THE few years, lying between the non-age of boyhood, — controlled, directed, impelled, or restrained by parental care, — and the crowning period of a full manhood, — responsible, self-reliant, and self-guiding, — are compressed those moulding, shaping, all-decisive influences, which make or mar the future man. The horticulturist is pleased to see his trees clad in the bright livery of a copious blossom ; but his chief anxiety is, that the tree set well for fruit. When the blossom of school-day lessons, Sabbath-teachings, a mother's prayers and influences, and a father's counsels are past, — " How do the young man's blooming traits and qualities now set ? " — that is the question of all questions. 1

Such, manifestly, was the view of the Apostle John. " I have written unto you, young men," he says, " because ye are strong," — a reason pertinent then, and pertinent in all ages.

Time was when the aged, the Nestors and Priams,' bore the chief sway among men. Once, too, those in middle life were looked to for counsel, and were deferred to by their juniors. But, with the advance of the world, the controlling power of men and affairs has passed, more and more, into the hands of our young men. Who of our own people take the van in the broad column that moves, steadily as the hours, into the fresh, untilled regions of the West ? And in commerce and manufactures, in the coercion of fire, water, wood, and iron, to the enhancement of private and public wealth, who take the lead? Our young men. I have no question, that of the ten thousand inventions and patents of the day, the major part are the work of those not yet on the summit of life's hill. It is so in all occupations and pursuits, manual, intellectual, moral, and religious.

He, therefore, who would do much for his race now, must address himself, primarily, not to the aged, nor yet to those in the meridian of life, but to the class just approaching the station and responsibilities of manhood. He must so arouse them to a sense of their commanding position, and so impress them with a sense of loyalty to God as well as to man, that, while they are stimulated, they shall not be intoxicated by the grandeur of their power and prospects. They shall be not only bold to embrace, but wise to pursue their glorious opportunity ; and, while they go resolutely forward, shall be willing to take counsel of their elders, and to energy join prudence and discretion.

In looking at the springs of influence in society, we sometimes imagine it is wielded chiefly by those in middle life. But such is not the law of this magic power. The very child moulds others to his own will and his own way. The boy, especially, leads off' in one direction or another ; he guides, perhaps often insensibly, but still he does guide and form, to a greater or less extent, those around him. It is so, we can all see, with the bad boy. Let any one, for example, in a school, use profane language, and though it may shock many on the first hearing, yet very soon one and another are heard uttering the half-oath ; — and now this or that boy ripens to the bold swearer. So do untruthfulness and deception propagate their own kind. A boy who defrauds his employer, cannot keep it to himself; he whispers to others, and boasts of his success; and the method is soon learned, and the sin soon practised by them. And, on the other hand, he who is pure enough to love the right, and has the courage to put it steadily in execution, will never pass unheeded. Steel is not more true to the magnet, than the incorrupt to feel this polar attraction. As with the child, so with the youth ; no one can, if he would, at that period, live wholly to himself. If the evil he does is noticed and imitated, so also, to some extent at least, will be the good. No one can look without interest on a conscientious young man. See him ride like a bright star across the moral heavens, breaking through the clouds of allurement and sin, and shining out in his sphere ; now tempted, but resisting, straggling, and, at last, coming forth clear. Meteors may rise, flash, and fall all around him ; but he holds steadfastly on his course. And no one, I repeat, can see such a spectacle with indifference ; it fixes the eye ; it wins the soul.

A virtuous youth, true to God and true to himself, is an IthuriePs spear, testing the worth of all around him ; and to one and another he is a Heaven-directed power, awakening in their bosoms noble resolutions, and spurring them on to high, moral excellence.

For many and cogent reasons, we look on this period with special regard. We are won to it by its peculiar characteristics.

It is an impressible age. Good and evil now stand and knock at the door; let the one be admitted, and it proves an angel of light ; while the other no sooner crosses the threshold, than, with rebel fierceness, menace, pillage, and bloodshed ensue. The character and habits then take what Dr. Paley calls a " holding turn." Then the feelings are fresh and strong, and the views plastic. The interior forces are moving forward with a speed and a power on which we can seldom look without mingled emotions. " Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee ; " u but," whispers the voice of experience, " know, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment."

This is an age, with some, of noble aspirations; with all, of burning desires. Now, the soul is fired with an intense desire for happiness. Who will show me how best to enjoy myself? ask the many. With most of our youth, the primal craving is to be a man. No problem is so important, therefore, as this, — Who is a real man ? What constitutes true manliness? To be a man, some say, is to put on a bold air, and walk large, to don a full-sized coat, and to use swelling words with a tinge of profanity.

But to me, I confess, this conception savors, not

of the man, but of the stereotyped boy ; one too weak

to put away childish things. To be a man is not to

saunter about in idleness ; it is not to lean proudly

1* on one's birth and blood. Neither is it simply to enter into business for one's self; nor yet to accumulate a certain amount of property ; nor yet to seek and reach this or that position ; nor even to grow in intellect, while the heart and soul are morally dwarfed.

True manliness is power to say to the solicitations of evil, come they in what form they may, " Get thee behind me, Satan. " Washington showed himself a man at the age of thirteen. Among the rules he then adopted, we find these : " Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience." "Let your recreations be manful, not sinful." And, to show his regard for a sincere piety, he. wrote thus : " When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously and in reverence."

Next to devotion to God, true manliness demands fidelity to our race. To maltreat any human being, is to insult the image of God. The more truly we honor all men, the laborer no less than the capitalist, rich and poor, high and low, bond and free, the more ready we are to act well our part as neighbors, citizens, patriots, and philanthropists, the greater is our manliness. The younger Adams was not only devout, always, as he said, repeating, before he closed his eyes at night, the brief and simple prayer taught him by his mother, even on to his old age, — but he was also a Christian in the practical walks of every-day life. And he died, as he had lived, the friend of liberty and of his race. Let every young man who burns, as he reads his biography, with the same noble aspirations, go and do like him.

This period of life is interesting for the strength of will it usually exhibits. That strength may, it is true, be given to the service of sin. It is melancholy to notice how juvenile offenders have increased in our courts of justice ; the annals of crime in our time, and in many cities, are crowded with the names of the young.

We never contemplate the mighty forces of youth, without joining in the sentiment, " Precious is youthful energy, could it be inglobed till the youth reaches the temple of virtue and truth ! But, alas, all along he must advance through an avenue of tempters and demons, all prompt to touch him, and draw away that divine, electric element, with which he is charged."

Another characteristic of our young men is independence. They think for themselves, in the main, more than childhood can, more than manhood generally does. They may, and often do, make mistakes ; but we sometimes feel that it is better to fall into a little error occasionallv, when thinking for one's self, than to keep mechanically and imitatively right.

" A living dog is better than a dead lion." He who has a root in himself, is likely to recover from his errors and follies ; while one who rushes blindly on with the multitude, commands little respect, and deserves the mental and moral degradation that earlier or later usually befalls him.

An independent man is a real man ; and that is what we want in a world like this. It is easy to lose one's soul in the forms around us. To know any of these as realities, we must begin by being real in our own will, conscience, and personal energy. Then we may go on through eternity, mining deeper and deeper, and in endless diversities of direction, in a region of inexhaustible realities.

The young man is marked by his enthusiasm. This world is a scene of toils and difficulties ; and the meed of earth, be it gain, renown, place, or power, can be secured only by stern labor. There is so much to dishearten, oppress, and keep down the soul, that it needs a constant and ever-accumulating force to sustain and brace our energies.* God has placed this vital power eminently in the hearts of our young men. He has gifted them with a firewinged hope. Let the present be dark as it may, they see always the crepuscular rays of a coming light. Let a new era be announced for suffering humanity, and their hearts leap forth to greet the glad future. Selfishness has not yet dimmed their native vision ; cold words have not chilled their earlyglow ; the sneer of the sceptic, the pride of the haughty, the frowns of an iron-clad past, the sordid interests of a soulless present, have not yet frozen over their inner life-current.

This is the spirit the world always needs to carry forward its noblest works. It is not indeed too much to say, that " The healthy condition of the mind is one of eternal youth and responsiveness to the multiform, outward creation. This should be to us all a divine universe, unveiling itself alike in gloom and in splendor, in auroral light and in many-tinted shadows ; " full of hope, and fall of awe, as it always is to a young, sympathetic heart, a heart that will never grow old.

Our young men are of vital importance to the community from their spirit of enterprise. The bane of all progress, individual or social, is irresolution and timidity. We pronounce things too difficult for our abilities, when the truth is, they often appear difficult because we have not courage to undertake them. The old are sometimes fearful and over-cautious ; and those in middle life sometimes hesitate and delay, till the opportunity for success is lost.

It is the young who put their hands most readily to every great and good work. Sometimes, it is true, they are rash and precipitate, and do unwise things. But it is better to do some harm, than to do no good. The great obstacle, — how often do we see this, — the great obstacle to success and victory, is that we are too faint-hearted to begin. " Who sets about hath half-performed the deed." We want the spirit of John Adams, who, contemplating the glorious Declaration of Independence, said, " Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart for this vote." The power and determination here shown, have been seen, in not a few young men, in all ages and all countries. Aurungzebe, the mighty ruler of Hindostan, a man who had thirty-five million pounds for his revenue, whose empire extended over twenty-five degrees of latitude and as many of longitude, who put to death twenty millions of people, whose course was said to be" stupendous as the Alps, and sublime as a cataract," — was distinguished in his youth for thought, and for deep plans and bold purposes ; and in his twentieth year, he raised a body of troops, and finally forced his way to the throne of the Decan.

Young men are marked by their love of truth. They are not as yet petrified by prejudice. When Harvey broached his theory of the circulation of the blood, it met with violent opposition ; and no one, it is said, accepted his theory, who was over forty years of age. The simple love of truth, regardless of educational biases, of parent, friend, sect, or party, is the rarest of spectacles ; and often it vanishes with the appetite of the boy.

So of strict honesty ; it is the crown of one's early days. " Your son will not do for me," was once said to a friend of mine ; " he took pains, the other day, to tell a customer of a small blemish in a piece of goods." The salesboy is sometimes virtually taught to declare that goods cost such or such a sum ; that they are strong, fashionable, perfect, when the whole story is false. So is the bloom of a God-inspired truthfulness not seldom brushed from the cheek of our simple-hearted children.

I hope and trust these cases are rare ; but even one such house as I allude to, may ruin the integrity and the fair fame of many a lad. God grant our young men to feel that an " Honest man is the noblest work of God," and, under all temptations, to live as they feel.

To what period of life can we turn for such displays, as this often affords, of generosity, frankness, and magnanimity? True, we differ, from our very childhood, in the possession of these traits. But no one can deny, that, on the whole, these and all the finer feelings predominate in the earlier periods of life. Our Saviour often sought the society of those at this age ; and he not seldom exerted on them his miraculous powers. And he poured out, not only on childhood, but on such as the youthful John, and many others of a like early attractiveness, his unexhausted and inexhaustible love.

Young men are social, seldom cynical and selfenclosed, like those in after life, who become absorbed in gain and power. This trait may, and often does, expose them to evil associates and to their degrading vices. Still, it is the basis of much that is highest and noblest in human conduct. It needs only to rest on the Rock of Ages, and it will rise on and on, amid every seduction and snare, winning all hearts, and shedding forth continually a healing fragrance, that earth cannot bound.

We look with interest on our young men, because in them dwells a love of perfection. To accomplish any thing that is great or good, we must, in the first place, set our standard high. And, to do tins, we must be fired with a thirst for excellence. In the celebrated Melrose Abbey, the hidden portions of the work are finished minutely and elegantly ; the whole being evidently considered by the artist as an act of religious worship, in which he offered up his best faculties to the praise of his Creator. Such, I believe, is the desire of every unper verted youth. He would fain possess, not only external graces and comi mendations, but an interior, genuine, thorough goodness. Pretence, affectation, and insincerity, he holds in contempt and scorn.

And, in regard to a love of the works of nature, they are enjoyed at this age, because they shadow forth that moral beauty, toward which the soul then aspires. For the same reason, the productions of art and taste are now objects of interest. I do not know who was the author of the prize Ode to the Greek Slave, that exquisite piece of statuary by Powers ; but I feel confident that only a young man could have penned such glorious lines as these :

" Greek ! by more than Moslem fetters thralled ! O marble prison of a radiant thought,

Where life is half revealed, And beauty dwells, created, not enwrought. Severe in vestal grace, yet warm And flexible with the delicate glow of yOuth, She stands, the sweet embodiment of truth ; Her pure thoughts clustering round her form,

Like seraph garments.

Go then, fair slave ! and in thy fetters teach What Heaven inspired, and Genius hath designed. Be thou evangel of true art, and preach The freedom of the mind ! "

I regard our young men with hope, because in them lie all the possibilities of the future. They constitute the great link in that interminable chain of forces which binds things past with things to come. The Hebrew seer speaks of an era in which the sons and daughters shall prophesy, and the young men shall see visions. This prediction has an ever-repeated fulfilment in the successive generations of our youth. Always, in a higher or lower sense, they see, portrayed on the canvas of the future, scenes to quicken the pulse, to kindle the imagination, and rouse every power and faculty of our nature to its in tensest action.

Nor is it a mere vision that lies before them. In that sacred drama, they are to be themselves actors. As its unseen shapes and shadows are evolved into substantial realities, their figures will advance to the foreground ; and either shine along the glowing canvas with moral lustre, or, by their fallen and guilty courses, spread the blackness of darkness on its lines.

It is no fiction, but a fearful fact, it is no conjecture, but a solemn certainty, that what one is before the age of twenty-five, he is almost sure to be his life long. His education may have been good ; will it be carried out in his manhood ? The great universe waits for his reply. Or, his early culture may have been defective ; who can supply those defects ? The finger of destiny, guided by the Eternal, allseeing, and all-judging One, points to his own bosom, with the fearful words, " Thou art the man." Good or evil, which will you obey ? " The heart of flesh," a tender susceptibility to virtue, honor, truth, and religion; or the u heart of stone," dead to every noble aspiration, content to herd with the vulgar, profane, sensual, and selfish ; clay, that may be fashioned to a vessel of honor, or made into a demon shape of dishonor and death, — choose between the two. When will the decision come? God help you, my young brother, to say, It shall be to-day.

II. The Young Man At Home

NO WORD in our language is so fraught with grateful and enduring reminiscences, as the word home. It touches chords which vibrate to the last pulse of our lives ; it weaves a spell over every scene and every experience ; and paints on the chambers of our imagery, pictures that neither time nor change can efface. We recall the dear faces that greeted our childhood, the fireside where we first sat, its ocean prospect, or the green fields and the limpid brook, and the bending trees, and the heaven-bright flowers, amid which we enjoyed each care-free sport.

And, throughout every period of life, that one spot comes back, to heighten each new pleasure, to soothe our anxieties, and to diffuse a serenity, as we taste each bitter cup. That dear mother, how she still smiles upon us, and utters those sweet tones in our world- tried ear. That venerated father, again he leads us by the wayside, and guides and guards our early days. Brothers and sisters, they come back as on the Sabbath we trod, with punctual step, the church-worn path ; as we sat round the paternal board ; or gathered at nightfall to repeat the well-known Scripture passages and sing our familiar hymns. Amid misfortune and calamity, there is a sun that never sets. Let all other springs of happiness fail us, there are living waters. Over the chills of a cold world, we feel that ever fresh and warm breath ; and no neglect, disappointments, or alienations can obliterate the memory of its fadeless joys.

Home is, moreover, a Christian word; heathen lands know not the blessings it encircles ; and in vain does the missionary think to plant the gospel firmly where domestic virtue is an unknown thing.

As regards the interest which the members of a family have in the characters of each other, this spot is of paramount concern. Whatever relations we sustain among a circle of kindred, there is an indivisible bond of sympathy between them and ourselves. "We are daily exerting over them, or receiving from them, an influence in this respect, for good or for evil, of illimitable extent. Their honor and their peace and happiness are bound up m our particular dispositions and in our deportment, not only toward them personally, but everywhere, in all situations, and on all occasions. Hence the qualities and the conduct of a young man affect the reputation and

2* the entire prosperity, inward and outward, of his kindred and home.

God has implanted in us a regard for human estimation, which, when rightly directed and duly restrained, is a laudable motive of action. But, without virtue, we cannot secure the approbation of others. It is real worth alone to which the world at large, and on the whole, accord this meed. And, as with individuals, so with families, they have always a character and reputation at stake. And so inseparably are all that compose the same household united in this respect, that, while the excellence of one member redounds to the praise of all, the vices of one bring discredit, and sometimes disgrace, on the whole.

Nothing is more common than, when a son has committed some flagrant offence, to infer, before our acquaintance with his connections, that they must be somewhat like himself. His parents, it is forthwith argued, must have set him a pernicious example ; or, at least, they must have been grossly neglectful of his moral education. And his brothers also, the circumstances of the case being wholly unknown, are brought into suspicion by his misdemeanor. As we look at the young transgressor, we naturally conclude, since he is fresh from his home, he now bears the impress there given him. I do not say that such opinions always prove correct. We ought, undoubtedly, to know the whole case before passing this grave censure. But so the world in general does not ; and every young man must take the world as it is, not as it ought to be. If he consent to fall into vicious courses, he must do it, knowing that it will cast a blot on the scene of his birth. He thus not only sacrifices his own good name, but, step by step, he degrades his family also. I think too well of our youth to believe that they can deliberately do this. Let any one, however strong his propensities to evil, and however tempted by corrupt companions, see distinctly, that if he yields, he will not only go down to ruin and woe himself, but carry with him, to a fearful extent, the kind and the pure, those nearest and dearest to him on earth, and he will stay his hand. In the dignity of a disinterested virtue, he will say to the tempter : " How can I do this wickedness against the honor, and to the disgrace of that spot, which not only conscience and principle, but every affection of nature, bids me hold sacred ? "

The welfare of man, in all respects, is intimately involved in his domestic connections. In the family alone can there be that intercourse of heart with heart, which falls like refreshing dew on the soul that is withered and parched by the heats of business and the intense selfishness of the world. Domestic privacy is not only essential to happiness, but, Tinder God, it is the very nerve of one's efficiency and power. It gives the rest necessary to the active operations of judgment and discrimination. It keeps enclosed those well-springs of the heart, whose flow is essential to float on the determinations of the head.

The family is a divine institution ; and, by the very act of establishing it, Providence has distinctly taught, that he who fulfils its demands w T ith fidelity, shall enjoy a high measure of all that is most desirable elsewhere on earth ; and, if faithful to God, no secondary station in the kingdom of heaven. The prevalence of a pure worship is connected with the success of this institution. And morality, and the order and well-being of the whole civil community, depend closely on the general extension of the fireside virtues.

To this quarter we must look for the chief element of national prosperity. " What France most needs,'' said the first Napoleon Bonaparte, " is mothers ; " and that is her need still : for the very word home has not its corresponding term in the French language. New England, on the other hand, owes her early and her latter glory to the Christian family.

To illustrate our subject, let us look at some of the special relations of home. The filial bond touches sentiments deeper and more enduring than any other upon earth. It connects us with the guardians of our infancy, the guides of our childhood, and the monitors of our youth. How many sleepless hours, and with what unequalled anxieties did the mother that bore us, watch over our endearing weakness ! Before we could conceive the strength of her love, or imagine her unwearied care and her measureless sacrifices for our sake, what a debt did we already owe her ! She first taught us of that Being from whose hand we came ; and to her sweet voice, we responded in our first reverential address to Him. The good mother watches the waking intellect of her children ; and their moral culture more and more absorbs her mind. When a son leaves home to pursue his studies, or seek an avocation, her benedictions go with him ; and her supplication is, that amid all perils and temptations he may be saved. Should he yield to vice, he is still her son ; he may forget her, but she will not, she cannot forget him. How can that dear boy, of whom she hoped so much, sit in the seat of the scorner, and be given over to profaneness and profligacy? If, for any cause, he departs from the path of purity, the aspiration of her secret heart continually is, " Oh that, with the prodigal's steps, he would return to the ways of honor and virtue." Monica, the mother of St. Augustine,