lb 
DESIGNED AS A
tumiuniuntu tn t   ug Gu    bin' tt
WM. A. ALCOTT,
AUTHOR OF THE'YOUNG M'IER,.'' YOUNG HUSBAND:
ETC., ETC.
BUFFALO:
GEO. H. DERBY AND CO.
1850.
I
i
I 
i
11
IiI
I
I
i
i
i
I
Il
VARIOUS SUBECTS.
i
I
I
i
i1
BY 
Entered according to Act of Congres, in the year 1849, by
WM. A. ALCOTT,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachu                              setts.
aetto.
f
JOHN F. TROW,
Printer and Stereotyper,
49 and 51 Ann-st., N. Y. 
TO THE READER.
IN the Preface to the "Young Man's Guide," first edition,
the reader may find the following paragraph, which will
be a sufficient apology-if apology is needed-for the
appearance of the present volume.
"Nor is it to be expected that a work of this size would
make the lofty pretensions of embracing every thing
which it is necessary for young men to know and practise
in order to become useful, virtuous and happy, in all the
relations of life. A few topics only have been presented;
and those with a brevity which, I fear, will detract from
their importance. Should the work, however, meet the
approbation of those for whom it is intended, and be a
means of improving their character, it is not improbable
that another volume, embracing several other important and
interesting topics which were necessarily excluded from
this, may hereafter be attempted."
Now if the sale of about 50,000 of the "Young Man's
Guide," during the past fifteen years, requires that I
should redeem the pledge thus publicly and voluntarily
.
?o
-Zj
In2 
Th
TO THE READER.
given, I herewith niilke the attempt.   But I do so in part
only; for there remains a wide range of subjects belonging
to the department of Health and Physiology, as necessary
to young men as any thing I have yet written; which may
possibly bring me, once more, before the many millions of
a class of citizens for whom well written books, in the
right style and spirit, are, at the present crisis, most imperiously demanded.
I should also observe, in this place, that some of the following letters, in a crude form, have already appeared in the
columns of the N  work Evangelist and other papers and
journals.  In the presenca                  they are considerably altered, amended, and, as I trust, improved.
THE AUTHOR.
West Newton, Mass., June, 1849.
l
Il
4 
CONTENTS.
LETTER I.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
The Author's Apology-Young Men do not aim high enough-Re sponsibilities of the Young Men of America-Their peculiar situa tion-Young men the rulers of our land-The tendencies of the
Arts and Sciences, and of Civilization,....  19
LETTER II.
SELF-RESPECT AND SELF-REVERENCE.
Another Apology What Addison has said —lint from History-Sub-s
lime heights to which Young Men might attain-Appeal,.
LETTER II.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
Self-Knowledge greatly facilitated by Self-Reverence-What Watts 
says-Some of the evils of Self-Ignorance-Our threefold nature-;
Apology for the condition of the young at present-Erroneous edu- i
cation-An elegant extract-AAnother appeal-Aids to self-know ledge-The Bible an important one,..... 28
LETTER IV.
SELF-DEPENDENCE.
Self-Dependence and Self-Confidence compared-Illustrated by Anec-.
dote-Can hardly be in excess-Effects of Riches and Poverty on
Self-Depeindence-Agur's Prayer-Favorable influence of Republi canisn  on Self-Dependence,... 42
i
i
i
I
i
v
i
I
i
I
i
I 
CONTENTS.
LETTER V.
SELF-EDUCATION.
Harmony of Character-The Balance-The Young to be men min
miniature-Condition of Society-Difficulties in the way-Moral
Views-The Young Man of Nazareth,.... 
LETTER VI.
HARMONY OF CHARACTER.
Analysis of the Human Being-Comparison-A great law-The War
within-Effects of divided labor-Errors of the schools-A word of
scriptural encouragement to Young Men,......    61
LETTER VIIH.
SELF-INSTRUCTION.
The Keys of knowledge-A comparison-The Ancient Athenians
Anecdotes of Self-Instructed Young Men-Young Men have time
and means —Errors in regard to reading-Reading at late hours,    71
LETTER VII.
LIGHT READING.
Definition of Terms-Reading by Snatches-Newspaper Reading Reading in fragments-Facts-Depraved taste-Caution required Right and duty of choice-Ilistory and Geography recommended to
Young Men-Why-Particular examples,.... 78
LETTER IX.
CORRECT CONVERSATION.
The study of Grammar a failure-Examples-How to acquire the
habit  of correct conversation-Writing-Composing-Grammar
afterward,............          90
LETTER X.
THE SCHOOLS.
The author not an enemy of schools-Proofs adduced-Defects of the
schools-What they might become-Young Men exhorted not to
forsake them, but to make them better,... 97
*>.,,
I
6 
CONTENTS.
LETTER XI.
THE LOVE AND SPIRIT OF PROGRESS,
Not taught in the schools-Hungering and thirsting for Progress — _
Mere knowledge-A mother-Quotation from Burgh-Value of
this trait in human character-A charge to the young,.. 103
LETTER XII.
LOVE OF INQUIRY; OR, FREE-THINKING.
Definition of terms-Free-thinking not the same as skepticism-Lord
Bacon's remark-An anecdote-Exhortation to Young Men-John
Robinson's remarkable advice to the Puritans-What books and
men are to be avoided-Anecdote of one of Paine's books-Refaec
tions,............. 11
LETTER XIIL
RIGHT USE OF OURSELVES.
Knowing ourselves-How ignorant we are of ourselvesGreater
ignorance than this-What it isExamples of Self-Ignoranco
Transforming power of a right knowledge of ourselves,.. 118
LETTER XIV.
PHYSlOLOGY.
What I mean by Physiology-Public prejudices against it-How 
these prejudices are best met-What Young Men are to do in this
matter-Lectures-B,oks-Right use of Lectures-Consequent immediate and remote-of examining this subject,... 12
LETTER XV.
PHRENOLOGY.
Popular interrogatories-The writer's reply-Phreniology recommend-,
ed-Every thing to be made practical-Open to conviction-My
own observation and experience-Effects of Physiology and Phre nology on society,......133
7
I
ii 
CONTENTS.
LETTER XVI.
PHYSIOGNOMY.
The term Physiognoniy-My experience once more-Results-Anee.
-  dotes —The human face an index of the soul,......    183
LETTER XVII.
TRAVELLING.
Fondness of Young Men for Travelling-Modes of Travel which are
unprofitable-Note on cigars and cigar smoking-Right use of
Travelling-Rules-Travel with your eyes open-With memoran dum book and pencil-On sketching objects-Relating what we
have seen-Reading while travelling-Walking-Eminent walkers
-Cautions-My own experience-Anecdote of Mr. Woodbridge,  141
LETTER XVIII.
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS.
"    Is there much Conscientiousness in the world-Cases of conscience
— Conscience in daily life-What to be Conscientious about-Anec    dote of an Errorist-What Reason says-What Revelation-Mis    takes of Christians-Reflections,......... 151
LETTER XIX.
LOVE OF EXCITEMENT.
What I mean by excitement-Umversal fondness for it-Voice of
experience-How far experience will go-One general direction And one general law-Facts or proofs on which that law is based Appeal to Young Men on behalf of Temperance,...158
LETTER XX.
ON PURITY.
An anecdote-Paley and Timothy on Purity-Paul to the Romans
-Eastern notions generally-The punishment of impurity-Its
varied forms-Punishment of impurity hereafter-OOur Saviour's
views-Sources of impurity-1. Too much heat, external and in ternal-2. Undue mental  excitement-3. Impurity itself-What
Young Men of twenty five ought to know-Evils of bad associates, 169
i
i
I
II
I
I
i
i
I
if!
i
i
i.
i
i
.1
i
it
i
I
8 
CONTENTS.
LETTER XXL
MODELS AND MODEL CHARACTER.
Study of Biography-Young Men imitative-How Biography may
be useful to them-AAnecdotes for illustration-Opinions of Rush and
Franklin-Jesus Christ the great model man,...180
LETTER XXIL
DECISION AND FIRMNESS.
John Foster on Decision-Extracts from Mudie-Examples of Deci sion  of Character-Napoleon-Ledyard-Washington-General
remarks,..............187
LETTER XXIII.
SETTING UP IN BUSINESS.
Setting up too early in life-Its consequences-Pecuniary loss-EffTects
on the health-Pres. Humphrey's views-Anecdote of young I of Boston-Reasoning with Young Men on the subject-Hasty
estimates of our yearly loss,.......... 191
LETTER XXIV.
MONEY-GETTING.
Every Young Man may be a Girard or an Astor-Love and hatred of
money-Extremes-How far the love of money should influence us
-The gospel principle of doing business illustrated-Our Saviour
the great example,..........       03
LETTER XXV.
PLEASURE SEEKING.
All (the young included) seek happiness-Holiness before happiness
-Young Men should make holiness the road to happinesError
of the young-Evils of saying, I don't care,....211
LETTER XXVI.
MENTAL EXCITANTS.
Meaning of my terms-Character of many modern libraries-Novel
-Licentious publi-ations-Some of our bookstores in fault-Coun
sels to the young on excitement,
1' 
I
I
I
I
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
9
. 219 
CONTENTS.
LETTER XXVII.
RESPECT FOR AGE.
Recollections of the past; at the family; at the schoolroom; at cl.
lege; at the sanctuary-The present contrasted with the past-Ex tremes to be avoided-In general obey the customs of society Young Men cautioned-The dangerous season-Divine Providence
to be heeded-Counsels of age,...229
LETTER XXVII.
DUTIES TO THE AGED.
The old to be regarded as relics of a past age-Reasons why-The
young apt to slight the old-A general rule-Violations of this rule
-What  I have seen-How the old may benefit the young-The
young should avail themselves of their assistance-A difficulty How met and overcome-Allusion to the spirit of insubordination
in modern times,...... 
LETTER XXIX.
POLITICS AND POLITICAL DUTIES.
Scylla and CharybdisThe blusterer-Want of conscientiuousless m
this matter-This a great error in politics-Exalted privilege )f
neing an American young man-Duty it involves-Duty of under.
standing one's own country-Redeeming our time-Error in read ing,.-........ 22
LETTER XXX.
FEMALE SOCIETY.
Man not a solitary being-Destined to conjugal life-MMutual Intluence
of the sexes-Appeal to Young Men-Wrong impressions corrected
-The Terra del Fuego of human lilbfe-Moral lessons and reflec tio,............. 252
LETTER XXXI.
GENERAL DUTY OF MARRIAGE.
Matrimony a duty-At what age-Man hardly free in this respect
Motives to this duty-Common excuses for neglecting it-These ex cuses met-Adaptation of character-Particular remarks concern ing age,........ 271
i
I
I
I
i
I
I
i
i
i
I
i
I
I
II
11
i
I
i
I
I
10
i
i
11
1,
Ii
ii
i
I
I
I 
CONTENTS.
LETTER XXXII.
RELIGION AND SKEPTICISM.
The young apt to be skeptical-Healthy tendency of Religlon-Re  pentance healthy-So is Faith-Skepticism unfavorable to health
and longevity-The proof-Health of our Saviour and of Paul,    283
LETTER XXXIII.
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
"Belief safe "-Is it so-Error exposed-Religion to be sustained by
facts and evidence-One evidence of its truth, that it is favorable to
health-Objections to this view considered,.... 294
LETTER XXXIV.
DEATH AND FUTURITY.
Speculation on this subject-A common error-Just views of death Nothing blotted out-Death a mere change-But of what-Not of
character-Not so certainly of place-Everlasting progress-Man
made to soar-We should think more on this subjeet-Life, and its
responsibilities-California-A richer land than California-Its de dirableness-All kings and priests there, and all rich-Young Men
,exhorted to seek it,...M
I
i
I
i
I
I
I
i
i
i
I
I
i
i
I
I
I
I
; I11
i
I
i
i
i
!Ii
11  
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
LETTER I.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
IN addressing young men as a class, it is difficult to fix the mind's eye on any particular age.
There is a period-and it arrives sooner in the
lives of some, and later in those of otherswhen they may be said to begin to act for
themselves; and in the common but not inappropriate language of the day, to form their
own character.   They  are indeed  forming
character by every action of every day of their
lives, whether that action be of the voluntary
or of the involuntary kind. When, however.
in these communications, I shall speak to you
I 
14      LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
of forming your own characters, or of educating yourselves, reference will be had principally to those acts which seem to be almost if
not quite without the pale of the fanlily, and
beyond parental control;-those acts in whicn
and by which every young man practically
says, " I take the responsibility."
The prevalent custom of singling out young
men and addressing them, has not originated
in the belief that they arrive earlier or with
less experience at the period of life of which I
have been speaking than forminerly-though
this probably is the fact-but rather from the
conviction that their responsibilities, when assumed, are more weighty. They are also believed to be more exposed to temptation than
formerly, both physically and morally. Besides, the world is learning at last-though
even now very slowly-the vast superiority
of prevention, whenever and wherever it can
be applied, to correction or cure.
Young men are ever inexperienced-it must
be so in the nature of things-and therefore
ever apt to be thoughtless. And with them,
when they do think, the golden age stands out
i
I
i
i
I
I
i
iI
i
i
I
i
ii1
'iI
,1
1{
i! 
- -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. I    i
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
in the future-not as with old men, in tile past.
It is well indeed it should be so. The world
is certainly onward-progressive-even though
it should make but slow progress. He, then,
who places the golden age in the future, is correct. Besides this, young men require the
stimulus of high hope in order to the best development and most favorable exercise of their
powers and capacities.
My counsel to the young, then, always is:
Expect great things in the future. Expect,
even, to do great things yourselves.  It is
necessary to aim hilgh, were it only to accomplish a little. But no young man has a moral
right to satisfy, if he could, the desires of his
immortal mind, and the requirements of society
and of God, by merely expecting to accomplish
a little. He is bound to expect much, and
attempt much.
Some young men have done this, to their
honor, in every age. It is those alone who
have thus expected and acted, who have shone
as lights in the world. And they have had
their reward. And what young men have
i
I
I
I
i
15
I
I
i
I
i
iI
Iil 
16     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
done in the past, young men cant do in the
present and future.
But if these counsels are adapted to young
men generally, they are peculiarly so to those
of United America. It is not too much to say,
that at every period of our history as a republic, the young have held in their own hands,
at least prospectively, our national destinies.
They have-practically so, at least-elected
several of our chief magistrates already.
Besides, in no country of the known worldthe world past or present-have the "counsels"
of old men so early required the "activities"
of the young, as in the United States. In this
respect it is that, under the genius of civil institutions like our own, the young may be said
to be the rulers of the land.
This is republicanism with twofold force.
One might think it enough that power should
have passed from the few to the many; from
the king and nobility to the subjects and
people; but when the crown is not only transferred to the people, but to the young people,
it introduces quite a new order of things.
I
i
i
I
I
I
I
I 
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
Happy, then, the people whose youthful ruL.
lers-for such the young men of our land are
daily and hourly becoming-are duly qualified
to rule in wisdom and in the fear of the Lord.
But woe to that country and that people whose
young men hearken not to the counsels of the
oldj nor rise up at their presence. Theirs may
indeed be republicanism-the semblance of it
-but then it is republicanism in its worst
form.  It is republicanism "with a vengeance."
The time has been when our young men
were treated with too much reserve, and kept
at too great a distance; when, in truth, not a
few were treated more like servants and menials than like sons. But "times are altered."
And in passing, as we now are, to the other
extreme, it may be worth while to inquire
whether there is not danger of going too far.
For what means the claim which has not
only been made in every past age but in our
own, with a voice, as it were, of authority, that
the old were fools, and that only  "present
times are wise?" What means the tendency
which is every where obvious, not only to use
the young for action, but for counsel too? Or
i
I i 
ii
I
II
i
i
i
i
i
I
Ii
I
i
I
I
I
i
17
I
I
i 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
has there been, of late, some new dispensation
which changes the relation of young men, and
without the pain of acquiring experience, imparts its privileges?
It is said, I know, that old men not only
forget that they themselves have once been
young, but claim superior wisdom at the precise time when they manifest the want of it.
But is not this to beg the very question in debate? Is it not to assume what the young, of
course, cannot prove?
Grant that age is not always wise, or even
experienced, is not youth, of necessity, destitute of that experience which, if it does not
always impart wisdom, always may do it?
And if a few old men who set up their claims
for wisdom and experience are mere "croakers,"
are they all so? Do not some of them still
sympathize with childhood and youth? And
may not-should not-childhood and youth
avail themselves of this sympathy?
I have said that the responsibilities of young
men are more weighty than formerly. Does
such a position need any farther elucidation?
If young men are, prospectively, and indeed
ifi
is 
PRELIMINARY REMIARKS.
in reality, the rulers of our land, are not their
responsibilities weighty? Nor are they diminished by the rising conviction on the public mind of these youthful rulers, that old men,
of the present age, at least, are but old fools.
Besides, it cannot be overlooked by any
young man who takes the pains to reflect a
moment, or even to read what I am writing,
that if young men do hold in their hands the
destinies of our country, they also hold in their
hands, at the same time, the destinies of all our
institutions, social, literary, and religious.
I have said that you are more exposed to
temptation, my young friends, than formerly.
There are various reasons why this should be
so. In the first place, your internal organization is less favorable for the mighty work of
resisting temptation, than the organization of
young men in past times. This, I must ask
you to take, now, for granted; reserving for
the present the task of proving what I have
asserted. Then, in the second place, civilization and refinement are on the march; but
these, while they place us within the range
both of better and worse influences, according
19 
20      LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
to our taste and option, do not necessarily give
us greater power to resist temptation or oppose
downward tendencies; whether these last arise
firom external circumstances, or from the internal current of that common depravity of which
we all partake.
Thirdly, you are more exposed to temptation
than young men formerly were, because you
have more leisure than they had. I need not
repeat to you the old adage concerning the
prince of availables, and his readiness to make
the idle man his workshop.  In former times,
moreover, there were fewer holidays than now,
and those holidays were spent in a very dif
ferent manner.
Lastly, it should be remembered that laborsaving machinery-including, of course, the
canal, the railroad, the steamboat, and the
telegraph-while it brings us countless blessings in its train, imparts also the power as
well as the temptation to wrong-doing, and to
the misrule both of your own spirits, and of
that society over whom Providence has placed
you.
I asked a distinguished phrenologist, one
__  _____        ____    ____ _    ___j
i
I
11
i
11
i
I
I
I
I
i
i
i 
F  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~;;;;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~IMNR REAK.4
day, why he was so apt to dwell on the good
traits in the character of those whose heads
he examined. His reply was, "Because it is
needful to inspire young men with confidence
in themselves. They do not think how much
they might accomplish, if they would but try.
They are wanting-the truly capable ones at
least-in self-respect and self-reverence."
There was truth in his remark; and this is
one reason why I have said so much, both
here and elsewhere, to young men. But on
the subject of self-reverence and self-respect, I
must speak in my next letter.
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
I
I
i
i
i
I
I
i
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
i 
LETTER II.
SELF-RESPECT AND SELF-REVERENCE.
"I Do and must reverence human nature,"
said an eminent New England divine; but in
saying this the doctor exposed himself greatly
to criticism. Indeed, I was inclined to wonder at the expression myself. So long and
so justly had I regarded human nature as
perverted and fallen, that I almost forgot that
there were, so to speak, two sides to it; that
if on the one side we are allied to the worm,
and even to the dust we tread on, it is not less
true that we are, on the other side, allied to
angels, and cherubs, and seraphs, and even to
the great God himself. And yet that such is
the fact, who will presume to deny?
We reverence our parents, and sometimes
I 
SELF-RESPECT-SELF-REVERENCE. 23
I
our rulers, especially when we regard them as
ruling us in righteousness; and is there aught
in this to which the most fastidious or sensitive could well object? Then why should
we shrink from the idea of reverencing human nature?
For in so doing, it is not necessary that we
should reverence human nature in all its depraved forms. We only reverence it as it
should be, and for the sake of those important
relations and responsibilities which it was
originally intended to sustain. We reverence
it, in part, for the sake of the Divine image
which was originally enstamped on it.
For you will not doubt that we are the children of one common Father, or that though
we have strayed from this Father's house we
are still his children, and treated by him as
such.  And is not provision made-has it not
been made these 1800 years-for restoring in
us that resemblance to our heavenly Father
which we have lost by our transgressions?
Addisoni, in the Spectator, has somewhere
intimated that the time may come in eternity,
when the meanest redeemed human soul will
i 
24     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
rise as much higher in the scale of moral
excellence and glory, than the post now occupied by Gabriel, as that bright seraph is exalted above the lowest of the Hottentots, or even
of the savages of the wilderness. And an authority higher than Addison has said: "Eye
hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither
hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him."
Think, too, of a Newton, a Franklin, or a
Herschel. We are accustomed to regard these
men as giants in point of intellect. And, compared with the mass of mankind around them,
they were so. Who does not reverence them
-their nature at the least?  Yet what were
these men in comparison with what they
might have been, could life have been prolonged to them a thousand years, to what in
truth they may yet become? Did they not
think meanly of themselves, when they thought
of the amazing heights of science which neither
they nor any other mortals had yet climbed?
Yet what were Newton, La Place, Franklin,
Cuvier, Solomon, even, considered merely as
I
i
I
I
I
i
I
I
I
I
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
l
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
'I
!I
I
i 
SELF-RESPECT-SELF —REVERENCE.  25
men of learning or as intellectual giants, when
compared with John, and Paul, and Brainard,
and Howard? What is mere intellectual
greatness  to moral  elevation?  And  why
might we not have the union of both these in
the same individual? Suppose for once the
union were to take place. Suppose a Paul,
with his moral greatness, superadded to a Sir
Isaac Newton. The thing is quite conceivable. Who would not reverence such a character? And is not human nature, thus elevated, ennobled, and rendered godlike, worthy to
be reverenced?
But to these sublime heights, 0 young man
-these portals of celestial day, as the poet
calls them-it is your privilege no less than
your duty to aspire. You cannot know that
you may not, at some day, by the full development and cultivation of all your powers, faculties and functions, rise to those heights,
whlence you may look down on all who have
lived before you, and even on Gabriel and all
the cherubim and seraphim that stand before
the throne eternal.
Will you not, then, learn to reverence your
2
I
I 
26     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
selves, or at least that wonderful nature with
which God in his Providence has intrusted
you? Will you dare to degrade, in any conceivable way, a nature allied to angels and
archangels, and to the Eternal himself? Made
to belong to the divine family-to be among
the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty
— will you presume to sink yourself to the
level, and below the level, of the brutes that
perish?
Learn then to respect-to reverence-thyself.
Learn to reverence thyself for the sake of
thyself.  Made to be like the sons of God,
and to dwell in their midst-nay, to be as it
were a son of God thyself-wilt thou lose a
single opportunity for qualifying thyself, intellectually, morally, or even physically, for
that blest abode? Wilt thou not exert every
faculty and every power, to the full extent of
those faculties and powers, to become what
thou wilt wish hereafter thou hadst made
thyself?
Thyself, physically.   This may seem to
thee a riddle.  But I will endeavor to make it
more plain hereafter. In the meantime read
I
i
i
IF
i
i
i
i
I
11
i,
il
i
i
i
I 
SELF-RESPECT-SELF-REVERENCE.   27
the fifteenth chapter of Paul's first letter to
his Corinthian brethren. There will be found
a partial solution of what may, at first view,
scen enigmatical in this particular.
Learn, above all, to reverence thyself for the
sake of Him who is at once thy Creator, thy
Preserver, thy Redeemer; and what is more
-I was going to say infinitely more-interesting, thy Father. Oh! what a word is this,
thy everlasting Father! Should a son of the
eternal God ever cease to reverence himself?
Should he ever for one short moment forget
his royal birth and blood? Should he not
live and die with the highest hopes, the highest aspirations, the highest self-reverence I
I
I 
i
I
LETTER III.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
IN order to reverence himself, a young man
must first know himself.  I do not mean by
this, that he must know himself as thoroughly
as God knows him; for that were an impossibility. Nor do I mean to intimate that his
knowledge of himself must be fully acquired
at once. All I mean to affirm is, that the reverence of ourselves, which was urged in the
last Letter, will always be graduated by our
self-knowledge.
True it is that a due reverence of ourselves
would be a most commanding motive to every
young man in the pursuit of self-knowledge.
The maxim, or injunction, "Know  thyself,"
coming down to us, as it does, from the remo 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
test antiquity, and urged and echoed from the
pages of all wisdom sacred and profane, strikes
us with greater or less force in proportion as
we are more or less acquainted already, with
the subject to which our attention is directed.
"l1'o know ourselves diseased is half our
cure," is often and well said. It is also said
that they only who are sick, feel the need of a
physician.  Now we are all sick in this particular, if in no other, that we are all vastly
ignorant of ourselves. We are not very profound in the knowledge of others; but as regards the knowledge of ourselves, we are
greatly deficient. Here the wisest of us might
well take lessons.
And herein consists the greatest hinderance
to self-knowledge, viz.; that we do not know,
as Dr. Watts aptly expresses it, how weak and
unwise we are. We may acknowledge ourselves ignorant, at least before God; but we
seldom really feel our ignorance. Somehow
or other we still cling to the idea that we are
pretty wise, after all.
Talk to a young man of his ignorance. If
you are an elder, he admits it. But suppose
I
I
i
29 
30         LETTERS  TO YOUNG  MEN.
you are his equal, real or supposed-what
then? Possibly he may seem to admit it; but
in the far greater majority of cases he will
repel the idea; in too many instances with
emotions of anger, if not with violence.   I
have seen many a young man who would bear
with composure, almost any charge, except
that of ignorance of himself; or of his own nature. And more, still-as if to atone for their
ignorance, will say, bloatingly, " Human  nature, I think, is the greatest study, after all."
The truth is, that the more ignorant we are,
in this particular, the greater our confidence in
the extent of our self-knowledge. And on the
co)ntrary, the more truly wise we are, the more
clearly we perceive the depths of our ignorance, on all subjects, but especially in regard
to ourselves. One of the greatest obstacles to
human progress, as I have already more than
intimated, consists in this, that we are not yet
wise and learned enough, either individually
or collectively, to perceive the necessity of selfexertion, or to value its rewards.   We are not
wise enough, in other words, to know how
ignorant we are.
i
I
I
I
I 
F                                -
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
Concerning this subject-self-knowledgein regard to its importance to young men, I
feel incompetent to speak, on account of its
magnitude. The language of Holy Writ, in
relation to another matter, seems to repel me:
-It is high as heaven, what canst thou do?
it is deep as hell, what canst thou know?
The young man, no less than the old one,
has a threefold nature-is a trinity in unitylike his Maker. A knowledge of this great fact
is of the first importance in the outset, because
it involves high and important duties. If our
nature is made up, as Paul would intimate, of
body, soul, and spirit, or, as the moderns express it, of physical, intellectual and moral
powers, then in order to know ourselves correctly, we must know something of each of
these great departments of our nature, as well
as of their relations to each other and to the
beings and things around us.
But this knowledge, so essential to the young
mnan, in all past ages-and little less in the
present-is denied him. Not, indeed, by design, with malice aforethought, open or covert,
I
i
I
I
i
i
i
I
31 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
but by the construction and arrangement of
society. It is so in the nature of things.
The first part of his nature which is reccgnized as worthy of cultivation, is his memory.
At home or abroad, he is thought to be learned,
in proportion to the load of words-the signs
of other men's ideas-which he can be made
to carry. And when he seems to rise to the
cultivation of other and higher faculties, it is
ten to one, but his instruction consists of mere
memory work. The other faculties of our intellectual domain are undeveloped, and consequently uncultivated.
But if the various mental faculties lie hidden
from young men, at least for the far greater
part, how much more so the relations of these
faculties to each other! Intellectual Philosophy is a term with whose meaning, even,
young men are scarcely made acquainted. The
dependence of a good judgment upon accurate
perception, patient attention, careful comparison, and the proper and natuiral association of
our ideas, is a thing of which the young man,
unless by sheer accident, is almost as ignorant
i
I
I
I
I
II
32 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
as the merest savage, or as the "man in the
moon."
Still more rarely is it made a fundamental
point, in early education, to watch the operations of the mind, and learn to analyze one's
ideas. Indeed this busy age seems altogether
unfavorable to much reflection, so that if it
were taught us in the schools, it would not be
likely to thrive out of them.   Steamboats.
railroads, and electromagnetic telegraphs are
not in this respect very favorable.
It is sometimes said that a person ought not
to know, by his sensations or feelings, that he
has a stomach. Now if it were the great
purpose of all those who have the care of the
young, to cultivate their minds-rather to pretend to cultivate them-in such a way that
they may never know they have any minds,
it would be difficult to devise a better system
for this purpose than that which so extensively
prevails among us.
And then the moral part of the young man
-does this receive any better attention than
the intellectual? Do the young know that
they have a moral nature?  If so, how come
2'
I
i
i
I
I
I
I
i
i
I
I
I
i
i
ii
ii
i
i
i
i
i
i;
33
i 
34     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
they by the knowledge? Is it obtainable in
the family? Is it found in the schools? By
what processes are the young, of each successive rising generation, made to know something
of the healthful nature and tendencies of the
elevating affections and passions, as love, hope,
joy, peace, cheerfulness, &c., or of the unfavorable tendency of their opposites, such as
hatred, despondency, grief, anger, melancholy,
&c.?
The instructions of the family, the common
school, the high school, and the Sabbath
school, do much for us, I admit; but what do
they in the way of teaching us ourselves?
Even the Sabbath school, whose special prerogative it would appear to be to unveil to us
ourselves and our relations to our neighbor
and to God, informs us of every thing else
rather than this most important of all knowledge. In this, even, what is told us is often
made to play "round the head," but comes not
to the heart."
This omission, I admit, is not from a settled
intention to avoid the knowledge of ourselves.
By no means. On the other hand. however, it
I
I
i
11 
i
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
is not from a settled intention to communicate
that knowledge. And this it is that I complain of as unworthy of the times we live in,
and the glorious light which has risen upon
us. The knowledge of ourselves is the foundation-or should be-of all other knowledge,
earthly or heavenly. And it is for want of
this knowledge, at least in part, that mankind
are such bundles, so to speak, of inconsistencies as render human character strangely enigmatical, when it should be the reverse.
Granted, however,- that  the  young were
trained to a knowledge of themselves, intellectually and morally, as they ought to be.
Granted that every thing received the measure
of attention it deserves in the two great departments of the human domain to which I have
adverted. Still, what is known of the physical
part of us-the body, so fearfully and wonderfully made? What know we of its nature,
finctions, relations, and purposes?
We explore the vast domain of extemrnal nature, unhesitatingly. We become acquainted
with the geography, the geology, the history
of the world in which we live. We study
L                       __
I
i
i
35
i
i
I
L — - 
36     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
natural history-animals, vegetables, and mi.
nerals.  To find the latter, we dig deep in the
bowels of the earth, or perseveringly drain, as
it were, one by one, her sands. We ascend
the heavens, as aeronauts; or, by aid ocf telescopes of mighty power, explore sun, moon,
and stars. Or, aided by lightning speed, we
canvass the actions of men hundreds or thousands of miles distant, if perchance we may
understand them, and read their hearts by
their lives.  And yet, after having explored
and analyzed our own and other worlds, we
come back utterly ignorant, for the most part,
of the very house we live in-the house of the
soul-the fearfully and wonderfully organized
body.  Nor do we know much, if indeed any
thing, more of its relations to the mind-the
spiritual inhabitant-that occupies it.
Or, to use the still more expressive language
of another writer, "Why is not the science of
physiology taught in all our colleges?  Astronomy, natural philosophy, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, and botany, are not neglected.
Students are required to become familiar with
the air they breathe, the water they drink, the
I
I
i
l
— II
i
I
i
i 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
fire that warms them, and the dust they tread
on.   They must  know something, forsooth,
about "spots on the sun," eclipses, "northern
lights," meteoric stones, the "milky way," the
great bear, the little bear, comets' tails, Saturn's
rings, and Jupiter's moons. They must know
all about the variations of the needle, the tides,
the trade winds, the Gulf Stream, the phenomena of earthquakes, thunder, volcanic eruptions, why a stone falls down rather than up,
and what flattened the poles.
"All this is very well. But what do our
graduates generally know of the structure of
their bodies, the functions of the different organs, and their laws of relation?  Just about
as much as the Peripatetics did of ideas, when
they supposed them little filmy things that
floated off from objects, and somehow wormed
their way through the senses, and finally stuck
fast on the pineal gland of the brain, like barnacles.
"Modern  education  conducts the student
round the universe; bids him scale the heights
of nature, and drop his fathom line among the
deep soundings of her abyss, compassing the
-                              -                                                                                     -~~__
I
i
i
i
i
I
I
I
i
i
I
I
i
I
i
I
I
I
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
Ii
i
I
i
l
i
i
I!
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
'I 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
vast, and analyzing the minute, and yet never
conducts him over the boundary of that world
of living wonders which constitutes him man,
and is at once the abode of his mind, the instrument of its action, and the subject of its sway.
Why, I ask, shall every thing else be studied,
while the human frame is passed over as a
noteless, forgotten thing?-that masterpiece of
divine mechanism, pronounced by its Author
"wonderfully made" and "curiously wrought,"
a temple fitted up by God, and gloriously garnished for the residence of an immortal inhabitant, bearing his own image, and a candi
date for "a building of God, eternal in the
heavens."
Thousands of students are now prosecuting
a course of study in our higher seminaries,
which occupies from six to nine years. Why
are not a few months set apart for studying
the architecture of this "earthly house of our
tabernacle," its simplicity, its beauty, its harmony, its grandeur, its majestic perfection?
Is there not something which is peculiarly
unaccountable-passing strange-in the state
of things here alluded to? And is it not still
I
i
i
i
II
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
I
I
i
i
I
i
ii
i
iI
i
i
I
I
i
i
I
I
I
i
i
i
1f
i
i
i
i 
strange, if possible, that it should be suf to remain; that mankind, professing to
ided by reason, are so very unreasonable
study and explore and form an intimate
aintance with every thing around them,
r than with themselves?  That they
ld be willing to spend thirty, fifty, or
ty years in this way, and even go down
grave almost without the slightest know of the framework of their own bodies?
t that matters are in this respect improvhey are by no means as they should be.'
ung man, by these remarks, I beseech
to be admonished.  Invert not, thus, the
e order of things, as the Creator estabi, or at least designed them.  Know thy KnowT every thing if thou canst-every
, I mean, which is worth knowing.  But
mber one thing, in passing.  Remember
though science and art are long, life at
is short; that whatever is worth doing
d be done with all thy might.  That it
, moreover, if done at all, be done quickly;
there is neither knowledge nor device in
rave, whither thou art fast hastening.  Re
~ —          -  -_
i
I
I
i
I
i
I
I
39
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
i
I
I I
i
i i
i
m ast,
i since
i
i      the g
II
l
ii             - 
40     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
member thou art fearfully made up of body,
mind and spirit; that thy first duty is to become acquainted, as much as thou mayest,
with these-their structure, offices, laws, and
relations; and with the relation of them, when
combined, to thy fellow beings, and thy Eter
nal Father.   Remember, therefore, I again
say, whatever else thou knowest, less or more,
know thou thyself.
Shall I proffer thee aids in this work? God
hath provided them to thy hand already.
David, the shepherd king of Israel, appears to
have studied the heavens as well as the earth.
while watching his father's numerous flocks
on the plains of Judea. Furnished with light
which David never had, thou knowest enough
of thyself, already, to begin the great work.
Half the wonders of thy frame —the house
thou occupiest-lie open to the most careless
observer, who observes at all; and what is not
obvious to thine own ingenuity, the labors of
others will readily supply.   Works on Anatomy, Physiology,. and Hygiene, in various
shapes, suited to thy capacity, are within thy
reach. Then there are Watts on the Mind,
I
i
I
i
I
I
I
i
i
ii
i
i
i
i
iI
I
i
I
I
I
i
i
I
I
ii
I
I
I
I
I
i
i 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE.
Mason on Self-Knowledge, the works of Dick,
the Combes, and a host of others; and last,
but not least, the Bible.
Here, after all, is the great volume on SelfKnowledge-so plain, that he who runs may
read-so ample, that it touches every case, of
every individual, of all ages and climes-so
satisfactory, that he who acts in its spirit will
never fail to know himself, to reverence himself, and to transmit himself to coming ages.
Young men place the golden age in the
future, and well they may. The study of ourselves, in the fullest, largest sense, will enable
us to enjoy, at least in prospect, all that poets
have dreamed of in the future, and all that
philosophy, even Bible Philosophy, has painted
on the portals of heaven. Know then thyself.
Ignorant of thyself, thou knowest nothing as
thou oughtest to know. Know thyself, and
thou knowest all else which is necessary.
Know thyself, and obey thyself; know thy
relations and duties to all within, around, and
above thee, and nothing can harm thee either
in this world or in the world which is to come.
I
I
I
41 
~
LETTER IV.
SELF-DEPENDENCE.
wide difference, my young friends,
Dependence and Self-Confidence.
ure, it is true, even of this last,
s   the possession of every young
rder to success in life.  I have
s before; but you will allow me
t   once more.
own a young  man, eighteen or
of age, who was as destitute of
n himself as the  veriest child.
was by no means wanting in the
omplish what he undertook, yet
n his training, that he shrunk from
which was new to him, or which
the slightest difficulties.
I
I
ii
i
i
l
I
.;   k <W 1 [V1  anew,~.,
such had beer
every thing M
presented but 
SELF-DEPENDENCE.
This unhappy state of things, as I have already said, was the result of wrong training.
The father was in the habit of taking it for
granted that his son was somewhat wanting
in the capacity to accomplish any thing, and
the son knew it. And, as usually happens in
such cases, what he took the son to be, he insensibly became. Or if he did not deteriorate,
there was a tendency to deterioration.
Another young man, in the same neighborhood, had been treated in a manner entirely
different. He had, in early life, lost both his
parents, and having a character, by constitution, somewhat versatile, the circumstances
and changes to which he had been subjected
had made him a perfect Alcibiades. He could
be or do, as he thought, almost any thing he
pleased. And this confidence in himself was
so great, as in some instances to secure the
point, and enable him to execute what never
yll have been accomplished otherwise.
One day, in the time of sheep-shearing, he
was passing a yard where an experienced individual was engaged in shearing sheep. A
person who stood looking on, and who knew
Kn __ _                        ~ 
li
-- I
43
I
.1
ii
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i 
if- 
44     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
the drift of the young man, called out, "Henry,
can you shear sheep?"  "Oh yes," was the
reply.  "Did you ever shear any?"  "Often,"
said he. "Come, then," said the man with
the shears, "and make the attempt."
Henry did not hesitate. He was, however,
only about sixteen years of age; had just come
from the city; and, it was quite probable, had
never seen a sheep sheared, before, in his life.
For it is almost unnecessary to say that situated as he had been, he had learned one thingthe art of telling a falsehood very smoothly.
To the surprise, however, of all, he succeeded very well. And his success was owing, in
part at least, to his  self-confidence.   The
young man of twenty, of whom I have already
spoken, stood by, and was as much surprised
as any of the company; for though brought up
in a land of flocks and herds, he would have
no more thought of shearing a sheep, than of
going,. even at that time, to California.
Self-confidence in excess, however, is as injurious as its opposite-extreme distrust or
diffidence. Self-dependence, on the other hand,
can hardly be in excess, in any possible in
i
I 
SELF-DEPENDENCE.
stance.  The more of it, the better.   Thousands, at least, suffer for want of a due proportion of this rare quality, to one for too much
of it. McClure, the geologist, insists that it is
on this account, in part, that orphans make
their way best in the world. But orphans do
not oake their way best.
Some, indeed, viewing the matter religiously, might imagine evil as the result of large
self-dependence. But I am not speaking here
of the dependence we should have on ourselves, as opposed to the dependence we should
have on our parents, or on others; much less
on God. I suppose, however, that the more
truly self-dependent we are, in a religious
sense, the more truly shall we depend on a
heavenly Father; and, on the contrary, the
less we depend on ourselves, the less shall we
depend on God. For he only has these opposites in just measure, who is in harmony with
himself and with all other things; and the
truly religious man is, after all, the only man
of true harmony
If we could contrive some way to throw the
young upon their own resources, or, in other
___________________________                                ________________________                                     ______________________                                J
ii
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
i
I
45 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
words, render them self-dependent, and at the
same time make them feel their own littleness
and dependence, a most important point would
be gained to the cause of education, and the
happiness of each rising generation greatly
augmented. But to unite these two, if indeed
they can be united, seems to be reserved for
remote generations.
I love to see a young man modest, and
even diffident; and yet I love to see him selfconfident to a considerable extent, and selfdependent, very largely.   Without self-confidence and self.dependence, he will hardly
make much progress in the world —with them,
he will hardly fail to go forward, in some
direction or another.
He will be, in fact, much like a ship at
sea, with a fair wind.  If she has a good pilot,
she will probably reach the desired haven; if
otherwise, there can be no certainty on this
subject. So with a young man. If his head
be a wise helmsman, he will come out safe;. but
if not, he may suffer a most dangerous, if not
fatal shipwreck.
In any event-I repeat the remark-I loveto
i
I
i
i
i
i
ii
i
46
I
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
I 
. - -
SELF-DEPENDENCE.
find a young man really and truly self-dependent. I love to have him feel as if he
could be and do any thing that was ever done
by man. I do not mean by this, that he should
feel as if he could do all things equally well,
or even as well as some others; but I do desire to see every young man "going ahead."
The rich young man is not likely to be selfdependent. Things have been done for him
too much. He has never felt want. Of
course he has never enjoyed the pleasure of
providing, by his own efforts of body or mind,
for his own necessities. Whether a student, a
laborer, a merchant, a mechanic or a manufacturer, he will hardly succeed in accomplishing much, because he has never been taught
the very first lesson.
This is one of the great evils of riches-not
that it spoils the possessor himself, though this
were bad enough, but that it spoils his chil(lren. Or if there be exceptions to the truth
oi' this remark, they are few and far between..
The indigent man is not much better off,
however.  His poverty is apt to create in him
meanness of spirit. Hence the wisdom of
__                                     ~
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
I
I 
48     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Agur's prayer of old-" Give me neither poverty nor riches." If Agur, at his time of life,
was likely to be tempted to mean or dishonest
acts by poverty, it is not likely the young can
escape. But this meanness to which I allude
-the exact opposite of what was alluded to in
a former paragraph-is entirely unfavorable to
true self-dependence.
I do not mean to say, or to intimate, that
the quality to which I refer is never found in
either a rich or poor young man; but only
that both riches and poverty present or bring
with them their difficulties.  That they are
occasionally surmounted by genius, and even
by other circumstances, is most cheerfully
admitted.
The remarks which have been made in
regard to the two extremes of poverty and
riches, in their effects on the self-dependence
of young men, may be applied to many other
circumstances and conditions of human life.
Perhaps we may profitably spend a few moments on this topic.
Rank is unfavorable to self-dependence.
Thus he who, by birth, is made lord, or duke,
L                               __        _____
I
I
1I
i
I
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
i 
SELF-DEPENDENCE.
or even esquire, is thereby absolved-I mean
practically-from the duty of self exertion.
He is not likely to rise to the condition of
monarch on the one hand, do what he may,
nor is he much more likely to sink to the condition of serf or peasant on the other.
And then the latter-the individual who in
a country of lords and tenants, is born at the
lower extreme of society-what can he do?
For it is not possible, in one case in a million,
that he should rise above his rank. And stupid as he is, he generally knows it, and governs
himself accordingly.
I have seen the slave in the service of his
master. What motive had he to self-dependence? He must depend on his master. For
let him make ever so much exertion, become
ever so active or enterprising, and he is still
but a slave, and as a general rule must expect to remain so.
What a blessed thing it is to be born in a
country, where riches and poverty, and rank
and caste have not produced their worst eflbects
— and where slavery even is not as yet univer
3
I
49
------- 
1l  50    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
sal! What a favor to be born in the United
States of America! That things are not as
they should be, even here, is most readily and
fully conceded.   That the spirit of wealth,
rank and caste are abroad, and on the increase
among us, is most certain. That the circumstances into which the young man is introduced at birth, are, in many respects, greatly
unfavorable to self-dependence, cannot be denied. Still it would be difficult for the young
to improve their condition in this particular, by
going to another country. For whither shall
they go? Here, the road is open to riches.
honors, preferment. Every young man may
be an Astor, a Polk, a Franklin or a Dwightjust as he pleases; provided he will make
such exertion as God and nature and circumstances have placed within his reach and
power.
Need I repeat the exhortation to the young
to avail themselves of the circumstances and
privileges thus allotted them? Need I urge
them to remember that they are born, not in
the twelfth or the sixteenth century, nor in
i1,
i
I
.1
i
i
i
i
i 
BELF-DEPENDENCE.
South Africa or in New Zealand, nor even
in Oregon or California, but in the nineteenth
century, and in the United States of Amer.
ica X
I
I
51 
LETTER V.
SELF-EDUCATION.
IN a preceding letter, I have more than intlmated that the great business of young men is
the formation of right character for noble ends;
in other words, self-education. For what is
this world; what is human life, at least in its
earliest stages, but a great school of education 2
Nay, I might even ask, were this the appropriate place for it, What is Christianity itself but
a system-a set of lessons, so to speak-prepared by Heaven for the purpose of making
men-and the young, of course-wiser and
better?
My purpose, at the present time, will be to
say something about the means and processes
of this self-education-this formation of char
I
I
11
I 
SELF-EDUCATION.
acter-more especially beyond the precincts of
the family circle, and the domain of family
influences.  And in the first place, allow me to
\4pak of what I choose to call harmony.
Bv harmony in the formation of character,
I mea,n such a development of the individual
as wv1ll produce uniformity.   Every young
man understands the term in its application to
a musical performance, as well as to architecture. Yet as surely as a piece of music should
be harmonious, or the various parts of an
edifice or temple in due proportion and harmony, so should the human character-the
Christian temple. In truth, a want of harmoniy in the latter case is as much more to be
deplored, as the imperishable is more valuable
than the perishable.
Man's nature, as I have before said, is not
simple and uncompounded.  It is in the image
of its Divine author.   Man is made up of
body, soul, and spirit, as Paul has it; or of
body, head, and heart, as the moderns. In
either case the idea is the same; man is at
once a physical, intellectual, and moral being.
Now, in order to produce a harmonious de
53 
54     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
velopment of human character, as well as harmonious results, all these departments, so to
call them, of human nature, must be properly
developed and cultivated. If this is done, and
done early, the result is what might be called
.-what is called in fact-a proper balance.
Thus a harmonious character is a well-balanced character.
But where shall we go, it may be asked, to
find such a character-an individual, young
or old, in whom body, head and heart, are
proportionally developed and cultivated? Men
in all ages and climes, and under every dispensation, have been but mere fragments of
men. To point to one harmonious character
-perfectly so-would be to point to something
beyond the precincts of either sacred or profane history.
Acknowledged.  "No mere man"-none but
the God-man-has been found to come up
to this beau-ideal of perfect humanity.   But
what then? Because man has never come up
to the dignity of his nature, does it follow that
he never will do it?
That we know not yet what we shall or 
SELF-EDUCATION.              55
can be, is alike the language of religion and
philosophy.   Suppose, however, it were not
so; suppose, as I believe to be true, that men
have hitherto been mere fragments of men, is
it not equally true-is it not even certainthat the larger fragments, or rather those
which embraced the greatest number of elements belonging to the common mass, have
been most useful?
If it should be argued that young men, such
as I am addressing, are not expected to have
those well-balanced natures which farther
education and a more extended experience
would be apt to develope-that indeed they
cannot have them-I should meet the argument by a fiat and positive denial. Your
character should be as harmonious at four as
at sixteen, and at sixteen as at sixty. It
should be in harmony at every age of moral
accountability, and in all circumstances. And
if the rabbins and teachers of this or any other
age or clime have taught otherwise, this does
not alter the matter of fact.  "To the law and
to the testimony."
One reason why men have been hitherto
-I
i
11
i
i
i
i
i
l 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
so little harmonious in their character, may
be. that society, as a whole, has been inharmnonious.   Society-civilized  society I here
mean more particularly-like the individuals
of which it is made up, is unequally and
inharmoniously developed in the very best circumstances.
Sometimes the intellectual part is greatly
in advance of the moral; perhaps even of the
physical. In other instances it may be the
moral predominates, or at least leads. More
commonly, however, the physical part of the
social system is greatly in advance of all the
rest. Such is the fact-most strikingly so-at
the present moment. Nor is this the worst.
The wonderful progress of labor-saving machinery and the arts is greatly increasing this
preponderance.
Now the greater this want of harmony in
human society, considered as one huge individual, the greater the tendency to a want of
harmony in the individuals of which it is
composed. Some have even said that this
tendency is inevitable. I do not so regard it,
however. Man is not a mere machine. To
I
56
I
I 
SELF-EDUCATION.
his machinery is superadded free agency; and
this enables him not only to control matter,
and hold in abeyance some of the laws and
tendencies of matter, but even to turn them to
a good account.
This view of the case, young men, indicates
your true position in civil society. You inherit
an inharmonious tendency to begin with.
Then, as you pass on through infancy and
childhood to youth and adolescence, your education but serves to confirm what has been so
inauspiciously begun. Your appetites are misdirected, your physical powers in general perverted or misemployed, and your pampered
bodies either stinted on the one hand, in a
greater or less degree, or on the other hand
pushed to giant size or diseased fulness.
Meanwhile, by neglect, your mind and heart
suffer; or, if otherwise, their growth is sickly.
For the law of organized bodies, as yet but
faintly alluded to, that if one member suffers
all the members suffer with it, is as applicable
to the three departments of man's nature of
which I have already spoken, as to those sub.
3*
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
ii
i
i
57 
58     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
divisions of each to which I shall hereafter call
your attention.
Is any individual discouraged by the views
I have suggested? I trust otherwise. What
is wanted in self-education is a correct understanding of our true position and relationswhat we are and what we can be. For that
Divine Providence who bids us follow the path
of the just, which shineth brighter and brighter
to the perfect day, would never place one more
difficulty in our way than is needed, in order
to call forth our slumbering or estranged faculties and powers, and lead us by a faithful
co-operation with him, not only to the full development of our whole nature, but to a development and cultivation of that nature which
shall render all things healthy and harmonious.
hListead, therefore, of being discouraged, the
view which I have presented is, above all
others, that which seems to me best calculated
to give motive to new exertion and increased
activity. The fact that so many difficulties
lie in our way, should only serve to urge us
i_____               __ 
SELF-EDUCATION.           59
onward in the path which leads to certain victory   God made man for himself; but in order
to this end he requires that our complicated
nature, like his own, should be harmonious.
For it is only when man is in peace and harmony with himself that he can be in harmony
with his Creator.
And yet once more. The greater the victory to be achieved, the greater the reward.
Even the "joy set before" the young man of
Nazareth was proportioned to the difficulties
which he volunteered to surmount. The more
inharmonious your constitutions, taking them
as they are in these confines of creation, the
higher may you rise, when by faith, and penitence, and patience, and perseverance, you
shall have overcome.   You  are  called  to
achieve victories-one victory at least, the victory over yourself-to which, in all probability,
no angel, cherub, or seraph was ever called.
Nor is it certain that your upward flight, as I
have before said, shall not, in remote periods of
eternity, as greatly transcend theirs, as the rejoiciligs of high heaven over the repenting sin
i
I
ii
ii
i
i
i
I
i
I
i
II
I
I
i
I
i
it
1
i
II
i
i
i
I
i
i
I 
60     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
ner exceed its rejoicings over the ninety and
nine just persons that need no repentance.
To return from this digression-but not at
present, as I have written at too great length
already. Let me only add, that in future letters, I will endeavor to avoid the preaching
style into which, in this communication, I have
inadvertently fallen, and pursue a style of instruction-so far as I am capable of instructing
-like that which is said to have so much interested the numerous and patient readers of
my early work, the "Young Man's Guide "a work, to which this is intended as a sequel.
I
I 
i
LETTER VI.
HARMONY OF CHARACTER.
IT has been shown you, in a former letter, that
in order to perfection of character, your whole
nature, physical, intellectual and moral, must
not only be largely developed and cultivated
to a high pitch, but must be developed and
cultivated in due proportion and harmony. I
wish, now, to lead your minds a little farther
in the same general direction.
Each of the three great divisions or departments of human nature has also its subdivisions. Thus, what we call the mind, or the
intellectual domain, is made up, as you well
know, of many different faculties. So the
heart, or moral domain, is regarded as includmg  all  the various affections and passions. 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
So, also, the physical department includes
brain, nerves, lungs, skin, heart, stomach, &c.
&c.
Now it is absolutely necessary, in order to
the full and perfect and harmonious development and cultivation of your whole nature,
that all these subdivisions of each grand department of humanity should receive its
due  share of attention.   It is, moreover,  a
physiological truth of high antiquity-that if
one member suffers, all the members suffer with
it, and that if one member rejoices, all the
members rejoice with it!  The same law may
be applied to the various under-departments
of our intellectual and moral nature, no less
than to the physical. Whether Paul intended any other application, is, of course, uncertain.'
Permit me, however, to confine your attention for a few moments to the physical depart
* If the suggestions of Adam Clark, in his Commentary,
have weight, there is reason for believing that Paul received a
medical education, either at Alexandria or elsewhere. This,
alone, would account for his figures of speech.
I
Ii
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I.
I
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
I
L 
HARMONY OF CHARACTER.
mnt of your nature; and for the sa
tion to introduce a new figure.
Let us compare the body to a co
smaller States, like the Federal
wich our lot is cast.  Let Massac
u please, represent the cerebral sys
rk, the  respiratory or  breathing
nnsylvania the. stomach, and so
te representing some important,
means equally large and impor
system of organs.
Now, can any thing be more obv
tt if the smallest member of this
eracy suffers-even little Rhode ]
other members suffer with it?
of these members rejoices-has
n improved-all the others rejoice
And yet it is equally true of the
the human  confederacy of whi
ken, that they sympathize strol
eh other, and if one rejoices or stuf
oers rejoice or suiffer with it.  A fin
not suffer without involving the
stern in suffering in some small de
One form, in which the suffering
I
i
I
I
.0
63
I
to which I 
4
6f4    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
refer is    manifested, consists in a want of proper
harmony in the system. Thus, if the skin
suffers for a considerable time, whether from
over-activity or any thing else, the lungs, or
some other part which sympathizes strongly
with it, is soon thrown off its balance, so to
speak, either by being overworked or otherwise.
This, again, produces disturbance in tile
nervous and digestive systems, and finally a
clashing of interests, and perhaps downright
opposition. And now a civil war ensues, or
may ensue, in which too often the whole confederacy is destroyed. In other instances, however, this inharmonious condition of things
constitutes chronic disease of greater or less
severity.
Finally, the organs of the body having De
come involved in war, the evils are extended
to the soul and spirit, as Paul calls themn; or,
in other words, to the intellectual and moral
departments of our complicated nature.
This civil war of the human confederacy
may be set on foot in a thousand ways. I
have no time or room now for detail-hardly
i
i
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
I
I
I 
HARMONY OF CHARACTER.
for enumeration. Excess or deficiency of their
appropriate stimuli; excess of employment,
which in these days is too much divided and
subdivided; employment which is not well
adapted to the constitution and temperament
of the individual; unhealthy stimuli applied
to the different organs;-these are general
names for large classes of causes, which break
up or prevent harmony in the physical, and
ultimately in the intellectual and moral domain; and, as an indirect but inevitable result,
produce a want of proper harmony of character.*
Let me dwell for a moment, in passing, on
one point. I have spoken of labor as being too
much divided and subdivided, for health and
harmony in the physical frame. Do not suppose I am ignorant of the many advantages
to be derived from a minute division of labor.
Yet all these, important as they may be, are
greatly outweighed by the injury done to certain parts of the human system.
* I am not attempting here to teach physiology. This
subject and the laws of health I have reserved, chiefly, foi
another letter and a future volume.
L-_         _
65 
66     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Some of the muscles are overworked; some
not worked at all. One organ, or set of organs,
for example, is cramped, or its motion impeded;
another, having full play, not only does its
own work, but attempts to aid its cramped or
enfeebled neighbor. Mind, too, in its varied
faculties, suffers in a similar way; but this
belongs to another department of my subjectto which, by the way, we must now hasten.
In order to insure entire harmony of character, no one of the intellectual faculties should
be overtasked or strained on the one hand, or
neglected  or  dwarfed  on  the other.   Yet
whether or not you may be conscious of it,
this error is committed all the way from the
cradle to the grave. The memory is cultiva,
ted, it may be, or rather an attempt is made to
cultivate it; while perception, attention, comparison and judgment being overlooked or neglected, become enfeebled; and the result is a
loss of balance-a want of due harmony-in
the mental character. But I have said this
before.
Again, in the selection of your studies, the
same unwise course is often pursued. Certain
I 
HARMONVY OF CHARACTER.
studies-say the mathematical ones-receive
a large share of your attention, while the
others, or some of the others, are neglected. I
am greatly pained when I find, as I often do,
this great practical error in some of our best
schools. On this very point-neglecting the
natural sciences and the study of men and
things, and substituting in their place, algebra
and the languages-harmony of character is
daily and hourly destroyed. And the great
misfortune of all, concerning it, is, that even
our Normal Schools, High Schools, and Colleges, in some instances, are perpetuating the
evil.
Conversation, at home and abroad, has very
generally the same inharmonious tendency;
and so have books. One whole class of school
books, in particular, is so constructed-and this
without the slightest necessity-as to turn the
thoughts, for the most part to money-getting.
Public addresses often have the same or worse
results. Can the tendency of such things be
mistaken, in a country and period like our
own? And could any thing be to the young
more unfortunate?
I
i
67 
68      LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
But I must not dwell too long on this part
of my subject, on account of the pain you will
feel at the presentation of so dark a picture.
I am even not without fears I shall discourage
you. Here we are, you will say, such as we
are, sufferers in many particulars, both by inheritance and education; and we cannot go
back. This I understand, very well. I have
been a young man, as well as you. I have
felt the difficulties under which you labordifficulties, however, which are daily and
hourly increasing.
And yet-I repeat the sentiment-in order
to get right and be right, you must understand
your true position and condition. As well
might the wise surgeon dispense with examining-probing, even to the quick-the wounds
and ulcers which fall under his observation
and care, as the moral physician neglect to begin the work of reformation, in the young, at
the foundations of character.
Instead of having gone too far, therefore, I
have not yet gone far enough. I have scarcely
adverted to the moral causes of a want of that
harmony in the human character of which I
l 
i
HARMONY OF CHARACTER.
speak. These must not, my young friends, be
overlooked; though they may perhaps be deferlted for the present.
More than once I have expressed a fear of
discouraging you by the magnitude of the
work which is assigned you. Yet the beloved
apostle calls young men strong, and says he
writes to them because they are so. And so
do I. Of old men-of men above forty, even
-I have little hope. But I have great faith
in the ability of young men, could that ability
be rightly directed.
They are not, I know, quite omnipotent.
They cannot wield mountains of difficulty
with the facility of power which Milton asc$ioes to the warring angels in his Paradise
Lost. And yet they can remove them gradually. And what they can do, as I have
already said, they are bound to do.
Nay, there is a sense in which young men,
no less than old ones, are bound to do more
than they can. Their great work (and greater
work could not well be assigned them) is victory over themselves-these miseducated, misdirected, inharmonious selves, of which I have
.i
I
i
i
I
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
Ii
i
I
69 
70     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
been speaking. Yet for this victory even, they
are abundantly qualified, because if they go
forth to the battle, in the right spirit, the God
of Hosts will be with them; and what power
they cannot command of themselves, as young
men merely, his abundant favor will supply.
a..
I 
LETTER VII.
SELF-INSTRUCTION.
IT will require a long time to free the minds
of young men from the erroneous impression
that their education is completed in the schools;
whereas the instruction of these institutions,
important as it is, should merely present us
with the keys of knowledge.. To obtain these,
is a comparatively trifling work; to unlock the
golden treasures to which they give us access,
is the work of a life. Education, in its largest
sense, as we have already seen, is a life work.
Even that part of education which we call
instruction, only begins in the schools; at
least, it should be so. With too many, it both
begins and ends there.
I have sometimes wondered why it is, that
I
i
i
I
i
I
I
I
i
i
i
.1
I
i' 
!
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
in a country which has produced a Franklin,
and where so many young men have superior
advantages to those which that philosopher.
while young, enjoyed, we have so few Franklins. Is it not because so few continue, as he
did, to old age, the work of self-instruction?
The road to eminence which Franklin trod.
is as surely open as the.road to wealth, or political distinction. As well may the young man
take Franklin for his model as John Jacob
Astor, or Stephen Girard; nay, even as Washington or Napoleon.
The desire for improvement in our American
young men, is most certainly feeble-I mean
as a general rule. I do not forget, now, the
tendency of old men to place the golden age in
tne past.  We have facts.  Meursius, an ancient writer, has shown that there were, in his
time, "more than three hundred public places
in Athens" alone, to which  "the principal
youth and reputable citizens were accustomed
to resort for the purpose of conversation and
inquiry." And we have the testimony of Luke,
the companion of Paul, that the Athenians
were a thinking people-spending much of
72 
SELF-INSTRUCTION.
their time in the pursuit of knowledge of some
sort.
Shall the young men of the United States
of America, in 1849, be behind the young men
of heathen Athens of 54? And yet have we
not great reason to fear they are so? One
tenth the number of institutions for mutual
improvement, in the same population, would,
in these days, be a novel sight.
Of course, I do not mean to say that there
are no exceptions to the truth of these remarks,
for there are many-some of them honorable
ones. Even in those parts of the country
where no school instruction has hitherto been
enjoyed, the young man has occasionally
"started out of the ranks," and made himself
eminent, at least among his fellows.
I knew a man, not long since-then about
fouiscore-who, without the opportunity of
attending school for a single day during his
whole life, had become quite distinguished in
nis ovwn neighborhood. And how was this
distinction attained?  Was it without effortpatient, persevering effort?  Never.
This man, in early life, having been taught
4
73 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
by his mother to read a little, laid by money,
and purchased a dictionary. It was by no
means a large or costly work; but then it was
precious to him. Whenever, in reading or
conversation, he encountered a hard word, he
examined his dictionary, found the meaning,
and retained it.
This laid the foundation of a good minLd;
and indeed of a large fund of what the philosopher Locke used to call large, sound,
roundabout common sense. Now what this
plain, obscure individual could do, others, in
circumstances a thousand times more favor
able, most certainly can.
I have in my mind's eye, at this moment,
another young man, who without either dictionary or school, for the first years of his life,
availed himself of every advantage, which the
family in which he resided afforded him, and
became, at length, quite a respectable scholar.
He was at eighteen a schoolmaster; and at
twenty-five, at the summit of this profession.
Is it for w(vnt of time that more is not done?
Who has not as much time as Franklin had?
Who has not as much of this precious com
11
, 1
i
i
I
I
II
i
I
ii
.i
!I
I
i
i
I
i
i
i
I
11i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
1
I
li
i
1,
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
1
I
i
ii
i
I 
-~
SELF-INSTRUCTION.
modity, to say the least, as the man of whom
I have been speaking?  Is it for want of money? Who has not money enough to buy a
dictionary? Every young man has shreds,
both of time and money, which might be saved
for this purpose.*
Young men, however, are very far from
being driven to as close quarters as all this
would imply. They can have more than a
dictionary. Most of them have newspapers;
bad, good, or indifferent. And much may be
learned from any of these-even the worst.
Man's mental stomach, like his physical, is
made susceptible of receiving and procuring
nourishment from almost every kind of food.
Then, again, few families can be found, in
which a young man could be thrown, who
* I can hardly forbear, in this place, to commend to young
men, the beautiful edition of Noah Webster's Dictionary,
unabridged, lately published. It is one of the noblest productions of our language; and is of itself a library. What would
the dictionary man above mentioned have thought of such a
treasure?  What would Franklin?  Two cents a day-and
this many young men might save in cigars or coffee-in one
year, would more than procure it.
75 
i
76     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
have not more or fewer books; some of them
valuable ones. Besides this, there are circulating, parish and school libraries. And lastly,
there are lyceums, clubs, debating societies,
&c., of whose advantages most young men
may avail themselves, or, if there are not
enough of these, more may be established.
One or two errors in reading, and indeed in
self-instruction generally, remain to be noticed
Not a few young men fall into the error of
reading too much. This is especially the case
with those who use no dictionary. They who
make it a point to understand every thing they
read, and who constantly ask the meaning of
new words, terms and phrases which obstruct
their course, will not be likely to fall into the
wretched habit which is often alluded to by
saying that it passes into one ear and out at
the other. They will do something more than
merely devour books-swallow them wholethey will "read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest."
Another error consists in sitting up to read
late at night. I speak not here of the physical
dangers, great as they are; but rather of the 
SELF-INSTRUCTION.
mental and moral dangers of this practice. It
is greatly unfavorable to the growth of mind
-to  its healthy growth especially.   But I
think it still more unfavorable to moral growth
and progress.
Do you ask why it is so?  There are many
and various reaslis.  One is, that what is read
at a late hour, when we are over-fatigued in
body and mind, being usually of an exciting
character, only tends to fill the brain with
unnatural images, during both our waking'and
sleeping hours. Fancy and imagination are
apt to predominate, at this hour of the day,
and sober judgment seldom gains the ascendency. If exciting books are read at all, they
should be read in the forenoon, and not in the
evening. Should it be said that other books
might be read at these late hours, as well as
the class I have described, my reply is, they
will not be, as a general fact. The appetite at
thiis hour as seldom craves such food for the
mind as for the body.
____   ____  ___       ____    -j
i
i
I
77 
LETTER VIII.
LIGHT READING.
So numerous are the influences which have
an unfavorable tendency on young men, by
forming inharmonious and therefore unhappy
character, that one hardly knows at what
point to commence his remarks. I propose,
however, to bring before your minds, at the
present time, the subject of LIGHT READING,
the topic with which I closed my last letter.
But I must define my terms; for one-half
the mental confusion-not to say mischief of
this world-has its origin in vague or undo
fined words and terms. By light reading, then,
I mean such books, papers and periodicals as
amuse and enable you to " kill time," or at
least "while" it away; but leave little or no
I 
LIGHT READING.                79
lasting impression on the mind and heart.Among these, stand conspicuous many of our
more popular periodicals.
In a former letter, I alluded to the evils of a
minute division of labor. One would think
that such division would save time for other
purposes, such as reading and study-and this,
I confess, is its natural tendency. Yet such is
the operation of various circumstances and influences, that people seem not only to have
less time for other purposes than formerly, but
also less disposition to make a wise and profitable use of their leisure hours, whenever they
arrive.
The mania for light reading, which has
been more or less prevalent ever since the
adventures of Paul on Mars Hill, has of late
been increasing. We not only confine our
selves more than formerly to light reading, but
we read still more "by snatches!"
For this ever-increasing but ever-unfavorable
habit, the present age furnishes almost unbounded facilities.  There never was a time
when so many books and newspapers were
circulated as at the present day.
IL 
80      LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Then, again, they are exceedingly cheap.
Few families can be found who do not take
one or more newspapers or magazines; and
not a few take three or four, including at least
one daily. Some, indeed, there are who take
from five to ten or twelve continually. One
family I visited lately-that of a mechanictakes fourteen. Another family I know takes
about a dozen.
I will not stop here to caution you against
receiving this or that paper, or journal, or magazine; or to commend to your favorable regard
the other.  To this and other particulars, I
may or may not descend by and by. What I
propose, at this time, is to dissuade you, if possible, from your present course; and suggest
one which is not only more favorable to a
healthful and harmonious growth of character,
but actually more pleasurable in the passing
moment
The more you read mere fragments, the
more you are inclined to do so; and the more
you will disrelish any and every other mode.
And the more you spend your shreds of time
in this way, on the plea that they are mere
II 
L,IGHT' REA1)IN(,.
shreds. the shorter they seem to become.
This, at least, is the result of my own observation-nor has my opportunity or range for
observation been very limited.
T'his will probably explain the well-known
fact that light reading, and reading little more
than mere shreds-such as abound in the
papers, especially the dailies-is perpetually
increasing, so that no one can tell where it is
likely to end.
I am no enemy, by the way, to light reading. Books, magazines, and newspapers of
this sort, all have their place. A small share
of our time; however valuable this precious
gift of God may be-and no one, I am sure,
can estimate it too highly-may be very properly expended on some kinds of light reading.
But so long as human nature remains as it
now is-perhaps as long as it exists-the tendency to excess will need to be watched and
guarded against.   Few, if any, read light
works too little.
Some six or seven months ago, I was stopping for a short time in one of the flourishing
villages of New England, when two individ
4*
I
I
i
I
I
i
81 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
iials came through the street selling books,
One had such works as The Young Man's
Guide, The Young Mother, Young Wife, &c.
The other had books of a very different char acter-and among the rest, the catchpennies
of the day, such as the cheaper lives of Scott,
Taylor, the works of Eugene Sue, &c. The
latter sold readily-the former hardly at all.
Now I will not take it upon me to commend
the former or condemn the latter, by wholesale; but I am justified in condemning that
public taste which wholly excludes the plain
and practical, and seizes and devours indiscriminately the noisy, the light, or the visionary; and yet nothing can be more certain
than that such are the tendencies of things at
the present time.
If this state of things is to continue for half
a century to come-if the young  mind, I
mean, is to go on in its present course, becomiing more and more averse to any thing solid,
and more and more inclined to light papers,
and novels, and catchlipeniiies, it is quite difficult to predict the final issue of things. Certain
82
I 
r __________   -      ___          -             -___
LIGHT READING.
it is, however, that they can be only evil, and
that continually.
Against this depraved taste, and these depraved mental habits, my young friends, let
me most earnestly entreat you to enter your
protest. If life were long enough to read every
thing, not every thing the press pours forth
would be fit for you to read. And if you can
justify yourselves in reading one hour a day,
or so, the lighter works those in which fancy
and not fact predominate-how can you allow
yourselves in devoting your days and nights
to them? And if you are willing to glance at
a daily paper-the common catchpenny dailies,
I mean, and not the more respectable onesnow and then, does it follow that you are
doing right when you spend an hour or two
on them of every day you live?
What I have said thus far, in this letter, has
bueen said on the supposition that these "light
concerns," were only negatively injurious; that
is, that they only injure youl, by frittering
away your time, and feeding a distempered
taste and brain.
But I have more to say against them. Not
r
I
I
i
i
i
1,
83 
84     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
a few are positively injurious-first, by the
false colorings they hold out, and the false
views they present of human life; secondly,
by the depravity and infidelity which, under
a  mistaken  garb, they too often conceal;
thirdly, by the downright falsities which some
of them contain.
'I'he more you find yourself inclined to read
by snatches, and to prefer light books and
periodicals to those which are more solid, the
more active should be your organ of caution.
"I tremble for the man who does not tremble
for himself," said an aged advocate of teeto talismn; and I can adopt his language in relation to the subject before you. A young man
who trembles for himself is the only young
man who is safe. He may possibly be cautious how he ventures beyond his ken or depth
in waters unknown to him; no one else I am
sure will be.
If there were no books, papers or magazines
among us, which in their character approximate to what they should be, the case would
be greatly altered.  But that state of civilized
society which brings upon us a flood of light
I
i
I 
LIGHT READING.
papers and magazines, and a world of mawkish and sickly stuff, whose only recommendation is that it is new and cheap, brings us at
the same time many highly valuable publications, both new and old, and at a greatly reduced price. He must be poor, indeed, who
has his health, if he cannot procure a library
of choice reading, both periodical and permanent.
Those of us who complain of the present
state of things, in the gross, should not fail to
remember that there never was a time before,
when so much choice reading could be procured for so little money. And we should not
only remember the fact, but be grateful.
He who would educate himself in the best
possible manner, and who would stand before
the community not only in harmony with his
Creator, but also with himself, should be more
carefuil in the choice of his books and papers
than in the choice of any thing else in the wide
world,  except friends.   Indeed,  books and
papers-materials for reading and thinkingare friends. Happy, then, the young man
I
i
I
I
I
i
i
i
I
I
iI
i
i
I
I
I
85 
86      LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
who is so fortunate as to make a wise selection!
Young men are usually fond of history and
biography-and they ought to be. They love
to study men and things. Would they were
as anxious to know themselves as to become
acquainted with others; for then, should they
catch the spirit of reform, they might, perchance, be as anxious to mend themselves as
to point out to others the path of amendment,
or sneer at their imperfections.
This love of studying men and things, I
have said, is laudable. It is only a morbid
desire of this kind that leads the young to
search the outside pages of newspapers, and
the inside of magazines and works of fiction,
for something wherewith to feed what might
have been fanned into a heavenly flame. It
is this never-satisfied and never-to-be-satisfied
desire that furnishes a market for certain papers
which I couid name, by thousands and tens
of thousands, while not a few of our more
meritorious ones hardly pay their way.
I grant, indeed, that the details of real life
are sometimes more wonderful, as well as more
I
i
I
i
I
I
I
I
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
I
I
I
i
i
i
I 
LIGHT READING.
inviting, than romance. But this is not usually
so. The better histories of the better class of
mankind are not in general spiced high enough
for those who have not been trained to plain
food. Oberlin and Howard are read with far
less interest than Napoleon and Alexander;
and Jesus Christ and his apostles with still less
than either.
Be exhorted, then, to correct a false taste as
soon as possible. Accustom yourselves to read
a portion of biography or history, sacred or
profane, every day you live. The more you
read, in this way, just as it is with plain food
for the body, the more you will find yourselves
satisfied with plain things, and the less will
you be disposed to read that to which I have
been all along objecting; and above all, of
that which can never profit you, but must only
perish in the using.
Read, too, as you may have opportunity, the
lives of distinguished reformers. Our Saviour
was indeed the greatest of them; and to his
life and deeds, I have already directed your
attention. But I have also to direct you to
the lives of some of his followers.
I
87 
88     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
I begin with Paul. Let me be understood
here. I am not speaking now so much in the
character of a religious man, as that of an
educationist. Would you educate yourselves,
learn much more than you have ever yet
learned of Paul.
Then, to come to later times, study Luther.
For this purpose, perhaps, you will do well
to procure D'Aubigne's History of the Refor mation. Luther was not faultless; but you
may learn much from him about self-edu cation to virtuous and energetic character.
Howard and Oberlin come next, in my estimation. You will be most pleased, I think,
however, with the latter. Perhaps he was not
so great a man as the former; but then he was
quite as practical.
In later times, still, there are many bright,
shining examples, among the modern missionaries. Here I will not particularize, for
obvious reasons. But I know not where you
can go, among the living, for such specimens
of all that is truly great and noble, as among
these very men.
Take, for example, a case cited by Sir Gilbert
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
7 —.    --
i
i 
LIGHT READING.
Blane, in his Medical Jurisprudence. Anxious
to save time, that he might complete the translation of an important work, the missionary
contrived, or at least endeavored to contract
his sleep into very narrow space. He would
go to sleep in his chair, holding a little ball
over a tin basin or bell; and as soon as he was
fairly asleep the ball would drop, and the
sound would wake him. A few such naps, as
he believed, answered his purpose, and thus he
seemed to save half his night for study.
This last case, I do not recommend to you
as an example; but it shows to what a pitch
this moral heroism is sometimes carried. It
shows you too, that time redeemed, is wortl&
something.
'I
89
I 
Ib
LETTER IX.
CORRECT CONVERSATION.
ONE means of self-education-a most important means, too-is conversation. Indeed, the
art of conversing correctly should be always
made a part of the education of our families
and our schools. It is of a thousand times
more consequence than some of the subjects
which are made so prominent there, especially
during the earlier years of life.
How many of you were drilled, for example,
every day, or nearly every day of your school
education, for months and years, in what is
commonly called English Grammar! And
to what purpose? Were you made either
wiser or better for it? Was it not, to you, a
sort of confusion, rather than any thing which
=: 
CORRECT CONVERSATION.
justly deserves the name of real knowledge?
Were you not, in truth, disgusted with it?
Some of you, who have in your turn become
teachers, may have found use for it, when it
became necessary that, in order to please
parents and comply with fashion, you must
teach the same unintelligible jargon to your
own pupils. I do not say that even this use is
to be commended. I only speak of it as a
commodity, for which now-a-days there is a
market.
Suppose, that the same amount of time
which is spent on "grammar" were spent on
conversation. English Grammar is said to be
the art of speaking and writing our language
correctly. But in order to write the language
correctly, we should first know how to speak
it correctly. What is correct writing, or good
composition, but good conversation transferred
to paper?
From the first moment you began to talk, all
the way through your family and school education, care should have been taken to have
you talk right. Force, distinctness, clearness,
propriety-all, in truth, that makes conversa
F jrnetall in truth, that makes
i
i
I
I
i
I
I
91 
92  LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
tion answer best the designs of the Creatorshould have been attended to most assiduously.
There should have been no mumbling, no
confusion, no hesitancy, no repetition, no ulimeaning words or phrases, no vulgarisms. and
no double negatives.
Has this been your lot? If so, that lot has
been singularly happy. Nine in ten of our
youth of both sexes-I might say, as I have
reason to fear, nineteen-twentieths-receive
a very different treatment. They are spoiled
from the first in the family, and what is "bred
in the bone," as the vulgar saying is, "stays
long in the flesh." The schools do not correct
the error.
It is surprising what an amount of ungrammatical stuff is tolerated among us.  "I han't
got no book;" or "I can't get so long a lesson,
I don't think;" or "Please, sir, John is a pinchin' on me;" or other equally incorrect and ungrammatical expressions, are carried through
the schools-grammar, as it is called, both
English and Latin, to the contrary notwithstanding.
Now let me entreat those who read this
I 
CORRECT CONVERSATION.
letter, and who, though pronounced grammarians by the constituted authorities, yet "murder the King's English" at every step they
take, to reflect on the predicament in which
they have been placed, and resolve at once to
escape it. The task is not so difficult as they
may at first suppose-the greatest difficulty is
in resolving and beginning.
But you will hardly emancipate yourselves
alone. Do not undertake the work, therefore,
single-handed. Call to your aid some kind
friend-one, it may happen, who himself needs
the same sort of discipline, and who in teaching
may learn, and in giving retain. A brother,
or a sister, or even a neighbor or a schoolfellow,
will serve your purpose very well. Or, perhaps, you may draft to your aid two or three.
The more, the better, provided they work in
the right spirit.
She whom you choose as a companion for
life will be a more efficient helper in the work
than any other individual-but alas! her assistance often comes late. The work of reformation, in this particular, ought to be com.
i
i
i
i
I
I
i
i
I
I
I
i
i
i
i
.1
i
I
I
I
i
93 
94     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
pleted long before you enter into the matrimonial relation.
One means of correct conversation consists
in teaching others to speak correctly. Some
little child, in whose society you find yourself,
will need to be set right from day to day; and
nothing will have a better effect to confirm, in
you, good habits, than endeavoring to confirm
them in a child.  You thus learn from hap)py
experience the truth of the saying, He that
watereth shall himself be watered.
Another useful practice is to write out a list,
from day to day, of those incorrect words and
phrases which you are most anxious to avoid.
You will be surprised, no doubt, at the largeness of the list; and perhaps, at times, feel
discouraged. But never give up the contest;
for you will overcome, at length, if you faint
not.
Let me not be understood as objecting wholly
to the study of English Grammar; for there
is a way and a time for this branch. What is
wanted, however, in early life, is correct conversation; a style of conversation from mere
i
i
I
I 
CORRECT CONVERSATION.
habit that is exactly in accordance with the
rules of the language. And then, at a somewhat later period of your school studies, a
course of lessons on the philosophy of that
language which you have already learned to
speak and write correctly from mere habit, may
be useful.
It has long been a fundamental maxim with
grammarians, that they who are learning to
compose their sentences with accuracy and
order, are learning at the same time to think
with accuracy and order.  But it is also true,
and in i degree still more striking, that they
who are learning to speak correctly, are at the
same time learning to compose accurately.
But I will not dwell on this topic too long;
for it is one of the plainest things in the world,
that correct conversation is grammatical; and
that correct or grammatical conversation from
the cradle upward, in all the circumstances of
recreation or employment in which we are
placed, would insure correct composition.
Let the work of correct conversation, then,
begin where it ought. Let it begin, moreover,
I
.I
i
I
i
I
I
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
95 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
immediately. Let us not speak incorrectly at
home, and elsewhere, all our early years, and
then expect a few lessons, or a few days at the
school, will set all right.
I
I
96 
LETTER X.
THE SCHOOLS.
SOME among you, after reading my last letter,
may be ready to infer that I am unfriendly to
the schools. Nothing, however, could be more
incorrect than such an inference.
For though I am not much indebted to them,
at least directly, yet I doubt whether you can
fiitd one man in a thousand who thinks more
highly of them than I do. Besides teachilig about ten years, lecturing to thousands
of them on physiology, &c., I have probably
visited more schools in the United States
tlhaln any other individual. And I still visit
them-for the mere love 1 bear them.  It is
but a short time since I visited nine of them
illi a sinigle day
5
i
i
I 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
But to value the schools highly, in view of
what they might accomplish, is one thing-to
be satisfied with them, quite another.   For
saying nothing more about the stupidity of
studying English Grammar for months and
years to no purpjose, or to a purpose worse
than none, I am quite disgusted with the com   mon practice of dabbling with almost every
thing-i. e. with the elements of almost every
thing-and being thorough in nothing.
WYere it so that we could have these schools
what they ought to be-what they must one
day become-places where every individual
might obtain, free of any direct tax, the ele   ments or keys of all that is indispensable to a
thorough English education, and at the same
time have hours enough each day for labor
and study, I should be as strong a friend of
schools as any other individual.   Indeed, to
repeat what I have already said, I value them
now, with all their defects; especially when 1
think what they may, and will, and must be   come.
But in order to derive the greatest possible
advantage from these schools, your time should
Xfi             _    ~         _
i
i
ii
t
i
i
i
i
98 
. 4
I
THE SCHOOLS.
not be spent in learning to read, at random, the
thoughts of others to which your minds are not
yet adequate; nor in special lessons daily in
writing, composition, &c. You should make
your own reading lessons for several of the
first of your school years. These reading lessons will, at the same time, form your best
compositions, to which, however, should be
added letter-writing, and keeping a journal.
And in doing all this, you will not fail to learn
to write.
There is little difficulty in making your
own sentences, written on your slates or black
boards, form at the same time your principal
lessons-and this for years-in spelling, defining, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar,
geography, and history. Two years spent in
this way, would give the keys of learning;
which is all that is usually got in ten years.
With the keys in your hands, and with suitable books and teachers, you might now obtain, in the common schools, all that is valuable
in our best university education-except, perhaps, that which pertaius exclusively to what
are called the learned professions.  It is down
99
. I: - -:: - 
t
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
right folly to be ten, twelve, or fourteen years, in
trying to get hold of the keys, and then never
getting them. It reminds one too much of the
condition of old Tantalus.
But do not be impatient because you cannot
do all you wish in these schools.  They are
essentially republican in their structure. Here
meet together-if not now, it will ere long be so
-the high and the low, the rich and the poor,
the bond and the free. Here they are educated, or at least instructed, not as lords and
vassals, but as brethren.
These schools, however, would be worth
much more, as republican institutions, if they
were places of education as well as of instruction. To give our citizens, as a mass, the
mere keys of learning, though a good thing,
comes far enough short of what is needed. Is
not the body worthy of some good degree of
attention as well as the mind? Why should
not the schools give us the keys of health as
well as of science? Is the latter of so much
value, and the former hardly worth a lesson,
or even a thought?
And why not, too, the keys of virtue and
1.00 
THE SCHOOLS.
purity, as well as of knowledge and health?
Is it nothing to be good, and virtuous, and
happy? What good purpose would it answer
to give a whole generation the keys of health
and knowledge, and set them to using them,
while they were made no better able nor any
more disposed to unlock and use the still more
-I was going to say infinitely more-valuable treasures to fallen man-morality and religion? Would Satan be made better and happier, simply by being made wiser and healthier?  Would he not be made, by just so much
as he was made to know more, only the more
truly and completely devil?
How strange it is that the schools-with
few exceptions-have done little more than to
teach the young to find their level in a society
which is theoretically republican, and which
ought to be so practically! I do most ardently
desire to live till the blessed day shall arrive,
when the young will be taught, in all oui
schools, from the highest to the lowest, the
essentials of that which will make them, at
once, healthier, wiser, and better!
There are a thousand little habits of conduct
101
i 
102    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
and conversation which should be taught the
young at school, which, weighed in the true
balances, would be found far more valuable in
their bearing on life and life's great ends, than
mere book-knowledge. The time will come,
sooner or later, when the schools will teach all
this.
Till that time, I say once more, have a little
patience; but, then, do not be inactive. You
may by your own effort, as a pupil in the
schools, or afterward as teacher or proprietor,
do much to hasten that glad day. So that if
the schools cannot be, in your own time, what
you desire, they may be so in your children's
day-or in that of your children's children.
For you live for the race, or should do so, no
less than for yourselves as individuals. 
LETTER XI.
THE LOVE AND SPIRIT OF PROGRESS.
Is it thought that the views I have presented,
when writing on self-dependence and self-education, do not quite harmonize with those of
my last letter? That at one time, I teach the
young man that his great business is to educate himself, and at another, that the schools
are useful as a means of educating him-both
of which cannot be true?
Now I do not think there is any discrepancy
of the kind to be found in my letters. I have
not said, either in one place or another, that we
cannot be educated,-nay, even instructedwithout the aid of the schools. Neither have
I said that the schools might not be made to
assist us-not by educating us, so much, as
II
ill
i
i
II
i
11
I
i
i!i 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
s the means of educating ourselves.
h ey most certainly might do for us;
one day will.  This is about all
rofitably do; though even this is
spised.
it is not the schools that are to
at we ougnt to be-nor is it any
mans or machinery, whether of huine ordination.  If a young man
e any thing in this world, he must
ehow or other, the love of improvea zeal as strong as his love.  He
ger and thirst" to make progress.
not only desire, generally, to beand better, but he must embody
as it were, by carrying it into parlany hunger and thirst enough;
b  such measures as they ought, to
lunger, or slake their thirst.  They
nay be, and re-resolve, and yet go
en go on till they die,) of the same
ey always have been.
h persons must cease to deal so
nerals-never coming to particulars.
ke the theoretically benevolent, who
I
I
104
, \
character th
Now' suc
i   much in ge~
They are liI
i,i. 
LOVE AND SPIRIT OF PROGRESS.   105
are always mourning over a world's miseries
in general, but never doing any thing, in particular, to relieve them. They must become
practical penitents, or their penitence will be
of little avail.
For example, when they rise in the morning,
they must make resolutions and lay plans, not
for life in general, and somewhere, and at
some time or other, but for that day specifically. The question should be, What ought I to
do. that is practical, in the way of self-improvement, to-day? And this question being settled,
good resolutions should immediately follow.
And good resolutions being made, they should
be lived up to. Or, finally, if not lived up to, we
should be as in sackcloth and ashes on account
of it.
I have spoken of the schools and of selfeducation. Now give me but the love of progress-the desire of improvement-the neverending hunger and thirst after righteousnessand it matters but little about the schools.
What schools they are; where they are; what
their forms or methods; how long we attend
them-these are all things of comparatively
5*
I
i
i
i
I 
106    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
little importance. They may have their usethey do have it; they serve to feed in us the
hieaven-like flame, instead of quenching it.
And this, to express again, though in different
words, the same idea, is their legitimate office.
I have seen scores of people who hungered
and thirsted after more knowledge, and who
contrived to bring much of it within their
grasp. I knew a female, who, though mistress
of a large family and intensely occupied in
taking the sole charge of them, contrived to
slake her thirst and appease her hunger for
books. No female I ever knew worked
harder; and yet few whom I have known
ever read more. And it was read to good purpose. It was understood and remembered.
It was even more than this; it was marked,
learned, and inwardly digested.
And yet I sometimes doubted-for I knew
well the circunistances-whether this female
was made a whit the better for all this. A
boy of ten years of age, of the same habits,
seemed none the better for it, but the worse.
Both loved to become wiser; both, perhaps,
had a feeble, half formed desire to become bet
I
I 
LOVE AND SPIRIT OF PROGRESS.   107
ter; but still nothing was done to effect what
was but faintly desired.
It has been partially admitted that there are
many among us-some scores at least who
desire to become wiser, though they do not
give evidence that they care to become better.
But I recall. From all I can learn in the case,
they are seeking-hungering and thirsting for mere gratification, with as little thought or care
whether it will or will not make them any
better, as those persons have who are eating
and drinking what tickles their appetite and
satisfies the cravings, or at least the gnawings, of their stomachs. Can we say, in these
circumstances, that they give evidence of a
love of progress or desire for improvement?
He who has that most excellent trait of
character of which I am now speaking, is not
only solicitous to have every thing he says
and does have a good effect upon him, physically and morally, but, at times, painfully
suspicious lest they should have the contrary
effect.   He  might,  in  many  a reflecting
moment, adopt the soliloquy of Mr. Burgh, in
his " Dignity of Human Nature:"
i
I
iI
I
i
i
I
II
I
II
i
I
II
I
iI
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
"Dost   thou, Oh my soul, constantly watch
over thyself? Dost thou suspect every other
person, lest his example, or influence, mislead
thee? Dost thou often and regularly meditate on thy ways, and examine thy heart and
life? Dost thou perfectly know thy own
weakness? Hast thou all thy infirmities engraven on thy remembrance? Dost thou
habitually labor to make sure of keeping
within bounds? Dost thou often deny thyself rather than run the smallest hazard of
offending?"
I would give more for the love of progress
in son or daughter, than for almost any merely
intellectual or moral qualification below the
sun. It is a trait of character which is the
more valuable from the fact that it so well becomes creatures like ourselves-expressly made
for it. We do not know that angels and seraphs
are constructed, in their natures, on the same
plan. But ourselves we know better-over
ourselves we have control; so God has ordered it.
See, then, that you possess the quality to
which I have alluded in these paragraphs.
i
I
I
i
i
108 
LOVE AND SPIRIT OF PROGRESS.   109
Of whatever else you may be deprived, lose
not the golden treasure of a true hungering
and thirsting after improvement in knowledge
and piety. Let your path, in every important
respect, be that of the just, which shineth
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.
I
I
I 
_
"I- 
LETTER XII.
LOVE OF INQUIRY, OR FREE-THINKING.
IT is too late in the day of human progressthe progress, I mean, of the race-to exhort
young men to shun free inquiry and freethinking. In truth, it is a piece of advice
which in any age of the world, above all in
our own, I should have no disposition to give.
Both these, on the contrary, I would encourage.
There is, however; a slight difference between the two, as may be seen by a moment's
reflection. Free inquiry would lead us to investigate, unshackled, any subject, which in
itself is worthy of our attention. Free-thinking
may or may not be disposed to make inquiry.
It only assumes the right of forming unbiased
opinions on all subjects that come before the
i
I
I
I
i
i
I
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
i
L 
FREE-THINKING.
mind's eye, whether they be few or many;
and whether they are forced upon it-the mind
itself being passive —or are dug out, like the
gold of California.
I have said that to neither of these I had
any sort of objection; and more than this, that
I would encourage both. And I most ardently
desire that every young man, as soon as he
thinks at all, will be in the highest and most
important sense of the word, a free-thinker.
It is a low and partial view of this subject that leaves an impression on the minds
of some of our older or middle-aged people,
that'free-thinking is synonymous with skepticism; that a man who thinks freely, especially a person who is young and inexperienced, must almost of necessity think wrong,
&c. Such a view, besides being low, seems
to me an impeachment of the wisdom and
goodness of God. For as he most obviously
created man to think, and in every age has
required him to think, to assume that in thinking freely he will almost inevitably think
wrong —is it not akin  to blasphemy?   At
least, is it nriot irreverent?
i
ii
i
I
I
i
11L -
ill 
Th  ~      ~      - 
112    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
That not a few free-thinkers have beccme
skeptical. is admitted. But that free-thinking
in its own nature, tends to skepticism, can
never be true.  Bacon, indeed, says that "a
little knowledge inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in knowledge bringeth it about
to true religion." But then there are two things
to be considered here; first, that atheism is not
exactly synonymous with skepticism; and
secondly, that the little knowledge of which
he speaks is not the knowledge of the freethinker, but of him who does not think freely.
Greatly do I rejoice when I find a young
man who thinks, even if his road should
chance to lead through skepticism. I found a
boy the other day, scarcely six years of age,
who was constantly thinking and inquiring.
Nothing came before his eye which did not
excite his most earnest attention, and lead him
to his father.  What is this for, father? he
would say. And what is that? And the
answers to the first inquiries would lead to
others, sometimes almost innumerable.
Such a father may think his case a hard
I
i
i 
FREE-THINKING.
one, and it may be so to him who does not
understand  the  matter.   It may  even  be
thought a heavy tax upon his time. To me,
however, such taxation would be no tyranny.
On the contrary, I should rejoice that God had
given me an inquisitive son. He might, for
aught I should know, become a skeptic; but
I should hope better things. I should hope
that depth in knowledge would bring him
about to true religion in the end. And of one
thing I should be certain, viz: that if he ever
came to true religion, he would not be a superficial, but a thorough Christian.
Fear not, then, to indulge in freedom of
thinking; and to love and practise free inquiry. To do this is your natural and inalienable right-born, as you are, a republican and
not a monarchist-a Christian, and not a
Turk or a Pagan. It is guarantied you by
the constitution of the country you live in; it
is guarantied you by the principles of Protestantism; it is guarantied you by God himself.
In regard to the requirements of Protestantism in this matter, allow me to quote from the
113 
tETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
farewell discourse or address of Rev. Mr. Robinson to the Pilgrims, as they have been called
-I mean the emigrants from Europe who
first settled New England.
"I charge you before God and his blessed
angels, that you follow me no farther than
you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord has more truth yet to break
forth out of his Holy Word. I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed
churches who are come to a period in their
religion. I will go at present no farther than
the instruments of their reformation. Luther
and Calvin were great and shining lights in
their times, yet they penetrated not into the
whole counsel of God. I beseech you remember it,'tis an article of your church covenant,
that you be ready to receive whatever truth
shall be made known to you from the written
word of God."
This is the voice of a free-thinker —a friend
of free inquiiry-a man who in all ages will be
deemed a great man, because he thought and
inquired, freely and gave it in charge to others,
even as friends of religion and religious truth,
i
i
i
I
I
i 114
I 
-Th
FREE-THINKING.
. Here was no fear of skepticovert.  My own belief is-and
tot has been the belief of many
fght and inquiry, John Robinson
t-that there is no such effectual
entiousness and skepticism in
as true free-thinking, and true
d be the height of weakness in
er individual, to take the ground
have taken, that what is most
ety is to have men —young and
d to think.  Now I acknowledge
ouch thought in the world.   I
as any man there were more.
her thing is more needed among
re-viz: thinking right.   And
both these, as their crowning
ge another thing still, viz: feeleeling, I grant, is blind;  but
ded by reason, is of inestimable
the proper place to say a little
m   than I have yet done, that I
ncourage the society of either
importance.
This may be
more distinctly
would never e
i
i
115 
116    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
books or men, who under the pretence of free
inquiry, would lead you to sneer at every thing
which is established, merely because it is established. Opinions in religion, politics, philosophy, &c., are not necessarily erroneous,
because established.
In my boyhood, I took up one day, for perusal, one of the volumes of Thomas Paine.
He was, as you know, not only a free-thinker,
but a skeptic. I was, moreover, of the same
turn and tendency. Many of his thoughts on
politics, I had long before read and imbibed.
But here he was assailing Christianity. Having read a few pages, I threw aside the book
in disgust. I had looked for free-thinking,
instead of which I found no thinking. The
veriest child who had read the New Testament
might have seen it.
I wondered, when I reflected on the subject,
how so many could be enamored of the writings of Paine-a man who, though possessed
of much intellectual power, would nevertheless
stoop to sneer at what he had, most certainly,
never examined. If this volume is a fair
L _ _ 
FREE-THINKING.
specimen of the man, it is not to be wondered
at that while he has so many followers in politics, he has so few in religion.
While, therefore, I counsel you to be men
of free inquiry, I wish you to understand,
most distinctly, that there is a sort of pseudo
free inquiry abroad, which I would have you
avoid. It will do you no good; it will be a
waste of your time as well as energy. Life is
long enough for free inquiry; but not long
enough for sneering, or even for trifling.
i
i
I
i
i
I
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
I 
LETTER XIII.
THE RIGHT USE OF OURSELVES
MUCH is said, in these days-something has
been said even in my former letters-about the
importance, to the young especially, of studying themselves.  "Know thyself," we  have
been told, is a maxim of thousands of years'
standing; and yet, a maxim which passes
almost wholly unheeded. Even the knowledge
of our physical frames-their structure, laws
and. relations; or, in other words, Anatomy,
Physiology, and Hygiene-is one of the last
things, as I have shown, which young men
study, or are required to study. Greek, Latin,
Mathematics, &c., are permitted to occupy their
attention, to the exclusion of this species of
self-knowledge.
I
i
i
I
i
I
i
I 
-7
RIGHT USE OF OURSELVES.
Ancl this complaint, when it does not arise
from mere querulousness, or from that species
of old age which ever complains of the present, while it places the golden age always in
the past, is not without just foundation. We
know something, or at least attempt to know
something, of every body else-noble or ignoble, affluent or indigent, bond or free, colored
or white. We know something, as we have
seen, of the three kingdoms of nature, all
except ourselves.
We explore continent, island, ocean, air. We
dig deep the bowels of the earth, and soar
among clouds, if not stars. Nay, we even
survey, by the aid of the telescope, other
worlds; and if we do not become omnipresent
or omniscient, we seem to be almost so. Yet
after all, we come back to the "house we live
in," utterly ignorant of its structure, laws or
relations-ten to one if we are not ignorant of
the number of its apartments, or the nature
and character of its furniture.
Of our minds, too, we are almost as ignorant
as of our bodies. Nor do the schools-though
they may do much-ever take up this subject,
I
I
i
i
iI
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
l
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
I:
i
i i
i
I
i
i
119 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
as it ought to be taken up. Nor do reformers
of society-the physiological reformers perhaps
excepted-ever dwell very much on this great
subject.
Something, then, being obviously wrong, what
is to be done? On this topic I shall endeavor
to dwell, at greater length, in my next letter
-that on Physiology. We will dismiss this
part of our subject, then, for the present.
There is one thing of which we are still
more ignorant than of ourselves, viz. the right
use of ourselves. Of this ignorance, one author
at least-Mudie, in his " Observation of Nature,"-bhas taken notice. How little know we
of the right use of ourselves, as a whole! And
how much less of the right use of the various
parts composing the whole!
Man, I have said, is made up, as Paul expresses it, of body, head, and heart; or, as the
moderns have it, of a physical, an intellectual,
and a moral nature. Is the right use of each
of these grand divisions of humanity well
understood?
Man is made, in the moral department, for
example, to do good. Has the science of doing
11
i
i
I
i
i
I
i
I
120 
RIGHT USE OF OURSELVES.
good-the science of benevolence, or rather of
philanthropy-been much studied?  And does
a young man understand, rightly, the use of
himnself, who does not understand this noble
science?
But leaving these grand divisions of ourselves, let us be a little more particular. The
physical part of our being, like our moral and
intellectual, has its various subdivisions. Thus
we have many and different systems, as they
are called, united, as we have before seen,
under one federal head. We have the nervous
system, the circulatory system, the digestive
system, the respiratory system, &c. Then,
again, we have the five senses, hearing, seeing,
tasting, smelling and feeling. And once more,
still, we have head, body, hands, feet, &c.
Take the hand. Who is there among us
that knows, to the full extent, the right use of
this little organ? I do not mean to ask, who
knows the extent to which its powers may be
d eveloped and cultivated, for this would be too
broad a topic for discussion here; but merely
the uses to which the Creator intended it
should be applied.
6
i;
i
i
i
i
i1
I!
i
I
I
i
i
I
I
1
i
i
II
i
i
I
ii
121
i
iii
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
ii
ii
1!
I ii
! 1
i 
I
ii
ii
i
i
ii:
I,I
i !
i
I
ii
l
I11
6 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
How far it should be used in the arts, how
far in manufactures, how far in the daily customs and personal habits of life, and when
and where machinery ought to be substituted,
are questions which have seldom been asked.
The Germans have a proverb, "Never touch
your eye, except with your elbow." The interdict might be extended to the ear, the nostrils,
the mouth, &c. Do you say that these are
small matters?-Granted; but "who hath despised the day of small things?"  Or, if they
are to be despised or overlooked, as matters of
fact, they may at least serve the purpose of
illustration.
Take, again, the human lungs. Remarks
concerning these will not surely be regarded
as small matters.  What, then, is their use?
or, rather, what are their uses? First, they aid
in forming the blood. The chyle is not fully
changed into the former fluid, till it has passed
into the lungs, and been spread over the surface of those air bladders, or small hollow cells,
of which the lungs are so largely made up.
Secondly, the lungs are the chief organ for
purifying the blood, after it has become partly
1.i- -
122
l 
RIGHT USE OF OURSELVES.
spoiled in its ordinary circulation.
they are the great fireplace of the "
live in;" or, in other words, they are
cipal caloric agent of the human sys
But I will not enlarge.  These ilt
must suffice.  No higher subject ca
sented to young men than the rig
themselves; especially when we af t
phrase the highest and truest defini
will it not include the whole circle
duty-to ourselves, the world, and G
I grant, indeed, that merely to
right use of ourselves is not all.  T
selves according to the Divine inten
greater importance still.  Would  th
men understood the right use of the]
all respects, and would  govern  t
accordingly.  For as is the young 
vidually or collectively, so is the old
is society.
Were the young to use theniselv
through half a dozen generations —-w
to make the same untiring effort to a
great Creator's purposes throughout,
now do to elevate themselves witho
1i3
Thirdly,!l
Rouse we
the prinm.            I
~strations
a be pret use of
x to this
on. For
f human 
1
124    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
to duty, the world would once more become as
Eden, and the desert rejoice and blossom as
the rose.
I must here urge on you the study of the
great laws of health and life, as developed by
the science of Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene. Few things are more interesting, when
the subject is made intelligible, and fewer still
are more important.  In another letter, I will
throw out a few hints on this great subject.
Not that I shall attempt to teach largely this
great threefold science, but only show that it
should be taught, and endeavor to inspire you
with the desire to be made acquainted with it.
For to create the desire, is to go full half way
in accomplishing it.
LIz
I1 
LETTER XIV.
PHYSIOLOGY.
BY PHYSIOLOGY, in the popular acceptation
of that term, is meant all such knowledge as
pertains to the physical education and management of human beings. It is in this sense
that I use it, when I commend the science to
your favorable notice and regard.
The study of man-the physical department, I mean, of this great science-is usually
divided, as I told you in my last letter, into
three great branches. First, Anatomy, which
is the study of the human body, in regard to
its framework. We take the body in pieces.
as we would a watch, and find out all its parts
and their uses. Secondly, Physiology, which
teaches us the laws of life; or the knowledge
i
i
11
I
1
!I
li
i
I
I'
ii
I!
ii
! I
i!
i
I
i
l
l'i
i
I
i
! i
i
i
ii
i
1.
ii,
11
i
i
1
i
i
l
i
I
ii
i
i1
I 
i
I 1
L!
I
I 
-         - Th
126     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
of the play of the human machinery.  This
branch might be very rapidly taught, could
we look through the healthy living body, and
see all parts in motion, and understand that
motion.  Thirdly, Hygiene, as the French call
it; or the study of the laws of relation.  By
this we mean, mnan's relation to air, water, and
all the things or bodies around him, whether
solid, liquid, or gaseous. Our health depends
l on our obedience to all the laws of these three
great departments, especially the latter.
It is not pretended, of course, that such a
knowledge of this great subject is needed by
young men, as that which becomes a matter
of necessity to the medical man, or the sur geon.   He  must  not only have  the same
general knowledge which is needed by every
young man, but a particular knowledge, so
thorough as to be able to tell, when a finger is
applied to any part of the surface of the body,
wvhat lies immediately under-what veiliLs,
blood-vessels, organs, &c.
When we announce the subject of Physi  ology, for a public lecture, not a few people
think of it in the sense to which I have just
tI 
PHYSIOLOGY.
referred, as it concerns the medical student.
And, as a natural and almost necessary consequence, they revolt from it. "What time or
means have we," they say, " for understanding
this subject?  Besides, what good would it do
us?  We are not to be doctors."
The same feeling exists, to some extent,
when we talk of the necessity of having Physiology taught to children in schools-or, perchance, to Females. "What can possibly be
the importance, to the young and to our wives,
of this sort of knowledge?" they seem to say.
"What would these innovators in Education
have? Why, will they not ere long tell us our
children must study farriery or ship-building?"
Others say, "Why! Physiology?  What
does that concern us, here in plain life-we
who are obliged to earn our bread in the sweat
of our face?" as if Physiology was something
like star-gazing, or star-studying.  Or, as if he
who studied it must at least come to know
tinder what planet he was born, and whether,
in his temperament,  he is ruled  by Mars,
Venus, or Mercury.
Others, again, who admit, in part, the utility
127
i ii,
il
l
I
i
i
i
ii, 
128    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
of this science, as it is taught by its most com  petent professors or teachers, seem to suppose
it useful to them as a means of becoming theii
own doctors, or the doctors of others, when
they are actually diseased.  Of its importance,
as a means of prevention, they have scarcely
a single adequate idea.
When, however, they have read and ap  proved of the little work called the "House I
Live in," and are told they have been all this
while reading Physiology, they seem to be
surprised. "Why, if this is Physiology," they
say, "there can be no objection to having
every body study it.  We should even like to
study it more ourselves!"   And now it be  comes a matter of comparatively little diffi  culty to introduce it into our schools.
But I suppose that to several thousands of
the young men who will read this letter, the
introduction of Physiology into our schools
will seem to come too late.  They will, indeed,
rejoice that their younger brothers and sisters
are privileged so highly; and that the world,
in general, is to be thus blessed   But they
it
-it
i
11
iI
i
i
i
I 
iF
PHYSIOLOGY.
will mourn over their own loss, and ask us how
it can be in any measure restored.
What young men of the generation already
risen have to do for themselves, in this matter,
is to hear lectures in the first place.  Not every
thing that comes along; but only such as have
been most approved. These are of two kinds.
1st. Those which are illustrated by manikins.
2d. Those which teach the laws of health
without going so much into first principles.
Among the former are the lectures of Dr.
Wieting, Dr. Darling, Dr. Cutter, and Mrs.
Wright. Among the latter are those of Dr.
Mussey, the Fowlers, Mrs. Gove, and myself.'
Both these classes of lectures are important.
The first class give you the outlines or ele  ments; the second go more into detail. Never  theless, if you cannot find time to attend to
them all, at least endeavor to hear the latter.
These lectures, duly attended to, will rouse
you to the necessity of reading something on
the same subject. You will find no periodical
* Mr. Graham's Lectures included both these departments
-bnt he seems to have withdrawn from the field.
i:  ~           6*
129
Al 
I i,
i
I_ 
130    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
exactly adapted to your wants-but  many
volumes of standard works-among;which
are those of the Combes, of Sweetser, of the
Fowlers, of Graham, and a part of my own
works. If you read but one, however, read
Combe's Constitution of Man.
And if convinced, by lectures, reading and
reflection, or in any other way, of the vast importance of obeying not only the great Creator's moral laws, but also his physical ones,
there is one thing more for you to do, and that
immediately. It is to act up to the knowledge
you  already possess.   Do  what your  consciences testify to you is right. He that doeth
truth-moral or physical-cometh to the light.
Really, my young friends, I know of no one
subject, so rarely forced upon your notice, as
the world now is, and yet so immensely important to your happiness as this same thing
-this  obedience to physical law-the laws
of Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene. Be
persuaded then, oh be persuaded, to make
them, next to the laws contained in the Bible,
the man of your counsel and the guide of
your youthful steps.
I
ii
i
ii
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i 
PIYSIOLOGY.                131
In doing so, you will reap a rich reward
in personal enjoyment. The value of each
day of your life will be greatly increased; and
your loss of time by ill health greatly di nlinished. You will begin, then, to know
what was meant by the little scrawl of poetry,
in the Library of Health, entitled "Morning
all day." Your strength and vivacity and
cheerfulness, like mine, will hold out every
day, till the evening shades appear and beckon
you to repose.
You will also add, under Providence, several
years to your lives-Dr. Mussey is accustomed
to say, so it has been reported-about twelve
or fifteen. I suppose fewer than twelve, however. An average increase of five or six years
to an individual, in the present generation, is
all I should dare to hope, and almost as much
as I dare to desire. Sudden and rapid changes
are seldom durable.
But if no more than I have supposed can
be done for the passing generation, much more
can be done for the next, and for the third still
more; and so on. If the work of reformation,
on physical and physiological principles, can be
-li
i
ii
ii
i
i
i i
i
i
I
1I
i
ii
ii
'I 
132    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
once fairly begun and properly persevered in,
I see no reason why life may not be lengthened,!
in the course of five or six centuries, to several
hundred years, and the value of each year be
doubled anc tripled.
I
IJ
'i
!t
I
'i
ii
i
i
I
i 1
- i 
LETTER XV.
PHRENOLOGY.
THAT Phrenology, in its first or leading principles-that the brain is the material organ of
the mind, that different mental faculties have
connection with different parts of the brain,
&c., &c.-is true, I can no more doubt than I
could doubt the law of gravitation. But that
every thing which is called Phrenology is
worthy of your confidence, is quite another
question.
After the study of Physiology, generally, I
hope you will pay some attention to Phrenology. It is a branch of Physiology, but a
most important branch. The material organ
of the mind is not so large as some of the
other organs of the body-systems, rather
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
I
I
1.
i
i
11
i
l,
I ;
i i
i
ii!
i
i!
i!
i,
ii
ii
I,
i ,
i
l
i
i il
i
I
I
i
i
i
!I
I
i
i
I
ii
I i
I
i
i 
134    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
such as the machinery of locomotion or of digestion; still it has a very commanding influence. It is, to the confederate human system, what Massachusetts is to the confederated
political system of our country. But of this I
have spoken elsewhere.
Of course, I do not expect you to become
adepts in this science. What you need, is a
practical general knowledge of the subject,
such as you may obtain from Combe's and
Fowler's Phrenology, and from the various
works, both periodical and otherwise, of these
two individuals, especially the latter. There
are two of these Fowlers, however; but I have
been most acquainted with the works of the
eldest, O. S. Fowler. I recommend to you, in
particular, their Phrenological Journal. They
have, it may be, their faults; but they certainly have many excellencies. What some
call visionary in their works, more frequently
deserves the name of soundly sensible. In truth
few works in such a style, contain more
"sound, roundabout common sense," than
those of the Fowlers.
As I said of your study of general Physi
I
I
ii
I!
i
i
ii
i 
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
1. 
I
I
I
i
i
I
i
I
I
i
I! 
F;
PHRENOLOGY.
ology, so I must say, and with still more of
emphasis, in regard to the study of Phrenol
ogy, make every thing practical. Apply the
subject to your own personal improvement
either immediately or prospectively.   Whla
you need, is to be prepared for the great duties
of life, which are so soon to devolve upon you
-some of which, indeed, always have, in 
degree, borne upon you. There are duties to
yourself-your friends-the world.  There are
duties to body, and duties to soul.
Set not out, in these studies, with too many
prejudices. Hold yourselves every where open
to conviction. And if convinced you have 
deficiency in your mental, moral, or corporea
structure, seek to supply it in the best possible
manner. Observe, that I do not say in the
most speedy manner, for the most rapid cure
moral or physical, is seldom so good, in the
end, as the slower one. Indeed, he who is
ardent and resolute in the great work of self
education and improvement, should ever have
for his motto: " Make haste slowly."
There is one fact, which, to my own appre
hension, speaks loudly in favor of the study
.. i
11
i
il
i
i
t1
I
i
i
I
I
I
I!
I
I
I
11
I
i
I 
136    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
of Phrenology, and indeed of Physiology gen
erally. I never met with a man who had read
the best works, on these subjects, who was not
much more happy and much more efficient in
his employment or profession, than he would
probably have been in his ignorance.
In traversing our country, I meet with a
minister, here and there, who has investigated
this great subject. The style of his preaching
is much modified by it.  His people will sometimes tell me that he has interested them moro
of late, than formerly; and they wonder what
is the cause. Occasionally, I have been struck
with the power of a preacher in the pulpit who
was an entire stranger to me; and on inquiry
have been not a little gratified to find that he
had become a student of physical law, no less
than of moral.
The other evening I heard an advocate of
temperance speak. I had heard lectures on
all departments of this subject before, and had
lectured much myself.   Judge, then, of my
feelings, when I found near the close of the
lecture, that he was not merely acquainted
with the general laws of Physiology, but that
i
i
I
11
i
ii
i
I
I'
IS 
PHRENOLOGY.
Phrenology was also a favorite study with
him.
That I am liable to a little mistake on this
point, either from prejudice or prepossession, is
most certainly true. But then I do not believe
I can be wholly mistaken. When a minister
preaches in such a manner as to take a new
hold upon me and every body else-when, in
fact, he proclaims physical law, no less than
moral and religious-I cannot but know it.
And when I find a young mechanic, or man
ufacturer, or farmer, who, by the acknowledgment of all around him (most of whom know
not the cause, and can, therefore, have no prejudice against him) has, of late, made great
progress, especially, as a man of sound sense,
and has come to tower a head and shoulders,
like Saul, above his fellows; and then, on inquiry, I find he has been studying George
Combe, or 0. S. Fowler, or all of us and our
associates in this department how can I be
mistaken?
il
ii
11
ii'i
I
i
l
I
i
I
iI
i
I
i!
II
- = . -
t
I!
137 1 1
I!
i
I
i
i
i
I
I
i
i.i
i
iI
i
I
i
I
!I
I
i
i
I
1 1
i!
I i
I
ii
l
I
I ii 
Wrn
LETTER XVI.
PHYSIOGNOMY.
I HAVE had some experience in this matter of
practical Physiognomy, which may possibly
be of service to young men; and which I am
quite willing they should avail themselves of.
Perhaps, indeed, I set out, in life, with more
tact at detecting men's character by their faces
than some people. In any event, I early possessed this tact, whether it was acquired or
natural.
Without having been a business man, in the
common sense of the term, I have, for many
years of my life, had a great deal to do with
men of business in nearly every possible way.
I have made it my rule to judge as well as I
could concerning them, by their features and
other externals; and if I thought them worthy
I
i
I<i
I i,
1.
i1
._ 
PHYSIOGNOMY.
of confidence, have taken and treated them as
honest men till experience compelled me to do
otherwise.
Now, in pursuing this course, I have general] y succeeded in carrying forward my plans,
though not in every instance, without embarrassment. Had I followed my own first convictions, I should seldom have suffered. In
nearly every instance in which I have been a
pecuniary loser-and these instances have been
frequent-I have suffered from yielding to the
opinions of others, instead of following my
own judgment.
For example, I had bought a building lot,
and wished to dig a cellar, and proceed to
erect a house. While surveying the site, a
stranger came to me-indeed the people of the
neighborhood were all strangers to mie-and
wished to dig my cellar. I was not pleased
with his appearance, and did not say much
about employing him.
On inquiring, at the village near by, who
were the best masons in that vicinity, I was at
once referred to this very same man. Others
were indeed named, but the former seemed to
139
i 
140    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
have the preference.  I asked for specimens of
his work; they were  shown me, and were
satisfactory.   Of his honesty, I could learn
nothing in particular, or of his general habits.
It did not, however, appear that he was intem perate or openly vicious.  In fine, I yielded to
the judgment of others, and employed him.
This was the beginning of a series of diffi  culties that never terminated till I had not only
suffered much, ill various ways, especially by
a total disregard of promise, but had even
become involved in a serious lawsuit.  Where  as, had I followed my convictions, concerning
the indications of his physiognomy, I should
have escaped.
It has been so in several other instances.
The conclusion to which I have been driven
is, to follow out my convictions of truth and
duty in these cases for the remainder of my
days-in other words, to yield to the claims of
physiognomy.  And if you have any tact in
ascertaining character by the face, I hope you
will pursue the same course.  It may save you
as many thousands of dollars, as I have lost,
besides much time and trouble and regret.
I
I
I
I
rF
.ii
it
I I 
- l
LETTER XVII.
TRAVELLING.
YOUNG men, with few exceptions, are fond of
travelling; and in these days, the far greater
part-of them have more or fewer oportunities for
gratifying their inclination. It is as rare now,
to find a young man of thirty, who has not
been beyond the limits of his native state, as it
was thirty years ago, when I began to be a
traveller, to find one who had been.
And yet it is of little consequence to travel,
if we do not make a wise use of the privilege.
If all a young man cares for, is to go from
public house to public house, and eat at the
most luxurious table, and sleep in the costliest
apartmnents, he may almost as well remain
I 1.                                 1.                      -. -. I
ii
I;
I:
I
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
ii
i
I
i
I
I
i.
I
I'
I I
ii
I
i 
i I 
1 —
142    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
within the range of the smoke of his own
chimney.
,,
Or if he loves to go abroad, chiefly to note
the fashions, and watch the different exteriors
of buildings, villages, and fields-to sneer at
this, laugh at that, or fall into vexation with
the other;-if this is his chief object, he might
nearly as well be at home. He will certainly
be more  useful at home, if well employed
there.
Or if, again, the most he cares for is to break
life's monotony, "while away" the time, and
as he is wont to say, enjoy life, when in reality he only means by enjoying life, laboriously
doing nothing; in this case, too, travelling will
be of very little service to him, as a means of
making him either wiser or better. Nor will
it mend the matter much, if he smoke double
the number of cigars abroad that he does in
the same time at home.*
* A ship-master in Barnstable county, Massachusetts, told
me that in going, a few years since, to Gibraltar, he had a
passage of thirty-one days, during which time he smoked 800
Food Spanish cigars, besides chewing twenty-four ounces of
tooacco. A- bear, a marmot, or a bat, in a state of hyberna
I
i
i
—l
I
i
i
l
i
i
I
i
"I
ii
I
I
I
i
i 
~:
TRAVELLING.
If temperance, and even abstemiousness are
equired of young men, in order that they may
be profited, it is above all when they are travelling. I pity the young man who does not
nderstand this, and sometimes wish I could
oint him as an example, to my more fortunate, and therefore more happy experience.
Many have been farther from home, while
ew have travelled more than myself.
This remark may prepare the minds of my
eaders for the assertion, that it does not make
o much difference as many young men supose, where they travel, as the use they make
f their opportunities. Some will learn more
y travelling who do not go a thousand miles
rom home, than others who circumnavigate
he Rouee.
] -ecommenc  to everv voung man, in the
irst place. to travel with mis eves open.  I beieve I nave elsewhere  salQ. that one great
ifference among men arises from the fact, that
ome of them see the world as  they pass
hrough it, while others blunder tnrougn it
tion, had it vocal organs, might as well talk of enjoying life
as men who thus stupefy themselves with tobacco.
1-1
143
i
i
II
II
i
i
l
I
i
i 
LETTERS TO YOUinG MEN.
with their eyes half shut.  Much of our know  ledge, as you know, comes to us through the
medium of the senses, especially the eyes.
In the next place, what I would advise you
to do while reading a book, I would advise
you to do while travelling, viz.: have a me morandum or blank-book, with a pencil, and
note down every passing occurrence that in
any way interests you, and not only note the
facts, but also your own reflections on them at
the time.
If you are skilful at drawing, you will also
find it useful to sketch many things which you
observe-not merely a few elegant edifices,
but curious trees, plants, flowers, implements
of husbandry, mechanics or manufactures-or
it may be, some curious bird or animal.  Or if
you are so unfortunate as not to have received
any instruction in the art of drawing, still I
would draw as well as possible, and persevere.
There is much in the little word, TRY.
Do not travel merely to tell, when you get
home, what you have seen, and heard, and
known; although you are certainly bound to
be influenced in some degree, by motives of
i
!I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
144 
TRAVELLING.
this kind.  An Apostle has said, "Forget not
to do good, and communicate," and one means
of doing good is to communicate, in one way
or another, what we have learned.
Avoid reading while you are travelling. I
do not presume, in this remark, that any whom
I address, will read while they are travelling,
for the sole purpose of making people believe
they are very learned, or at least veryfond of
learning. And yet I have, in the course of my
life, met with such persons. I knew one physician who used to read in his carriage, for
the sole purpose, as I then thought-and so
thought many others-of having the mass of
those who saw him, believe he was a great
student. And I have seen a few young personS of both sexes, who had a great many
books around them, for the very same reason
that they had a great deal of furniture in their
rooms-not that it was needful, but to make
;a fine appearance.
In general, walk the country, if you can
afolbrd to do so. Never ride, if you can help it.
1 grant there are many difficulties in the way of
walking; but then there are many advantages.
7
i
145 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
One is, that you will be at liberty to stop when
and where you please, in order to note facts,
or make your sketches or observations. But I
have not time to enter upon the reasons very
fully.
Should you need examples of the kind to
encourage you, they are at hand. We need
not speak of those ancient times, when almost
every body walked, but may as well come
near our own. Alfred the Great was a walker.
So was the famous Count Fellenberg, of Hofwyl, in Switzerland. Wealthy as he was, he
made the tour of Europe on foot, and this, too,
of choice. I once planned to do so, but was
prevented from carrying my plan into execution. Burritt, the learned blacksmith, travels
much, as I understand, in the same way.
One or two cautions will be necessary befor( I conclude. Most travellers, in passing
through a country, see only some of its larger
features, so to call them. They see the high
mountains, the large rivers, lakes, and cascades, the caves and hot-springs, and the
larger cities and villages, but pass over the
smaller things. Still more apt are they to
____________      _____                                        -       _______jJ
9
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
I
I
I
I
i
i
i
i
ii
I!
i
i
ii
i
i
I
i
i
11 146
I It
i
i
I 
147
forget to notice men, and above all, to study
character. Remember that the study of the
Christian temple-the human being-is of far
more consequence to you, as a young man,
than the study of St. Paul's, or St. Peter's, or
Westminster Abbey.
Remember, too, wherever you go, the rights
of your fellow-travellers, both as regards seats
and a thousand other things. Some young
men are so exceedingly selfish, that they will
not rise up before the old-hardly before women and children. Nor is this all. If they
have offensive personal habits, they are not at
all careful to conceal them-partly, it may be,
because they are among strangers. A young
man will smoke in company, if hlie may, when
among strangers, who would not venture to do
so, in similar circumstances, at home.
Finally-for I must not enlarge-remember
in travelling, more than almost any where
else, the good old maxim, "Every one should
mind his own business." Do not suppose the
injunction clashes with one already given-to
do good and communicate. What I now say
has regard to your own personal safety and
..
Il
TRAVELLING.
1 
148     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
happiness, more than any thing else. Some
young men are always getting into difficulty
when they travel, go where they may; while
others never have much trouble any where.
The latter you will find, on a close examination, mind their own business-the former do
not. They can scarcely go from Boston to
Cambridge, or from New-York to Brooklyn,
without getting into difficulty, or, at least,
without carrying bowie-knife or pistol.
I had the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance with the late Rev. Wm. C. Woodbridge,
the Geographer. Few men of fifty years of
age, have travelled more than he. Besides
being familiar with nearly every part of the
United States, he went for several successive
winters to the West Indies, and made three or
four voyages to Europe and the Mediterranean.
In middle-Europe, or in various parts of Germany, and in Switzerland, he resided as many
as six or eight years; perhaps eight or ten.
In truth, he was as familiar with many of the
countries and cities of both the Old and the
New World, as most of us are with the town
and county in whch we reside. And yet I have
i11
i
i
i
i
II
I 
TRAVELLING.
heard this same Mr. Woodbridge affirm, that
he never, in all his life, carried with him any
weapon of defence-not so much as a cane;
and what is still more to the point, never had
the slightest occasion to use any such weapon.
While it is literally true, that a young relative
of his at Cambridge, was unwilling to cross
the bridge to Boston unarmed.
"Alcott," said an old schoolmaster and traveller, to me one day, thirty years ago, as I
was about to set out on a long journey, "I
have travelled in thirteen of the United States,
and never yet had a quarrel with any man."
"Can you tell me your secret," I said, "for preserving peace?  "I have no secret about it,"
he replied, "except to mind my own business."
This lesson, as I trust, was not lost upon
me. I have been a traveller in more than
thirteen States, and have been familiar with
almost every town, and village, and neighborhood in some of them, without having a quarrel, or the beginning of a quarrel with a single
individual.
So it is, in no small degree, in regard to
the danger of being molested in travelling.
I
I
149 
150    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
I grant there are dangers to be encountered
from accident and otherwise. I grant there
are dangerous places. The worst, however,
are those into which you are likely to be led
by your appetites, lusts, or passions.   As to
the danger of being attacked, &c., I have
found that they who take a prudent care of
themselves, usually go safe through the world;
while those who do not mind their own business, are the very persons who tell you about
their hair-breadth dangers and escapes, and
how necessary it is for you to arm yourself
against those dangers. 
it
I
LETTER XVIII.
C O N S CIENTIOUSNESS.
IT has been said that there is not much conscientiousness in the world. By this however
is meant, as I suppose, that there is not much,
in comparison of what there should be. For
if, by conscientousness, or conscience, is meant
a sense of right and wrong, there must be a
degree of conscientiousness, one would think,
in every human being who has passed the
merest threshold of existence. But a trifling
degree or amount, so to speak, of this quality,
multiplied by the hundreds of millions that
inhabit our earth at a given time, is an aggregate not to be despised It supposes, or rather
proves, a condition of things very different
from what would be in a world which consci
I
i'
iI
ii 
152    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
entiousness had not yet entered, or from which
it had been entirely eradicated.
It is no part of my purpose to enter, here.
upon the mooted discussion what conscience
is. On the contrary, I take for granted, what
I am sure nobody will dispute, that every one
has this conscience; and proceed to such a
course of remark, as I think the urgency of the
case demands.
For that the case is an urgent one, no one at
all acquainted with the facts, will for a moment
presume to doubt.  I admit-I have already
done it-that there is an aggregate of conscientiousness in the world, that is by no means
despisable. The Pagan has it, when he hangs
on hooks fastened to his flesh, or throws himself under the car of the Juggernaut.   The
Mohammedan has it, when he pursues with
fire and sword, those whom he wishes to convert to his faith. The Christian has it, when
he conforms to a known law of a superior
order.
I do not by any means affirm, that he who
hangs on hooks fastened through his side, or
compels his neighbor by fire or sword, to
I
I
I
I
---- -1....... 
CONSCIENTIOI SNESS
embrace his religion, acts up to the dignity of
even his lower conscience. All I affirm is that
he has his conscientiousness. But if this be so,
what then do you mean, I shall be asked, when
you complain of a want of conscientiousness
in the world, and speak of the case as an urgent one? The want of which I complain is
a comparative one. Our standard of right and
wrong, in this enlightened age and country, is
very high; and therefore, to whom much is
given, of the same will much be required.
It is not a few religious duties, or a few
important relations, merely, in regard to which
we are to be conscientious. It is not on occasions, or set times, or particular seasons alone,
but on all occasions, times and seasons. Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well, says
an old and very true saying. And a higher
authority than any other has enjoined upon us:
"Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do,
do all to the glory of God."
But if whatever we do is to be done rightto the glory of God —then it should be done
conscientiously. And we have no more right
to set aside conscience in one case than in
7*
i
I
I
i
I
i
i
153 
154    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
another. Not that all laws, moral, religious,
and secular, are of equal authority, so as to
make the voice of conscience equally loud.
Still her decisions concerning the smallest
matters, when they  have been made-and
made they should continually be-are as truly
binding as those which relate to matters of the
first magnitude.
A young man in Boston-a teacher-with
whom I had the pleasure of a long and valuable acquaintance, was one day conversing on
the subject to which I have now called your
attention, when he suddenly observed: "Why,
my dear sir, there is a large range of human
action that has no right or wrong about it."
I have seldom been more struck with surprise, in my whole life, than with this singular
answer, especially as coming from an intelligent
and good man. Had he read Paul? I thought.
And accordingly, I asked him if he had not.
" Oh, yes," he said; "but this saying of Paul,
in this particular, must be understood with some
limitation. He cannot mean that there is a
right and wrong to every small concern of
human life. The matter of gratifying the 
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS.
appetite must be one of these. Why, wre are
creatures of instinct, in many things; and our
actions are matters of instinct, with which
right and wrong have nothing to do."
It is hardly necessary for me to say to you
that this reasoning was at war with factsthe Bible itself being competent testimony.
And yet it is-practically so, at least-the reasoning of thousands.   But  men  ought  to
know better than to have doubts on such a
subject about which the Bible is so explicit.
1 must maintain, moreover, that it is according to right reason to suppose that we should
be conscientious in these matters. Why, there
must be right and wrong and conscience
somewhere, all admit-but where?  Is it in
regard to larger matters alone? Why, these
but seldom recur, whereas the smaller matters
of life are of almost perpetual recurrence.
Or if it should be still urged that there are
certain small matters, which are so very small
that they have no moral character to them,
will any one point out the precise line or degree at which they commence? In the descending scale, for example, which is the last
I
155 
156    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
of the series of matters so large as to have
character to it, and which the first so trifling
as to have no character?
For until some one will do this, I shall
deem it my duty to maintain that there neither
is nor can be any dividing line. And as there
would be a very great difference, some placing
the line at one point of elevation, some at
another, I shall not hold myself obliged to pay
much attention to any dividing line, till one is
mentioned in which all or nearly all agree.
But this is not, in the nature of things, likely
to happen.
I do not suppose mankind deem it their duty
to be conscientious for more than one-eighth or
one-tenth of their time. Of course, the hours
for sleep are not included in that tenth. But
there is only one day in seven, during any
considerable part of which, the mass of mankind give much heed to the voice of conscience.
Even on this day, the far greater number have
no conscience in regard to any thing more than
a few stated hours. The rest they consider
themselves as allowed to eat, drink, or sleep
away, as they may choose.
I
I
I
fi
i
i
I
I
ii
I
I
I
I -
I
I 
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS.
And as for the six week days, the heavenly
monitor seems to have nothing to do on these,
except to prompt us on a few occasions as at
morning and evening devotions-at stated
meals-and in times of sickness, adversity, or
dissolution. Or if he comes in the still small
voice, we silence it amid the din of business or
the hurry of amusement.
Strange that it should be so. Well might a
venerable ancient, who was looking over the
volume of inspiration, and thinking of its
demands, cry out, Blessed Lord, either these
are not thy words, or we are not Christians!
Blessed Lord, I will add, in relation to our
present subject, either the volume of Truth is
not thine, and reason is not thine, and we are
not thy children, or else we fall far short-I
might almost say infinitely short of the standard of conscientiousness, thou hast thyself
established. Send down upon us then, thy
heavenly wisdom, that we may amend our
lives, and spend the remainder of them according to thy most reasonable and most divine
will and word.
I
I
157 
LETTER XIX.
LOVE OF EXCITEMENT
FEW topics could be selected of greater importance to the young, than that which is
intended by the caption of this article. And
if I should fail to make it appear so, let the
blame fall on me-rather on my manner of
handling the subject-and not on the subject
itself which I have chosen.
When I speak of the evils of excitement,
however, I usually mean an undue or excessive love of it. To avoid excitement wholly,
would be to go out of the world-and perhaps
out of the universe. Air and water, in a sense,
are excitants, although it is true that without
them we could not survive a moment. But
there is a wide difference between excitement
I
I
I
I
i
I
I
I
I
I 
LOVE O,F EXCITEMENT.
and over-excitement-or in other words, between a reasonable use of excitement, and
excess in its use-induced by an undue fondness or love of it. Stimulus, stimulus! excitement, excitement! this is the universal cry.
This is an evil which prevails every where,
and in almost every form. Nay, more; this
undue fondness for excitement of body or
mind, is not only every where prevalent, but
every where increasing; and threatens, unheeded and unopposed, the ruin of the whole
rising generation. Against it, therefore, I feel
compelled to lift up a warning voice. Let him
hear who hath ears.
Some there are who meet us at the threshold, by what they suppose to be an insurmountable difficulty, and gravely tell us that
no line can be drawn between that amount, or
degree, or kind of stimulus which is healthful,
and that which is unhealthful or injurious.
Bilt this is a mistake. Excitants or stimuli,
cease to be healthful or salutary in their effects,
precisely when and where they cease to invigorate body or mind, and when their effects
begin to prove debilitating.
I
159 
160    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
What, it will be asked, is the rule, then? Is
it to make one's own experience his guide? I
answer, yes; as far as our own experience goes.
This, however-the experience  of any one
individual, I mean-will go but a little way.
Much will remain-very much-to be determined by the experience of others, and especially by those forms of experience which are
embodied into science.
To make plain my meaning, take the case
of alcoholic drinks. Now, there is a use of
these drinks, whose consequences in their
direct effects on himself, no young man could
mistake. The greatest ignoramus I have ever
seen intoxicated, knew he had been too farhad indulged his love of excitement to excess
-when fairly recovered to his former condition. The prodigal in the gospel understood
perfectly well where he had been, when he
"came to himself." And yet there are other
uses of alcoholic drink, which, judging merely
from one's own experience, produce no evil
effects, but concerning which, science has told
us, within a few years, a very different story.
Experience on a large scale, embodied into
Ii
i
i
I 
LOVE OF EXCITEMENT.
science-the sciences of chemistry, physiology,
&c.-has told us that alcohol in every form
and in every degree, when introduced into the
healthy, living, human system, is a foe, and a
foe continually, until it is expelled. And more
than this has it told us-that its effects are
permanent, and even transmissible to other
and unborn generations. That though the
use of a moderate quantity of wine, cider, beer,
or diluted spirits, gives warmth and strength,
and activity at the time, yet it weakens body
and mind both, in the end.
I do not deny that one's own experience,
enlightened by the study of the sciences, would
go very far towards enabling us to judge correctly on this subject. Indeed, this is what
has just now been affirmed. As a student of
chemistry and physiology, I know well, while
under the influence of half a gill of toddy, a
gill of wine, or a tumbler of beer or ale, that I
have gone too far. I know it by a debility of
the heart and arteries.
For what if these beat a little faster than
usual? This does not indicate an increase,
but a diminution of strength and vigor. The
I
- I
I
161 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
pulse in a fever, though more frequent than
before, is not the stronger, but the weaker for
it. And when we drink alcohol, in any shape
whatever the arterial action is quickened
by it.
And here, by the way, I lay down one general rule, by means of which most persons
may know when they have, and when they
have not, passed the line of healthy excitement. I will not say that the rule admits of
no exceptions, for like most general rules, it
may admit a few. The rule is this. As that
which strengthens does not increase the activity of the heart and arteries, but on the contrary causes them to beat more full and strong,
so that which weakens or debilitates, does increase this activity, and should therefore be
avoided.
Or if there seem one glaring exception to
this rule, staring us full in the face-I allude
to the effects of exercise-the rule may be
modified a little. Whatever so increases the
activity and strength of the pulse, as to be followed by a debility which, when the system
I
I
I
i
I
I
I
I
I
I
162
i
I 
is restored to its balance is not fully removed,
must be hurtful.
Need I say here, that all alcoholic drinksdown to the weakest home-brewed beer, if it
has fermented at all-are of this description?
That tobacco is another; opium another;
coffee another; tea another, &c? Every sensible young man who has used any of these,
knows that they exhilarate him; yet he knows,
too, that after having used them once, if he do
not repeat his dose, he is ere long debilitated
as the consequence of their use.
There is one law which deserves to be better
known to the young than it sometimes is.
The smaller the amount of alcohol or stimulus which is taken into the system-provided
it is enough to be at all appreciable-the
greater the derangement, if not the debility
which follows, in proportion to its quantity.
Understand me, however, my young friends.
I do not mean to say, or to intimate, that half
a gill of small beer, or weak wine, will injure
you, as much as the same quantity of full
proof rum, gin, or brandy; but only much
______ ______   ___  ____                  ___-__ —- —----- j
i
i
i
I
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I,-11
i
I
II
I
I
i
l
I —
I
I
i
i
I
11
i 
164     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
more in proportion to the quantity of alcohol
it contains.
To some, I am well aware, there will be
nothing new in this last statement. To a few,
however, the doctrine will be strange; and
they will be disposed to ask, "How can these
things be? How is it possible that a smaller
dose of poison-for poison we take it to be-can
affect the living system more injuriously, in
proportion to its quantity, than a large one?
Are beer, cider, wine, coffee and tea, more injurious, then, in proportion to the amount of
poisonous or medicinal substance they contain,
than rum, gin and brandy?" I answer, that
they are so.
Do you wish for reasons? First, it must be
so, from the nature of the case. The larger
the quantity of poison we take, provided we
do not take enough to overwhelm the powers
of life at 6nce, the greater the probability that
there will be a reaction, and that the offending
substance will be thrown out of the system,
either upward or downward. Whereas in the
case of the very small quantity, the system is
not so much disturbed; and the little which is
I
I 
LOVE OF EXCITEMENT.
tkaen steals its march, as it were, upon the
system; and becoming incorporated into it,
has its full pernicious effect.
Secondly, we establish this doctrine-which
you are pleased to call a new or strange oneby analogy. If we wish to produce a merely
local impression on the system, by some strong
medicine-say  calomel-we  throw a pretty
large dose, perhaps twelve or twenty grains,
into the stomach. A reaction soon follows,
and it is thrown off.
But if, on the contrary, our aim is to produce a general impression-in other words, if
we wish to poison or salivate with it-we give
half a grain, or a quarter of a grain. And the
repetition, for a few times only, of these minuter doses, will bring about the result we desire.
It is so with alcohol among the rest. For,
what is alcohol but a medicine, wherever we
find it?
I might add a third species of proof on this
points were further proof needful. They who
use alcohol in large measure, once in a month,
or once in two months, and then use nothing
but water the rest of the time, though they
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
I
i
i
I
i
i
I
I
i
i
I
I
165 
166    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
may, and doubtless do, injure themselves to
the full extent which has ever, by any finite
being, been supposed, do not, after all, impair
their health or diminish their longevity so
much as those who sip a little every day, and
yet are never disguised by it. Nor are the ill
effects on the offspring of the former, so obvious
as they are on those of the latter.
Indeed one remark might be applied to all
medicinal substances, from alcohol, opium,
calomel and tobacco, down to beer, coffee, tea,
pepper, saleratus, vinegar, &c.  The strength
they give is not by adding nutriment to the
system, but by exciting the nerves and brain.
They give strength, I admit, but it is only by
tickling the nerves, as it were, and hence the
strength is temporary, and leaves the system
more debilitated than it found it. It also increases the temptation to repeat the dose.
I wish young men could fully understand
and appreciate the views I have here faintly
and imperfectly, but yet in all sincerity and
honesty set forth. I wish they could fully
know that all the extra warmth and strength
I
i
I
I 
LOVE OF EXCITEMENT.
they obtain, by drawing out nervous energy
any faster than it is naturally drawn out by
hose articles of food and drink which are pro,erly converted into blood, to nourish the body,
.re at the future expense of that nervous system and the other machinery which furnish it.
For, suppose that correct views on this subject were to cut off every conscientious young
man from the use, not only of all excitingi. e., over-exciting-drinks, but also from all
kinds of medicine,* however small or trifling,
would they not be gainers by it in the end?
Admit that it should be found out, gradually,
that many of what are called condiments or
seasonings, were also medicinal substances;
and that they were, each in its turn, abandoned-what then? Who wishes to gratify his
natural fondness for excitement, at the expense
an impaired constitution for himself and his
* This remark is not intended to appl
who have submitted themselves to the
the physician.   They, of course, have
take whatever he orders for them.  Ever
they should take it-and this, too, wheth
quantiti.,s
I
ii
i
1
i
i.
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
i
i
I
i
iI
167 
168    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
posterity? Who does not, on the contrary,
wish to do right and reap the consequences?
But I might go entirely beyond the region
of selfishness, and appeal to your sense of
duty to God and man-to God, I mean, and
the human race. Have you a right to gratify
yourself-your nervous sensibilities, I meanat the expense of your health, or at the hazard
of impairing the constitutions of those who
may come after you?
I
i
i
I
Ii
.1
i
i 
LETTER XX.
ON PURITY
"HiE is a very pure young man," said a friend
to me, many years ago, concerning a young
schoolmaster to whom I had just been introduced, in eastern Connecticut. A very pure
young man! I said to myself. What sort of
a recommendation is this?-for as a recommendation it was certainly intended.
It is not necessary, however, to live in this
world half a century, in order to learn that
purity is one of the highest possible recommendai ions, in either sex. WNe may learn it in half
that time. I am always glad to find a young
man or a young woman temperate, conscientious and industrious. But to find one who is
pure, is still more than all this; for purity like
I
8 
170      LF;TTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
charity covers a multitude of other transgressions.
You need not regard my opinion, on this
subject, as standing alone. Paley, in his Natural
Theology, represents purity of character as the
hinge on which all else turns. And Paul, in his
writings, especially in his letters to Timothy,
repeatedly dwells on its importance.  And as
if to sum up every thing in one, he says to the
latter on a certain occasion, very emphatically,
"Keep thyself pure."
Indeed who that has studied the history of
mankind, as it is in this particular, is at all
surprised to find the great apostle of the Gentile world levelling some of his deadliest blows
as a Christian warrior in this very direction?
Who is not shocked at the very detail of the
gross impurities he is obliged, in the very
opening of his letter to the Romans, to charge
on that then comparatively enlightened and
elevated nation?
But if Rome-learned and polite Romewas so bad, how was it with the rest of the
nations around her? One may be guided
by something more than conjecture, in this
I
I
I 
F
PURITY.
matter. The dark catalogue of vices which
Paul charges upon the inhabitants of Asia.
Minor and Southern Europe is almost always
headed by one or two-sometimnes three or four
-kinds of impurity. For example; adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness,
stand in the foregound of the picture of Galatian
vices; fornication and uncleanness ill that of
the Ephesians; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, and evil concupiscence, in
that of the Colossians; fornication and concupiscence in that of the Thessalonians; and
fornication in that of the Corinthians.
The consequences of these evils are fearful,
even in this world. They are not all, however,
equally so. As it is in regard to other vices
that each, if persisted in, has its appropriate
disease, (drunkenness, for example, its deli
rium tremens,) so it is with all these. But 1
need not particularize. All diseases are, so far
as I can learn, the penalties of transgression;
but the penalty falls on some more, on others
less directly. There are few that seem so much
like the direct judgments of offended Heaven
as that which falls upon gross impurity.
I
i
I
i
i
I
I
i
171 
172    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Short of this, however, there is much suffer
ing, not only of the individual, but, as in the
former case, of posterity also.  The sins of
parents, at least in their consequences, are
visited upon children unto the third and fourth
generation-probably to the twentieth. Scrofula, eruptions, gout, and I hardly know how
many more diseases, are the frequent punishment of vice, as committed somewhere. A
modem physiologist tells us that two-thirds of
the diseases to which our race is liable, have
their origin in the abuses to which I now refer.
Few are probably aware-medical men and
physiologists excepted-to what an extent the
least infringement of the Divine law, in these
particulars, militates againt the well-being of
our race. That the grosser forms of impurity
are injurious-at least to others!-some will
be ready to admit; though even here not a
few are skeptical. But that licentiousness in
every degree from the more gross outbreakings, down to the mere thoughts and imaginations of the heart-more or less injures the
health of all who indulge in it, is not, I believe, 
PURITY.
generally known; and is not usually believed
when it is proclaimed.
Yet if there be a truth in the wide moral
world, it is that every licentious action, word
and thought-every one, I mean, which is
truly of the licentious kind-as certainly injures the physical frame of him who indulges
it, at least in some small degree, as the fountain, rivulet, and river lead to the mighty
ocean!
But this is not all, nor the worst. The
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament
represent the human being-the body of course
included-as the temple of the Holy Spirit;
and while they accompany their exhortations
to purity with proffers of the richest rewards,
they also threaten, with the most fearful penalty, eveiy profanation of that temple. Shall
a-e experience the dreadful penalties annexed
to impurity in this life, when we know, full
well, that those penalties, dreadful as they may
be to the sufferer, are but a prelude to suffering
stiul greater, in that world of woe to which we
are rapidly hastening?
173 
174    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
That he has no trifling task to perform who
would keep himself pure, is cheerfully admitted; nevertheless he cannot fail of having a
full reward for his exertion even in this world.
The consciousness of having in us a spirit of
purity, is a powerful stimulus to every kind
of activity. Whereas, the consciousness of
impurity, makes us feel meanly; and unfits
us, in a good degree, for the discharge of every
duty.
"Blessed are the pure in heart," said our
Saviour, and nothing could have been more
timely or true. He did not say, Blessed will be
the pure in heart. The blessing is immediate
and future both. Purity has the promise, like
godliness, both of this life, and that which is
to come.
The sources of licentiousness in a world like
our own, are almost endless. The mighty
Mississippi does not burst forth a Mississippi
at once. It is fed by the fountains and streams
of a million of square miles. So with vice,
especially that which we are now considering.
Let me notice, briefly, some of the sources
of impurity which are most obvious and
Il.
i
I
I
i
I
I
I
I 
PURITY.
frequent, and against which, therefore, you
will do well to guard; and not only to guard
yourselves, but if it be more needful, your
neighbors.
One is too much HEAT. This may be applied either externally or internally. Externally, as by too high a temperature in our
rooms, too much clothing by night or by day,
and atmospheric excitement acting upon the
skin. But these last act also on the lungs,
and therefore lead us to the consideration of
internal sources of extra heat. These are an
exciting or medicated atmosphere, exciting
food and drink, useless medicine, exciting
mental food, and excited feelings.
Against all these, and perhaps many others,
every young man will do well to be on his
guard, and that continually. Some of them
are, of course, worse than others; but all are
quite bad enough. No one of them can be
long in operation, with safety; but the influence of two or three of them combined is, of
couise, much worse than that of any one acting singly. In general, let your motto be,
Keep cool, keep cool.
I
i
i
ii
I
175
il
I[ 
176    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Another source of impurity is UNDUE MENTAL EXCITEMENT.  One effect of excessive
mental excitement may be to produce internal
heat upon the brain. Those who excite their
brains too much, are often such as sit a good
deal; which doubtless increases the deteimrninatlon of blood to the head; and is accompanied
with the development of an unusual amount
of heat. But apart from the ill effects of the
heat, there seems to be a reflex action, whenever we drive the brain too fast, which has a
direct tendency to excite impure thoughts and
feelings, and, in various ways, to do much
mischief.
For reasons, however, upon which I have
not now room or disposition to enter, it would
appear that the perusal of works of imagination and fiction, have a more obvious, certain,
and immediate tendency to licentious feelings,
than works of a graver sort, and the pursuit of
mathematics, and other grave studies.
Another fruitful source of the evil in question, is indulgence itself. As face, in the glass,
answers to face, and as like, by a general, if
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
I 
not inevitable law of Nature's God, produces
its like, so every degree and form of impurity,
in thought, word, and deed, tends to increase
the maddening flame, and endanger our destruction.
Young men do not seem to understand this.
Not a few of them seem to suppose, that just
as the newly formed gas in the fermenting
cask will sometimes, for want of vent, burst
forth with such violence as to destroy the cask,
and scatter abroad its contents, so if there be
no such thing as giving vent to the appetites,
the system must suffer-. They suppose, in one
Word, there must be an explosion; and that
this explosion, like those of Etna and Vesuvius, serves the system an important purpose.
Such young men ought, however, to know
that, before the age of twenty-five, if not
afterward, every improper action, word, and
thought, is like seed cast into a luxuriant soil,
and brings forth a new crop of the same kind.
The greater the indulgence, the louder the cry
of the system for its repetition. It is, in this
respect, like the horse leech's daughter men              *8
i
i
i
i1
I
I
i
I
iI
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
I
ii
i
i
i
ii
i
i
ii
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
177
PURITY. 
178    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
ttoned by Solomon, that cried incessantly,
Give, give.
I have said "before the age of twenty-five,"
because prior to this period, no young man has
any thing to do-in virtue of the laws of physiology-with any of the forms of indulgence
to which I refer, unless he is willing to inflict
an injury on his whole system, physical and
mental, from which he can never fully recover.
Indulgence, after this period, is fruitful enough
of evil consequences, but it is much more so
before it.
At present I will only add, that one common
and prolific source of improper and impure
feelings is bad associates-whether of one sex
or the other. These are very common, and
very influential. Who does not know that
example is almost omnipotent? Yet that same
example is as powerful for evil as for goodperhaps more powerful. It is so, if the general
tendencies of human nature are downward,
rather than upward. It is so, if the public
opinion concerning men, in all ages, has been
true. It is so, if the testimony of Revelation,
I 
PURITY.
corroborating that of reason and public opinion,
has any weight. It is so, if the promises of
God have any thing to invite us, or his threatenings any thing to excite our terror.
179
I 
:
!l
LETTER XXI.
MODELS AND MODEL CHARACTER.
IN my letter on politics, I shall urge upon you
the study of the history and geography of our
country, as the basis of that subject. Closely
connected with these, however, is the study of
biography. I wish this last were made a
fundamental branch in every public or common school. For to say nothing, now, of the
historical and political information which,
when properly written, it communicates, it is
still more valuable, in another respect, to which
I would respectfully call your attention.
Young men, to an extent greater or less, are
chameleon-like. They take a tinge, so to
speak, from the company they keep; especially
if it is much kept. Nay, they are often affected
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
ii
I
21
t! I
i
i
I
I
ii
i
i
l
'i
11
I
i
i
1
i
i
iii
ii
11
i
i
i
i
i 
MODELS-MODEL CHARACTER.
for life by the society of an individual for
merely half an hour. It is so as regards coming in contact with character through the
medium of books.
Now, biography enables us to associate (to
all practical interests and purposes) with men
of all ages and all climes-with Moses, Joseph,
David, Solomon, Isaiah, Homer,  Confucius,
Plato, Zeno, Paul, John, Franklin, Cuvier,
and Howard.  In the language of another, we
are enabled, in this way, to "shake hands
across oceans and centuries."   And  young
men are often influenced almost as much by
the men of other climes and ages with whom
they thus shake hands, as by those whose
hands they shake, from day to day, at home.
I knew a young man who was fond, to excess, of the writings of Franklin. Not only
his philosophy, but his manners, habits, and
style of writing charmed him, and at once
became his model.   The attachment to the
Doctor led, in a practical point of view, to an
intimate acquaintance. His efforts to imitate
him were attended with great success. He
became a "doer of good;" and learned, with
I
I
i
I
i
i
I
i
I
I
i
i
I
I
i
181
i
-i
I
i
i
i
i
ii
11
1 l 
182    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Franklin, to value highest, this species of reputation.
Others have taken, as their model, such men
as Addison, Washington, or Byron. The re.
sult has been, in not a few instances. that they
have approximated to the character they have
labored to imitate. And Franklin, himself, in
point of style, was a successful imitator of
Addison.
No young man can know how much he is
indebted to this species of influence.  If the
notion of Dr. Rush, that we are apt to resemble those by whose names we are called,
especially when they have been greatly distinguished, is well founded, may it not be
accounted for from the fact, that we are led,
by the name, to become familiar with the
biography of him who bore it; and thus in a
degree to take him as a model?
Let me exhort every young man to select
his model, and do it early in life. The earlier
the better. I do not, indeed, mean to insist
upon your copying any one character, exclusively; nor in fact upon your attempting a perfect copy of any body. Men are but frag
I
i
I
I
i
I
I 
MODELS-MODEL CHARACTER.   183
ments of men, after all; and do not deservethe best of them-to be copied entire. Even
the venerable Dr. Franklin himself is not an
exception to the truth of this remark.
Perhaps it might be preferable to have before the mind's eye, as models, several different
individuals. One may be our model in point
of style, another in manners, another in philosophy, &c. On this last point, however, I
speak with some diffidence, for want of sufficient experience.
Of one thing, however, I am certain; which
is, that many excellent young men-I mean
excellent in point of intention-accomplish but
little in this world, because they attempt but
little. The greater part, in truth, come into
the world and pass through it as if they were
without any definite aim and object. And as
certainly as the stream never rises higher than
the fountain whence it has its source, just so
certainly will young men who aim at nothing,
accomplish nothing.
I do not forget how apt I am to dwell on
this topic-the low and unworthy aims of a
great many young men. When you have
i
i
I
I 
I
Ir
I
184    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
had the experience of half a century, however,
you will know how to excuse me. You will
not only know how to excuse importunity and
repetition, but also warmth.
A patient of mine, in one instance, who was
dragging on an aimless existence, was told
how to set his mark high, and was actually
set to work. The result was, in a little while,
very great improvement in his whole condition.
But I am inclined to digression. I have
said that men are mere fragments of menand that it is difficult, therefore, to find in any
individual, a perfect model. There is one
exception to the truth of this remark. In the
man of Nazareth, we find a perfect model
character. Happy the individual, young or
old, who is wise enough to select his model
in this divine direction.
Let no young man sneer at the idea of fixing
on Jesus Christ as his model. Let him not
say that men and manners in 1849, and in
America, differ so greatly from the men and
manners of Palestine in the days of our Saviour, that such a model is no model at all;
i
I
i
I
i
Ii
I
i
i
I
l
I 
MODELS-MODEL CHARACTER.
for it is not so. No man shall go before me
in estimating the value of a Saviour for the
" atonement's sake;" and yet no man shall go
before me in valuing him as our exemplar.
The Saviour was a model for the child, the
youth, and the young man, no less than for
the man of thirty.
True it is, we do not know that he was ever
tried in all the circumstances of every young
man's life; but only in all the essential points
which are necessary to develope character.
And as it seems to me, no young man can
carefully study his character in all the points
to which I refer, without understanding what
is required in order to follow him.
Let Jesus Christ, then, my young friends,
be your model man. Study, above all the
rest, his biography.   Find out, as soon as
possible, what it is to act as he acted; and
what he would do, governed by the great
principles by which it is clearly seen he was
governed, in all your circumstances. Find it
out, I say, but do more. Yield yourselves up
to be led by him. Were young men to do
this, but for a single century, the world would
185
I 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
again flourish as did Eden-nay, it would
become as the garden of God.
If you call this preaching, be it so. How
shall young men, any more than old men,
"hear without a preacher?"  You are fond of
philosophy, I suppose-common sense philosophy. Now philosophy has had much to
say, during the last century, about the influence of example. But who has not conceded
that our Saviour's example may safely be imitated? Be philosophers, for once, and let the
brightest example the world has yet seen, be
more powerful with you than even his divine
precepts.
i
i
i
I
.i
186 
LETTER XXII.
DECISION AND FIRMNESS.
THE eminent John Foster has written a long
essay upon the importance of Decision; and
this essay of his has contributed more, perhaps, than all things else which he has written,
to bring him into favorable notice. Indeed, had
he written nothing else, this alone would have
"immortalized" his name.
"Decision of character," says Mudie, on the
observation of nature, "consists in the readiness and rapidity with which we can not only
judge, but judge rightly. When genuine,"
he adds, "and exercised within the proper
bounds, it is probably the most valuable temperament of mind that man can possess." No
wonder, then, if in a series of letters to young
men, I call attention to it, for a few moments.
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
i
I
i
I
I
i
i
I
I
i
i
i
i
i
I 
188    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
It stands opposed, we are told, to that indecision which disqualifies a man for weighing
evidence, and that fastidiousness in which
time and attention are wasted upon trifles
which form no important part of the evidence
at all.
"Napoleon Bonaparte is perhaps," adds Mudie, " the most remarkable instance of decision
of character, that occurs in well authenticated
history;" and I have no doubt he was so.
And yet, as the same excellent writer well
observes, his history affords the most remarkable instance on record of the failure of that
decision.
Ledyard, the American traveller, is usually
set down as more remarkable than most men
for decision of character. Perhaps Washington has as few superiors in this respect as
any American, except Ledyard and President
Jackson. And even these last were tempered
a little too much with the excess of that other
quality which I have taken for my motto, but
which it is extremely difficult to blend with
any thing else in just proportion.
"A genuine decided character-one which 
DECISION AND FIRMNESS.
will enable a man to carry all his plans into
effect with success, and to ride buoyant upon
every wave of the sea of trouble-is perhaps
not to be obtained, at least early in life,
without a certain degree of stubbornness; and
as that stubbornness produces a sort of contempt for advice and new information, even in
the case in which their aid would be most desirable, there is some danger of failure and
reverse after success has lulled caution, and
time begun to blunt the edge of observation.
"The man of truly decided character, must
be one who is capable of taking long and
clear views into the future; but as the past is
the only telescope through which the future
can be seen, the man of truly decided character must be an incessant, and also a silent
observer from his youth."
To me it seems that little can be accomplished in this world, without decision and
firmness both. And yet the great desideratum, during the whole work of self-education,
consists in so tempering these together, that
they may both accomplish their purposes without the excesses which have sometimes been
.1
iI
I
i
i
i
i
ii
i
i
ii
I
ii
i
ii
I
i
i
I
i
I
I
I
i
ii
I
189 
190    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
charged against them, and to which it cannot
well be denied they are liable.
If this book, and about a hundred others,
from the same author, have been of any value
to the world, it is owing, in no small degree, to
a certain turn of life which might be named,
and that turn was the result of decision of
character
I
i
I
I,
i
l
I 
LETTER XXIII.
SETTING UP IN BUSINESS.
SINCE the Young Man's Guide war
ten, one or two eminent men hav
estly requested me to review the 
opinion  expressed in that work
young men are apt to assume the
sibilities of business too early. 
so; still, however, I am driven
conclusion as before.
The notion is prevalent among
-it always has been so-that eac
ration, especially their own, is wie
which preceded it.  So that tho
you are well aware that your ant
business later than you, yet you
i
I
i
i
I
1:
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
i
I
i
ii
i
l
:es ors pegan    &
1 seem to see 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
in this, no reason why you should wait till you
reach the same more advanced age. You
honestly believe, no doubt, that you are as
capable of succeeding at twenty or twenty-two,
as they were at twenty-five or twenty-eight.
In most of the cities of the United States,
young men set up for themselves in business
by the time they are twenty-one; and not a
few even earlier. And a majority of those
now engaged in business-the active part of
business I mean-are between twenty and
thirty-five; perhaps I might even say between
twenty and thirty. It is so in particular in
New-York.
Now it was not always so. Men set up in
business much earlier than formerly. Formerly, too, success was more certain than now.
There were failures then, I well know; but
they were not so frequent or so common. It
could not be said then, as it now is, that
r'nety-five in a hundred of all our mercantile
Lien fail once at least in their business lifetime, or that there are few men who succeed
in business who have not made at least one
failure.
I
i
i
i
i
iii
i
i
11
i
I
I
i
i
i
i
i 
SETTING UP IN BUSINESS.
Now who shall say that a state of things
where failure in business is almost universal;
and success, without a failure, only an exception to the general rule, is not owing, in a very
large degree, to the fact that the young rush
into business too early? Yet since so many
do say this, let us review the grounds of such
an opinion. Let us see who, in this particular,
are the wisest, we or our fathers.
Professional men, beyond a doubt, often fail
of success because they assume the responsibilities of their profession too early. Even if
they set out with sound constitutions, they
very often destroy themselves by the age of
thirty-five; or at least render themselves useless if not burdensome. But when they often
set out, as is a matter of fact, with scrofulous
or consumptive constitutions, this increases the
evil, both as regards tendencies and results.
These remarks are particularly applicable to
young clergymen, but will serve for the latitude and longitude of young men of other
profe,sions. The physician, as a general fact,
sets up for himself a little later, and perhaps
a Lso the lawyer. But the teacher breaks down
9
I-                                                                                 -— i —--    --                                                 -  --                                                                        __________________________________
iI
i
I
I
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
II
11
I
I
193
e
11
l
i
I
.1i 
194    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
almost as early as the clergyman; and fo
nearly the very same reasons.  I have known
but one teacher who lasted to be useful in hi
profession fifty years; and he began hi
studies late-I believe at about twenty-fiv
years of age.
Pres. Hurnphrey, late of Amherst College
appears to be of opinion that young men ough
not to assume the full responsibilities of
preacher and pastor till about thirty years of
age.   Other wise men  entertain a simila
opinion.  And you know the Jewish rule-a
rule to which it would seem our Saviour chose
to conform. He did not enter upon the ful
responsibilities of his mission till he was ove
twenty-nine-that is till he "began to be abou
thirty."
I am not disposed to attach too much impor
tance to this particular period; but no10 man i
a man?, in the full sense of the term, till he i
well nigh thirty. The bony frame is not fully
consolidated till about twenty-five; and in
some cases not till twenty-seven or twenty-eight
Then again the mental framework, so to cal
it is of still slower growth. And once more
II
i
II
I
II
l
I
i
i
11
11
i
I
i
i
i
1,
i
i
ii
ii
i
i'
ii
ii
i
i
i
i
'I
I
i
I
i
I i
i
I
ii
-.
L — 
SETTING UP IN BUSINESS.
the scrofulous are still longer in coming to
maturity, or at least in becoming able to bear
an average share of earth's responsibilities,
than most other people.
Those who fall into mercantile pursuitsand of the readers of these remarks, not a few
are supposed to be of this description —are
little wviser in their course than those who betake themselves to the learned professions.
They set out almost as unfavorably, rush
forward as eagerly, and break down as early.
Bright as their morning is-for scrofula is remarkable for the brightness it imparts-their
sun sets ere they are aware, often before noon.
How have I been pained a thousand times,
to see these buds of promise so early perish!
The remark on infancy,-" Too bright to live
long," and that on youth and adolescence,"Death delights in a shining miark," mean
something.  They point to scrofula, "almost
as sure as plummets fall." This prematurity
-precocity rather-in body and mind, that
delight us so much, are of ill portent. Give
me the slower growth, and duller mental
powers, in preference.  I want no precocity
i
I
I
i
195
I
I 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
no  premnatirity-no  prodigies.   I want no
plants-human ones, at least-for hot-houses.
Young I        was son of a clergyman of
eminence, some twenty miles or more from
Boston. He was a bud of promise, and unhappily was thought fit for the city countingroom, when his constitution required the air
and exercise of his father's little farm. At
sixteen he was a clerk in Washington-street.
Scarcely out of his teens, his ambition was
gratified with the fill responsibilities of business.  And  what he could not do, towards
destroying himself, during the six days, he
made up, on the seventh, with Sabbath school.
He died suddenly, and was buried with all
the honors which are usually awarded, in
these cases, by the ignorant and unthinking.
Mysterious, it was said, by good men even,
are the ways of Providence; and this, with a
sigh, was all; except that they went on their
way to train their sons to run the same race.
I will not deny-for I cannot conscientiously do so-that not a few of these precocious
young men, will "make more money," were
i
i
I
I
196 
SETTING UP IN BUSINESS.
making money the great end and aim of life,
by ten years of active effort between twenty
and thirty, than by any ten years after that
period. But grant even that a young man
may "make his fortune " in that time, and then
lay aside business, and live on his hastened
earnings, still it does not follow that he has
taken the wiser course.
If there were any method of ascertaining
the exact yearly loss to society in consequence
of acute disease-rendered severe and fatal by
over-exertion of body and mind, amid a multiplicity of cares, many of which belong not
at all to such early years-we should probably be astonished at the fearful aggregate.
Should it fall as low as thousands-I fear
rather that it would rise to tens of thousands
-the  results would  startle us.   Place the
number at 10,000, the average age at death at
twenty-five; the average duration of human
life at forty-five, and the value of time at only
$250 a year; and yet we have an annual loss,
in this respect, of $50,000,000. Will any
of you say this is an over-estimate? I wish
it might prove so.
_ _   _          _        -       _           2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I
197
I -i 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
But leaving this class, there is another which
is little less to be pitied-I mean dyspeptics.
Fewer young men become dyspeptics who
engage in mercantile pursuits —I mean fewer
in proportion to the whole number concerned
-tllan of those who engage in sedentary occupations, such as shoemaking, tailoring, &c.
And yet there are many merchants, and merchants' clerks, who suffer in this way. I suppose about 5000 of these last become dyspeptics
every year.
These lose, (saying nothing of the bodily
suffering, which some think worse than death,)
at least half their time, for a period as long
as tile former. Here is an aggregate of
$25,000,000.
But I have not yet done. We lose every
year about 60,000 young people from consumption  and  scrofula.   They  are almost
always precocious, and have been hurried into
active life too soon. I suppose I am quite safe
in placing the number of young men whose
dissolution by consumption is hastened in this
way, at 2(),000 a year. Indeed, I am afraid
this is much too low.
I
i
i
i
I
I
i
I
I
I
198 
SETTING UP IN BUSINESS.
These die at an average age of thirty.
They therefore lose fifteen years each; besides
an average of two years from sickness. Here
is an aggregate of $95,000,000. Put together
the three smaller aggregates I have made out,
and we have a grand total of $170,000,000.
Remember, moreover, that this loss is to be
repeated, in the usual course of things, every
year!
Now I ask the friends of going early into
business, whether they really believe that
society gains enough by it to compensate itself for all this loss. It will require a good
many purchases and sales to clear $170,000,000 a year, or more than $5,000,000,000 every
thirty years!
I have not taken into the account the medicine, and a thousand other things which I
might have reckoned, because I would not
seem to be extravagant. I will just add, however, that the value of the medical services and
medicine these persons consume yearly, must
rise above one million of dollars —while the
loss of time to attendants and friends cannot
be less than several millions.
I
I
I
i
iII
i
I
199
I
i --
I 
20)O    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
rhey who complain of the doctrines of the
Young Man's Guide," should know what is
the end-the dreadful end-of this rushing
so early into business. They should know
how many fail in business, as the consequence,
and how many in health. They should make
wise comparisons between those who serve
a long apprenticeship to their employmeint whether learned, mercantile, mechanical or
manufacturing-and those who do not.
And this it is-precisely this very thing this apprenticeship-that I am  about to re commend to you, my young friends. I know
you are apt to revolt from it; but depend upon
it, mere feeling, in this as well as in other
matters, is blind. The intellect is the helmsman, and blind feeling must yield to her the
pre-eminence.
I do not say you must serve, in every instance, seven, or ten, or twelve years. Circumstances may require a longer period in one
case than in another. But be you sure of one
thing-the longer you can serve in this way,
provided you are this side of thirty, and are
conscious you are every day growing wiser
I
I
i
i
i
I
i
i
I
I
i
I
I
iI
i
i
I
I
I
i
i
ii
I
I
I
I
I
i
i!
i
I
i
1 
7
SETTING UP IN BUSINESS.
healthier and holier, the better for all your
prospects will it be, whether near or remote.
Even if your highest aim were to make
money, what I have said is worthy of your
entire confidence. I have been young, and
now am old, yet never have I seen the young
man a loser even in a pecuniary point of view,
from serving many long years as an apprentice
or a journeyman.
Grant, as we have already done, that youth
is more active-and that a young man will
do more between twenty and forty, than between thirty and fifty; yet if, on the one hand,
he is dead or as good as dead at forty, and on
the other, able to go through with a second
twenty years of hard labor, is he the loser.?
And this comparison has facts for its basis. It
is far from being an exaggeration.
Perhaps I need not recur to my own experience in proof of the correctness of the
views I present; but you must allow me to
say, in this place, that so far as the experience
of a single individual can go towards establishing a point of this kind, mine is in favor
of a long joiurneymnanship. After I was more
9*
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
iI
I
i
i
I
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
I I
I
I
I
I
201 
202    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
than 28 years of age, I rode, as it is termed,
with another physician, for some time, before
I entered upon the full responsibilities and
duties of the medical profession, and I assure
you, that to this hour, I have never for one
moment regretted it.
L_
i 
LETTER XXIV.
MONEY GETTING.
IN a community like our own, where the road
to wealth, like the road to market, lies open
to all; where every one, for aught which can
be foreseen, may become a Girard or an Astor,
it is not strange that the love of money should
be a predominating trait or element of human
character; and of the character of young men
as well as old. For young men are older men
in miniature, and soon learn to copy them in
their employments, habits, virtues,. and vices.
Nor is it strange, that in denouncing the
love of money as the root of all evil, many
worthy individuals should be found, who pass
to the extreme of inculcating-what, indeed,
they may not themselves always practise-an
utter disregard of property.   Nay, it is not
II
I 
1
204    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
strange, even, if a few should hold forth, especially to the young, that money is not only to
be neglected, but despised.
Now it happens that truth in this matter, as
in many others, lies somewhere between extremes.   To  the old and the young, as a
means to an end, or rather as an instrument
to an end, money has its value. In truth,
there are not a few Christians so low in the
scale of moral progress, as not to know that
there is a higher or more laudable means of securing the ends they seek, than getting money.
They may outgrow this ignorance by and by;
if Christians, indeed, they will outgrow it.
But to say to them as they now are, that the
pursuit of wealth, in every degree, and in all
circumstances, is morally wrong, would be not
merely to check their upward progress, but to
put an end to it.
Nature, in the material world, abhors a vacuum; and so of human nature. To take
away the pursuit of property, or even the love
of it, entirely, and at once, would be to take
from some men all motive to exertion; and to
make their minds and hearts a vacuum.
Ii
ii
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
I
i
i
ii
I
I
I
ii
k,
"i
Ti
!i
:I
i
'I
. iI
; i
i
i
i
i
i
'!i
i I
i 
MONEY-GETTING.
This is not to deny the general truth of the
Scriptures, nor to raise the slightest doubt in
regard to their statements on this subject. The
love of pleasure-another personage of the
world's trinity-is a root of all kinds of evil, as
well as the love of money; and yet who is
there that would utterly reject it as a motive
in human action?
The truth is, we are to do our duty; in doing which, as society is now constituted, money or property will inevitably come. And
when received, it is to be taken care of as a
means of doing good. It is blessed to receive;
but more blessed to communicate or give.
Now, such is the usual connection between
labor and its reward-work  and pay-that
most men come insensibly to confound things
that may not naturally belong together. Duty
is the end; money a means only. Just as it
is in regard to seeking happiness.
The great end of human exertion should be
holiness. Nevertheless, the general arrangement of things being such that holiness secures happiness, we come to confound them,
or to seek both, the latter as well as the for
I
i
I
I
i
I
i
I
i
i
i
I
I
! i
205
i
I
I
11
i
'I
i
iI
i
I
I
i
I I 
I
206    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
mer; and sometimes the latter, chiefly, without thinking of the former. Here and every
where, let us do our duty and take the consequences.
Let me not be understood as inclining to the
opinion of a few eminent men, that the more
business a man does, and the more money he
gains in being thorough in his business, the
better it is even for his spiritual growth. I
believe it was Dr. Adam Clark who said, in
relation to this subject: "The more irons you
have in the fire the better." But this is carrying the matter too far.
Nevertheless it is true-and may every
young man who reads this give heed-that
God has made you to live in this world, and
to do business in it. The road to heaven lies
through earth, and, so far as man is concerned,
always will. There is, doubtless, such a thing
as buying and selling, and getting gain in a
lawfiil manner. There is such a thing as doing business, and receiving the avails of doing
business in such a manner as will please God,
and in the language of Scripture, glorify him.
But there is a more excellent way than that 
MONEY-GETTING.
which is commonly pursued, and which has
given rise to the prejudices against doing business which have often existed in contemplative
minds.
What is this more excellent way? Numerous answers to the question, in a general way,
may undoubtedly be given. We may say it is
to do as we would be done by. Or, we may
say, it is to look on the things of others, as
wvell as on our own.  Or, again, that it is to
regard not solely our own, but also another's
wealth or welfare.   Or, again still, it is to
glorify God in whatsoever we do. Or, finally,
it is to have HOLINESS TO THE LORD written
on all we do; our business, of course, not excepted.
Let us, however, be a little more particular.
A young man has something to sell, for which
he desires, as lawfully he may, an equivalent
min money. In such a case, though he is entitled to the full value of the article, yet he
must never forget the rights of the person to
whom he sells. He is entitled to the full value of his money.
In buying, also, the seller's rights are to be
I
I
i
207 
i    F - -
208    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
11e as our own.   As we are
11 value of our money, so he
value, in full, of his property.
o nly to consider this, but to
t.  As Christian young men,
stly suffer ourselves to come
hanging property, we  are to
, on the things and rights of
often happens in buying and
ially in exchanging property,
s may not only have their
arty or the other something
rample, have each a house to
house of B would better actn his own does.  Or, it may
that A's house would  better
han his own.  Or, it may  be
, while it secures to each all
tight also give to each somethe demands of mere justice.
may happen that one party
s ing without any loss to the
oer instances, both may  be
shr  f hs
moe
I
I
I
'Ii
I
iii
1!
!I
i
may gain someth
other; or, in fe 
MONEY-GETTING.
gainers, and the exchange may make both o
them richer.
My opinion is, that no young man shoul
buy, sell, or exchange in such a way that th
other party will, as a necessary result, be th
loser, unless by his own consent. Nay, I am
compelled to go even farther than this-I sup
pose we are bound to see that every one wit
whom we deal has his just rights-in other
words, we must not suffer him even to defrau
himself if we can help it.
Now, as to an equal division of the gain
over and above what is required to do stric
justice to the party with whom we  dealwhether, for example, when by receiving A
house for mine, I not only get the full vale
of my property, and he the full value of hi
but there is a gain to me, by reason of peculia
circumstances, of five hundred dollars, and 
him of but two hundred-whether, in such
case, I say, I am bound, as a Christian, 
divide equally with him, each receiving thre
hundred and fifty dollars, or an equivalent fo
the sum, is quite another question.
There is, however, a higher rule than any
Ii
I
I
i
I
I
i
209
r
I
i 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
have mentioned-high at least in appearance,
if not in reality-which is to do what we suppose our Saviour would do in our circumstances.
And if this consideration should not enable us
to decide the question satisfactorily, nothing
sholt of this should.
Here is the grand test for young and old.
Hear ye this, young men, and be wise. Get
property; but get it as the Lord Jesus Christ
would, if placed in your own circumstances;
remembering that to this same divine personage you must ere long render an accounts not
only in the presence of those with whom you
have dealt, but in the presence of an assembled
universe,
.1
ii
ii
!I
i
i
i
i
I
I
I
I
II
I
21
i I  210 
n =T~~~~.
LETTER XXV.
PLEASURE SEEKING.
ALL seek happiness; and why should they
not?  They see others in full pursuit after it
they are taught-not merely by Pope, but b
better men than he-that happiness is "ou
being's end and aim." They are even taugh
that virtue itself "consists in doing good fo
the sake of everlasting happiness."
IThey have set up a standard so high and s
holy, that few, if any, have, as yet, come u
to it.  Some have indeed rejected this doctrin
theoretically. They have talked of disinter
estedness.  They have made it synonymou
with the love of the gospel.
I am not about to discuss the great question
in theology, whether or not disinterested lov
is our duty.  I am not about to oppose even
~  _      _______ __~- 
I
i
i
I
iI
i
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
II
- --
i
I
I
iI
I
i
II
n 
212    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
the general pursuit of happiness. Admit, if
you please, that the great and good-the great,
I mean whose goodness made them so-had
respect, in much that they did, to the recoinpense of reward, as the Scriptures themselves
assure us.  Admit that no man ought or can
turn out of doors the inborn love of happiness
which prevails in and prompts, in a greater or
less degree, every human breast. But what
then? It is one thing to have the love of happiness influence us in a degree, and quite
another to suffer it to be the predominating
rule of our action.
The young, in particular, I again say, seek
for pleasure.  Who will show us any good?
is in practice their constant cry. Self-denial
-the refusal of present pleasure for a higher
degree of that which is remote-is to them
irksome. Few can be induced to submit to it.
And though they suffer from time to time the
consequences of their short-sightedness, they
still persist. A distant heaven and a distant
hell are alike, to them, unmeaning; or, at
least, unmoving.
I speak here, however, of those who have
i
i
i
I, I
I
11
i
ii
i
i
I
i
I
I
l
!I
i
i
i
i
11
i
i
I
i.
!I
I I
il
ii
i
LI 
PLEASURE SEEKING.
not yet passed from the earlier stage
adolescence.  I speak not of him 
teen,. eighteen, or twenty years of
cught to know better than to make
his being's end and aim.  Grante       e
great idea held out to him, first at
school, and afterwards in the fam
even the Sabbath school, viz., "E
has grown with his growth and str
with his strength.  Still a higher and
ish system ought by this time to be 
Although he should not be taught
happiness, or even to forget it, ev
man should be told that in order tc
great intention of the Creator, with
himself, a predominating aim shou
good; or, in other words, to be holy
A venerable minister once said, in
dium of his discourse, "The  gre
Christianity, brethren, is to make
and better."   He was thought ex
but so was the Saviour when he
ultra doctrines on the Mount and el
The gospel is for the young as 
old-the younger the better.  Gospe
-.. I I -,.. I.   -. I.                           -        -
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
1
213
ii
11
I i
'Iii
I
I
I
I
I
I
I!
il I
i
i
i
, I
1!
, 1
i i
ii
11
i
11
I
I ii
. i
Ii
i iI I
i:
l
i,
I!
I
. I
- I 
214    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
moreover, should be urged on them, as the only
true morality-nay, as the only sound morality. And no sounder morality can be inculcated on young men than that which is indicated
by the injunction, Labor to be good.
Let this be a predominating motive in all
your whole life. Let it influence you at going
out and coming in; at your employments,
your studies, your recreations; at your lying
down, and at your rising up. But on this
topic I have spoken at large already.
If it once becomes a great aim of your life
to grow wiser and better, you need not longer
trouble yourselves about happiness. Enough of
this-quite as much as is best for you-will
be sure to flow in.
The Saviour's repeated assurance to the
good, was, Ye have your reward; not merely,
Ye shall have it. Your heaven, if you are
holy, will begin here; though it will, of course,
only begin here. The more holiness, however,
the more heaven for you here or hereafter.
Happiness, you thus see, is merely a consequence-the child, not the parent of holiness.
BuLt once more. Observe, if you please, that
[r 
PLEASURE SEEKING.
in speaking of the desire to become good, or
holy, as a predominating motive to action, I
have said a, not the. For even this is not the
whole of "our being's end and aim."  The
great end of Christianity is, indeed, to make
men wiser and better; but then your great
end is not alone to make yourself wiser and
better; but also to make wiser and better those
around you.
The soundness of the first statement of a
venerable and excellent Christian formulary of
doctrine-that "man's chief end is to glorify
God and enjoy him forever "-if applied to man,
individually, may be almost questioned; since
the enjoyment of the individual himself, as the
idea has been commonly received, is made
rather too prominent. It is quite possible that
future reflection and future progress in Christian knowledge and experience, may lead to
an improvement of the formulary referred to.
Perhaps it may yet be said (and with more of
truth) that man's chief end is to glorify God
by carrying forward, in the highest possible
degree, the holiness of himself and of his
fellow-creatures.
Ji
i
11
i
I
I
i
i
i
i
r
i
I
ii
i
i
I
i
i
I 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Do you ask what you can do in the way of
advancing the holiness of mankind-and do
you say that you are not a missionary, set
apart to proclaim the gospel to the world?  I
reply, in the first place, that you have no right
to move a hand, or foot, or finger, without re-.
garding the good of others.
In truth you are not able —such is the condition and constitution of society-to make a
single movement, which shall not tend either
to advance or retard the well-being of mankind.
And, in the second place, if you are not set
apart in due form to the work of a missionary
-if you do not actually hear the command
forever sounding in your ears, "Go into all
the world, and preach the gospel "-still you
are as strongly bound to make yourself and
every body else good to the utmost extent of
your power, as if it were so.
I wish I could live to see a generation of
young men rise up and take the places of their
fathers, whose constant aim should be to do
every thing in such a manner as should most
conduce to public and individual good; or, m
i
I-            -- - - -- ---- ---
216 
PLEASURE SEEKING.
other words, to general and individual holiness.
The constant aim to do every thing in the
best possible manner wouid lead, almost inevi
tably, to the full realization of the scriptural
promise-iHe that watereth, shall himself also
be watered; and to the blessed results alluded
to by the current maxim, Teaching we learn,
and giving we retain. But whether I shall
live to behold so blessed a period or not, somebody will.
Young men are not apt to care for the good
or ill effects of their conduct on others. Ihow
frequently do we hear from mouths the expression "I don't care!"  For one instance,
however, in which we have this expression
put into words, it is ten times thought. And
yet, this " don't care" spirit, according to the
celebrated John Foster, is the very essence of
human depravity.
Pleasure-seeking, therefore, as such, should
be given up by every considerate and intelligent young man; and he should at once
change the object of pursuit. To make him
10
I
I
i
i
i
i
i
I
- 1
. I
i
11
i
I
i
I
217 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
self and every body holy, should be henceforth
his great purpose.
In this way, it is true, pleasure would be
gained-pleasure of the most exalted kind,
too; as greatly different from that short-lived
pleasure with which so many of the present
generation content themselves, as heaven is
different from hell. I speak here as a philosopher, and not as a Christian-aware, however,
that on this point the language of philosophy
and Christianity is inperfect harmony
Let him who has a desire to do something
more in this world than merely to vegetate,to live a life of mere passivity, like the oyster
rather-give to this important part of my general subject a full measure of his attention.
In Scripture language, ( He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear."
II,
l 
l
I
I
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
II
I
I
I
I
i
11
i
i
ii
I
I
iII
! I
I!
li
ii
i11
i[
i
.I
:i
i
i
I
218
i
I
"I
i
ii
II 
LETTER XXVI.
MENTAL EXCITANTS.
As yet, I have said nothing, or almost noth
ing, on mental excitants-of which, in every
form of civic society, great numbers exist.
Let me call your attention for a few momnents,
to this part of my subject.
It might almost be affirmed, of a community like our own, without any facts before us,
other than those which have been presented
in my letters on temperance, that it is excessively fond of mental excitants. For, who
ever saw an individual whose diseased nervous and digestive systems were constantly
crying, Give, give, and yet were never satisfied with plain food, whose intellectual and
moral appetites were not as urgent in their
demands, and quite as unreasonable?
I
I
i
Ii
I
I
I
I
i
I
I
i
i
I
i
i
I
I
11
I
I 
220    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
But, then, we  have facts in the greatest
abundance.   What  is the character of our
modern  libraries-the best of them?   I do
not allude here, of course, to our circulating
libraries, as we generally find them in our
large cities, towns, and thoroughfares; for these
are well known to be made up of excitable
stuff: but, as I remarked before, to the better
sort of them. How few solid books, indeed,
are published! How few, in fact, of those
which possess real worth, are ever read, unless
highly spiced in some way.
I have sometimes wished for the moment
that Boards of Supervision could  be  estab
lished at various points of our wide-spread
country, whose office it should be to recommend, if nothing more, such books and such
alone, as were deemed suitable for town,
social, district, and private libraries.
And then again, I have looked with great
pleasure, and with much of hope, to the colporteur and agent system, as a means of gradually supplanting the heterogeneous mass of
books which is every where found, ill these
_f___
I
I
iI
i
i
i
II
I
i 
MENTAL EXCITANTS.
days, by more substantial materials with
which to build up character.
However, there is, and ever will be, one
drawback upon the usefulness of such arrangements, even were they effected. It is of
comparatively little use to place  good and
wholesome, but plain food before the young,
if they cannot be induced to take it. And
such I fear would be the final fate of good
books, placed per force, before those whose
taste is already vitiated. They would not be
read; or if read, they would not be relished.
I do not forget that I have spoken to you
before, on the subject of light reading. But
there is a worse class of books and papers
before the young in these days, than light
ones; since a book may be light, and yet not
greatly exciting. Even our newspapers, magazines and pamphlets might be of a much
better character in this respect, than some of
them now are. They might be light, and yet
healthy.
A large proportion of our novels, especially
those published first in our catch-penny papers
I
221
11
i
I 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
or magazines, and afterwards thrown o
pamphlet form, in miserable type, upot
worse paper, and sold cheap, are of th
citing class.  Indeed, they are intended
exciting, just as much as pies and cakes
sweetmeats, and confectionery, are  inte
to be so! It is because they are so, that
obtain so ready a sale.
I will even venture the assertion, no t
we are at the place for it, that it is prec
to those who have  been trained up to
pastry and  confectionery, that these  lt
productions of a licentious press are pa
larly adapted, and that it is they who, in 
est numbers, fall victims to their influenc
I use the word licentious, however,
more general sense, in this place, than is
tomary.  But I might go further and spe
the press as being licentious to a very
extent, in a more particular and local pot
view.  For is it not strictly true that a
large proportion of these publications
exciting because they are licentious; and
too, in the very worst sense of the wor
know well that their licentiousness may
I
I
i
i
i
I
i
i
F
i
i,!,'
I
222
I
I
ii
ii
i
i
I
i
I,i
i
11
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
I
d? I
not —
I 
-i
i
MENTAL EXCITANTS.
in fact, does not-always appear externally;
but iii this covered, or at least half-concealed
condition, is it not so much the more dangerous?
There is even a graver class of books than
those to which I have here alluded, that are
far too exciting for the healthy mental palate.
This class is to be found in our bookstores.
I scarcely know a man who would hesitate to
keep and sell them, even though he were a
professed disciple of the Saviour.
This may seem a very grave charge, but is
it not founded on the strictest truth? It is
not asserted, or even intimated, that these
men who sell the machinery of Satan, ever
consider well what they are doing. They are
trained to it-they act as mere machines, or
almost so. If you say they have no right
thus to act-they are bound to reflect-my
reply is, that is your own assertion, and not
mine. To their own master they stand or
fall, who deal out to the community, in any
way or shape, what operates like a fire-brand
every where, whether it acts upon the body,
the mind, or the heart.   Nor does it mend
il
iiiI
It
i;  - - -   -   - 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
their condition very much to be able to say in
the great day of account, that they did it in
sport, or even to obtain a livelihood.
But you may, perhaps, regard this as a
digression.  Be it so.  Before we return, however, let me give you one or two cautions.
Should you be so fortunate as to escape the
deteriorating influences of the whole paraphernalia of physical, intellectual, and moral
excitement; and should the temptation present itself of spreading before the public, as a
means of gaining a subsistence for yourself
and family, such things as I have referred to,
remember that you are not now in the condition of those whose minds have never been at
all enlightened on this subject. Weigh well
the consequences of your conduct, before you
act.  Remember your accountability to God,
and to future generations.
Again, should you be placed, in the arrangements of the Divine Providence, at the head
of a family, remember that he who in his
wisdom seemed to concentrate all wisdom,
when he said, "Train up a child in the way
he should go, and when he is old he will not
I
I
I
i
i
i
i
I
ii
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
224 
MENTAL EXCITANTS.
depart from it"-enjoyed the very best of
opportunities for knowing the tendency of
an overfondness for physical excitement, to
awaken and feed the fire (already raging within), of the appetites and passions. Remember, I say, and beware!
I have before intimated, that I hardly know
what to advise a young man, in regard to
exciting books, except to steer clear of them
all. He has not the power, if he had the
disposition, to burn up all the volumes in'the
Christian world, as Omar (I believe it was he)
did in the Mohammedan. Nor would he
accomplish his purpose of ridding the world
of them, if he did. Like the fabled Phenix,
others just like them would rise from their
ashes. Worse than this, perhaps, would happen. Like the exorcised man in the gospelseven spirits more wicked than the first would
be substituted.
Besides, such a conflagration is by no means
desirable. Amid the books, magazines and
papers, which have come up among us, like
the frogs upon Egypt, we have many that are
excellent. A young man is not obliged to
10*
i
i
I
i
i
ii
i
i
i
i
I
I
iI
ii
i
ii
I
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
225 
I -
226    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
buy or read Bulwer, Byron and Eugene Sue,
because he finds them in a bookstore kept by
a good man, or because he sees others buy
and read them. He may deny himself in this
particular, as well as in many others.
No cross, no crown, was a maxim of Penn,
and a wise one. I am not at all certain that
He who continually brings good out of evil,
and causes even the wrath of man to praise
him, may not have it in contemplation to raise
up a better class of men-, and women than the
world has yet seen, by means of these very
excitements of which I have been speaking in
this letter; I mean now, indirectly. For if it
be true, that without cross, there is no crown;
then is it not also true, that the greater the
cross, the greater the crown, provided it be
well sustained!
Let him, therefore, who in the arrangements
of the family to which he belongs, is placed
at a table where excitants abound, remember
that this is his trial-his cross.  Here may
be, at the least, the very lessons which, if
properly studied, are to teach him the way
of self-denial and self-renunciation. How can
i
i
i
I
I
i
I
I 
MENTAL EXCITANTS.
a person be expected to deny himself and take
up his cross, in the larger, less frequently recurring affairs of life, who has not first learned
to deny himself in small matters?
The same remarks and the same admonimtion may apply to the case of those before
whom exciting intellectual and moral food is
continually presented.   If they govern  the
appetite-which incessantly cries, Give, givein these smaller occurrences, may they not
hope to pave the way for self-government in
larger matters, whenever the time of trial
shall come?
We need not, therefore, to pray to our Father
in Heaven, that he would take our young men
out of the world, in order that they may be
what he designed they should be; but only
that he will keep them from its evils. And
suiting the action to the word, as we should
pray, so we should labor. Our young men
must soon be old ones; let the desire and
prayer of the heart, and the labor of the
hands, have such a tendency that they may
better sustain the burdens of society and glorify God, than their fathers have done. For
i
I
i
I
i
I
I
ii
i
I
I
i
I
I1,
i
I
i
i
i
I
Ii
I
I
i
I
I
i
i
i
i
11 
228    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
until each generation shall be as an improved
edition of that which precedes it, the work of
God, delegated to man on earth, will never be
accomplished.
I
I
i
I
i
I
i
I
i
i
i
I
i
i 
LETTER XXVII.
RESPECT FOR AGE.
I REMEMBER, well, the time when the young
rose up before the aged, whether their age was
honorable or otherwise. They did not stay to
inquire about their merit; it was sufficient that
they were gray-headed.
The rule was, in families, to avoid going
between older persons and the fireplace,
around which, in a sort of semicircle, the
family were often ranged.  Or if it became
necessary to pass before older persons, in these
circumstances, they were to make obeisance
to them.  This, I say, was the rule-that it
was not always rigidly adhered to, does not
alter the matter of fact.
On leaving the room, even though none but
II
I
I
i
I
i
i
i
I
i
I
I 
!IT
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
our friends were present, obeisance was again
required; and so also on returning. If a child
or youth passed an older person, or-what was
indeed the same thing-if another person
passed by him, he was expected and required
to bow to him most respectfully and profoundly. Not however till the head was uncovered.
I have seen well nigh half a hundred school
pupils range themselves-as it were instinctively, and even instantly-in a row, as an
individual a little older than themselves approached their play-ground. And I have seen
this long row, with hat or bonnet in hand, so
far as hats and bonnets were in use among
them, make one simultaneous bow and courtesy to the passer by-no doubt as much to
their own satisfaction, as to his personal exaltation.
At the schoo -room too, in those days, no
pupil was accustomed to receive any thing at
the hands of a teacher or his assistant, without
a most reverent and unqualifie(d obeisance.
So on coming into the school-room, whether at
the opening of the school or at recess; and so
j
I
i
i
i
i
ii
i
il
!I
i
I
I
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
I
i
I!
230
11
i
I,I
i
I
i
i I
i
i
I
1 
t all times, and in all circumstances,
in the act of leaving it.
was this all.  At table, if indeed the
sat at the table with those who were
(which was not always permitted,) the
, unless spoken to, were expected to be
If they wanted any thing, however,
night ask for it; but the request was
accompanied, or rather prefaced by a
Sir, or Please Ma'am.
ecially was youth required to bow low
to say fawn and creep-before age inwith power or dignity, whether or not
ower and dignity were well used.  In
of our higher seminaries it would have
thought  criminal, indeed  absolutely
us, not to take off the hat, and retain it
d while the professor or tutor was passnd many a reprimand, if not actual ex, has  grown  out of delinquencies of
h e general character.
once more.  All the customs of our
circles, festive boards, public amuse and arrangements for divine worship,
ased on the broad principle that respect
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
I
1i
i
i
i
i
I
i
I
I
i
i
I
I
RESPECT FOR AGE.
!.J.~JL! L,
i    were bE 
i
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
should and must be rendered by the young
to the old. The arm-chair and the stool and
cricket, the more elevated seat and the mere
slab bench, the high bed and the trundle bed,
the body of the church and the gallery-these,
and many more things which could be named
in the same connection, all looked the same
way. Even the congregation at church was
seated with sole reference to age. The aged
fathers and mothers were seated nearest the
deacons' pew and the pulpit, while the rest
were placed nearer or more remote from the
last, according as they were nearer or more
remote from them in years.
Such a thing as seating a congregation on
any other principle was not known, in the region of New England where I was brought up,
till within fifty years. No gray-headed man,
because he was poor, was forced to sit remote
from the preacher, in some dark corner, where,
from his growing infirmities, he could scarcely
hear what was said to him. The gospel, in
those days, was for the poor, as well as for the
rich, just as its Author intended it.
Yet, while I would commend, even with
~    _         _
i
Ii
I
i
I 
RESPECT FOR AGE.             233
warmth, some of the forms of showing respect
for the aged which prevailed half a century
ago, I would not be understood as seeming to
endorse them all. I would not carry the custom of making bows and courtesies, in family
or in school, to an extreme which savors of tithing the mint and cummin, while the weightier
matters are omitted. I would not require the
young to be so scrupulous about "manners,"
during the hours of study, labor, or recreation,
as to defeat the great ends for which these
things were designed.
Why should the young, during the school
recess, while busy at their plays, (as necessary
to them as their graver studies,) be compelled to
arrange themselves in rows to make obeisance
to the passing stranger? Why should they,
even, be expected to stop their amusements at
all?  Why take any notice of the passer by,
except to see that they do not obstruct his
way?
True it is, that if spoken to, I would have
them reply, and add thereto a movement of
the head, especially if the person who speaks to
them is greatly their superior in point of years.
- I I
I 
234     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
if children, at school or at home, stand
ng at the traveller as he passes, it is but
onable that they should make their obeie to him.
erhaps it is unnecessary, in a letter to
lg mnen, to be thus minute in regard to the
of the mere schoolboy.  Let it be rememd, however, that I am merely endeavoring
lustrate the principles I would inculcate.
ish to leave the general impression, that
kind every where, and in all ages, are
e to extremes-in avoiding one rock of
e, apt to run on another.  The customs of
ancestors were founded in truth, only they
ed them to an unwise extreme.
ad yet, in departing from the extreme into
w h they fell, have we not gone into an
site extreme still less wise, and still more
stifiable?  Is it reasonable for the young,
enerally, to place themselves on a level
the old? Is it reasonable that they should
me that wisdom and experience, which, if
do not always accompany age, are never
9  acquired without it?
it reasonable that the young should take
11
I
i
i
i
i
i
1
1
1
1
i
i
i
I
i
i
il
to be
Is 
RESPECT FOR AGE.
to themselves the right of occupying the best
seats, where a choice is to be had; whether at
home, or abroad; whether at church or at the
concert, and whether the occasion be grave or
solemn? Have we not gospel rules-examples
rathei-from which the wise young man may
receive timely hints for the government of his
conduct in this matter? What, then, are we to
learn from the earnest injunction not to take the
highest seats at weddings, feasts, &c.? Shall
youth claim a right, in the presence and company of the aged, which even the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, republican as it is-I had
almost said, ultra republican-does not concede to those who are older, in the presence of
their supposed equals?
The question will perhaps be asked-But
what shall we do, when age lays claim to superiority-and makes large claims, too? Shall
the young be expected to concede all that the
old may arbitrarily desire?
Such a question is a pertinent one. I have
seen age make very unreasonable claims. Old
men are not always wise. I have seen children compelled to sit for an hour or two, when
I
235
i
I
I
I
i
li
li
i
ii
i'
I
i
i
i
I 
236    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
they were quite uncomfortable, that age might
not be disturbed in its follies-when it would
have been equally happy, had it yielded a little more liberty to those over whom Providence
had given it unlimited control.
Yet, after all, the general demand, both of
reason and revelation, is, submission;-I mean,
to the higher authority. The powers that be,
in the family at the least, are ordained by God.
If by mild and gentle expostulation, or evea
by respectful request, I could not gain what I
conceived to be my rights, I would yield them,
at once. Better to suffer, in well-doing, than
be guilty of evil-doing. Is it not so?
These collisions, moreover, to which I now
refer-to which, indeed, all the remarks of this
chapter refer-take place at an age when
young persons are more likely to mistake concening their own rights than at any other.
This shall be my principal apology for dwelling a few moments longer on so important a
subject.
As the individual passes from boyhood to
youth, and from youth to manhood, his size
increases faster than his experience. He is
I
I
II
i
i
i
I
1.
ii
l
I
i
i
I
I
I
i
1
I
i 
I
RESPECT FOR AGE.
more a man physically, than he is intellectu
ally and morally. He is not, as yet-say a
fourteen or fifteen-wise enough to know thea
size and strength are not the standard b
which he is to be measured, and by which h
ought not to measure himself. He has falle
into the mistaken notion that old folks, gene]
ally, are fools, and that as each successive get
eration, collectively, is wiser than that whic
preceded it, so he is wiser than the generatio
next before him.  A remark this is, howeve
which I have made in another letter.
This mistake, so common with young men
is most influential at precisely the period o
life when it is most dangerous. Were it to b
made while they are very young, it would b
less hurtful; or were it deferred to a period
which brings with it a little more experienc
and a great deal more humility, it would als
prove comparatively harmless.  Or at leas
coming at either of these seasons, it would no
so often result in abuses and excesses. ]
would be palliated, in its effects, by other cir
cumstances.
There is a period in every young man'
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
, I
i
i
I
iI
iI
i
i
I
I
ii
1 i
I 
i
i
i
i
ii
i
s                         i
I 
238       LETTERS  TO YOUNG  MEN.
history, when dangers of every kind thicken
around him, and seem to threaten inevitable
destruction.  I allude, of course, to the stormy
period when we are said to pass the Terra
del Fuego of life's journey. And such is the
violence, to most, of the storms that assail at
this critical period, that we are not to wonder
if thousands and millions of our race are left
to suffer, under their influence and their own
inexperience, a most fatal and terrible ship.
wreck.
For it is not a little remarkable, that just at
this time, when all other restraints begin to lose
their hold on a young man, the passions not
only rage with most violence, but are most unwilling to brook the least restraint. The same
is true of all the appetites.  Were  parental
influence growing stronger at this juncture, or
were that influence which is exerted by good
and virtuous sisters on the increase at this
time, the state of things to which I refer would
be less unhappy.
But, alas! no fathei, or mother, or brother.
or sister, can, at this dangerous hour, do much
to lessen the dangers that so terribly threaten. 
RESPECT FOR AGE.
Parents are fools, and sisters weak, min the esti
mation of young men. All wisdom, or almost
all, seems bestowed by Heaven just to make
bright and glorious their own happy pathway;
and to die with them, for aught they know or
care, when their own mortal journey is com
pleted!
There is but one condition of things-xtraneous to the reason and good sense of the
young man himself-that can do much to
lessen the danger, at this time, of making a
most fatal shipwreck. Blessed be God, who
in his wise Providence has ordained that a
new bond of attachment should spring up, just
now, to save from absolute, inevitable, and irretrievable destruction,
I do not say that this bond always holds, as
with an omnipotent power. Yet I do say, that,
besides it, none but Omnipotence can restrain
us. It is not John Newton * alone that has
* Most of my readers doubtless know that Mr.  N
was early employed in the slave trade to Africa, and,
force of the storm within and the temptation withou
often in danger.  Having formed an early and abiding
ment, however, this bond, as an anchor, held him.
i
i
I
I
I
I
i
I
i
i
i
i
li
l
iI ! i
-1
ii,
239
i
i
il
i
i
11
attac -
The I
--- I- - -I - --- --— ] iI 
240    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
felt the restraint; but every son of Adam, who
has reached the age of puberty and witnessed
the results accomplished by puberty on those
around him.  And if the mighty cord has not
wholly held him to the paths of purity, it has
done all it could. What he is, he owes, under
God, to what it has done. But on this and
several kindred topics I hope to have room to
enlarge on another occasion.
Happy the young man who, at the dangerous Terra del Fuego of human life, avails
himself of every help which God in Providence and nature has proffered him. Let him
set his sails for every needed pilot, and let him
give due heed to every needful and available
monitor, whether internal or external.
Young men need counsel at every period
and hour of their existence-but most of all,
at that perilous season when the necessity is
least perceived. Let them keep hold of the
parent's arm here, if nowhere else. Let female influence be felt here, if nowhere else.
Let conscience utter her monitory voice here,
thought, What would she think of me, if I yield to indiscretion? often, as he says, saved him.
I
ii
i
'! ii
i
i
i
i
ii
i
i
I
i
I
I
ii
I
i
I 
RESPECT FOR AGE.
if nowhere else; and here, at this precise
point-the point of danger-let her voice be
heard and heeded. Nor let the voice of him
whose mandates are higher than conscience be
overlooked or forgotten.
But I am anticipating. My business just
now is, to encourage in the young a due
respect for the aged; especially at a period
when such respect seems to be, in the common
course of things, almost obliterated. It is not
true that respect for the old-the disposition to
consider yourself as second to him-is only
becoming while you are in the merest childhood and infancy. It is becoming always. It
is not only becoming-it is a virtue. It is as
pleasing to God as it is acceptable to man.
One thought more on this topic, and I will
close this long letter. Respect for age will never lower your reputation among your equals.
Some young men there are who think or seem
tc think it such a mark of weakness to respect
age that they have not the moral courage to
do that which they would otherwise think,
ill the nature of things, perfectly right. Now
I will not deny that there are individuals
11
I
i
i
i
I
.1
i
i
I
II
i
.1
241 
242
Al
to be four
thing by
1; They tak
ii   and other
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
to be found, with whom they will lose some  thing by respecting and reverencing the old.
They take the highest place-age or no age and others may take care of themselves. But
let not the young be deceived.  These very
individuals know better than they say, all the
while. They may laugh at you outwardly,
but they cannot help respecting you inwardly.
Or if they contrive to brave it through to the
end of life, a day is coming when they will
view the matter very differently-a day when,
in the presence of assembled worlds, they will
not be slow to confess that, though honorable
age may not always be that which standeth in
multitude of years, yet age, whether honorable
or dishonorable, is to be respected and cherished. You have read the story of Fideliawho, though one of the most accomplished
women of her age, devoted herself to her aged
father; and felt most at home, not in treating
him with a want of due respect, but with all
those little attentions which his age req(uiredeven putting on his slippers.  Go and do thou
likewise.
_ _   _    __              _   
i
I
I
iI
i
i
i
I
I
I
111
i
11
.il 
I
LETTER XXVIII.
DUTIES TO TIIE AGED.
THE remarks made at the close of my last
letter concerning Fidelia, remind me of the
duties of the young to the aged, especially to
their own parents. These are numerous and
weighty.
It is by no means sufficient to have a general respect for those who are older than ourselves, though without this no young man is
well fitted for the journey of life. We should
have more than a general respect for them;they must be nourished and cherished-as in
our own bosoms. Precious beyond all price
are these relics of a gone-by generation, even
though connected to us by no ties of blood.
For has it never occurred to you in your
search for happiness-for the young are exceed 
Th
244    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
ingly active in this search-has it never occurred to you, I say, that, instead of satisfying
yourself with merely treating age with a sort
of general respect as matter of duty, such treatment should be one of your highest pleasures
-a thing which involves some of your highest
and most important interests?
You have heard of the love of Jacob for his
grandchildren as well as for his children-and
are not ignorant that the lives of the old are as
it were bound up in those of the young. Nay,
you must have often observed this trait of old
age, in those who are around you. But is
there to be no reciprocation of feeling? Do
the old love the young, with a love that is
unquenchable, and have the young no love
for the old? Is there nothing to be done on
their part, but to show them a cold, or at most
a lukewarm respect?  Has God so ordered it?
An aged domestic animal may be turned
aside, when no longer useful, and the owner
incur no guilt. Such, at least, is the stern
decree of society. But can humanity, in its
decline, be thus treated, and the agent of its
I
I 
DUTIES TO THE AGED.
cruel neglect be blameless? Can it be so, in
the nature of things?
Can the young even approximate to such a
course and be blameless? Yet what son is
there among us who does not thus approximate?  Who-where is he that comes up to
the full measure of the great command of God
which requires us to honor age, especially in
our aged parents?
If I understand, correctly, the duties of the
young towards the aged - the aged parent
more particularly-they are all comprised in a
few words. The general injunction might be
framed thus: In all the circumstances of your
lives, so conduct as to make the most of your
parents-their health, reputation, virtue, talents, piety, &c.-and this in their hundredth
year no less than in their fiftieth.
Did not Fidelia's reputation rise at every
thing she did to make the most of an aged and
decrepit parent? Bad as the world is, it cannot resist the claims of filial piety. He who
labors, in season and out of season, to husband
the waning resources of a declining ancestor,
245 
246      LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
is laboring with most of efficiency to advance
his own reputation, even though he were acting solely on selfish principles.
I have seen a young man who, as his parents advanced along the decline of life, seenmed
to think it for his interest to hide them from
society. They might, indeed, be well fed and
clothed-properly foddered, as one might say;
but this was all he cared for. And even this
supply for the wants of their bodies might
have been bestowed grudgingly, but for the
selfish fear of losing reputation by it.
I have seen this same young man, with a
view to place himself in the foreground, and
throw his aged parents into obscurity, contrive
to remove them from the home of their whole
lives-from the cradle to seventy-that he
might occupy the mansion himself, and consign them to a small tenement in a retired part
of the village, where they could scarcely see
or be seen, at least by any but the authors of
their exile; nor by them as long as inclination 
or interest called them in another direction.
I have known the same young man proceed
a step farther, and having fairly ejected both
_       _ -~
I
i
I
III
ii
I
i
i 
I~f
DUTIES TO THE AGED.
parents from their much-loved mansion and
long-cherished home, dwell with so much and
such frequent interest on the benefits likely to
result to himself from their decease, as actually
to express a willingness to have them out of
the way; or, as he said, to have them freed
from their trials and troubles and infirmities.
Now, can it be possible that such a young
man has any right views of his duties to the
aged-especially to aged parents?  What!
bound to make the most of them at every step
of life, and yet practically make the least of
them he possibly can?
Does he not know they love the young?
That they live much in the past, and take
much delight in repeating the past? That in
order to dwell much in the past, they must
have constant access to that other extreme of
society, that lives and delights to live almost
wholly in the future? For the love of storytelling is not stronger in the old than the love
to hear stories is in the young, and God made
the two to go together. And what God has
joined together, will man presume to put
asunder'?
i.      _,
I
I 
I 
248     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Besides, the old are more healthy, much
more so, in the society of the young. They
need the stimulus of that society, much more
than when they were in active life. Then,
their minds were occupied. They were buying and selling, marrying or giving in marriage. They had something before them. Now
all these things are over with them; especially
when banished from the world to a corner of
a field, or some other secluded spot.
Let me entreat you, my young friends, to
make such arrangements as shall keep your
aged parents in the society of one or anotherseveral, if possible-of their children. It is a
duty you owe to them; but it is much more: it
is a duty you owe to yourselves. They have acquired a vast amount of experience which they
have not yet learned to transmit on paper, but
which will be of inestimable worth to you, if
you can obtain it. Now by enjoying their
society, and giving them an opportunity to
enjoy yours, you will afford them an opportunity, from time to time, to bring out, in the
form of stories, as I have already said, just
I
I
i
i
11
I
I
I 
DUTIES TO THE AGED.
that sort of information which you and your
children need, and in just the right shape.
It is sometimes said that the old cannot
be connected with the families of their children without exercising that freedom which
often results in a degree of uneasiness-to call
it by a name no worse-about the children.
All this I understand, most fully. But they
need not be in the same family with the
young in every particular, nor even in the
same house. They may retain-it is better that they should-the old mansion, and
you may build near them. We do not hear
of any quarrel between the families of Jacob
and Joseph on account of Joseph's children.
I have not yet mentioned one highly important reason why the young should make as
much as possible of the old. It is, that they
may have the full benefit of their judgment
in matters of business, &c. For, though the
young are apt to think they know more than
the old when they are at fifteen, they find
out their mistake at twenty, or twenty-five;
and that advice and guidance- and above
all that authority-which they would have
11*
i
i
i
i
i
1
1
249
I 
250     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
slighted then, they will now receive with thankfulness-and will even solicit it.
Startle not at the word authority, which has
just been used. It is only in the earliest years
of life that the parent should be an autocrat
in his family. In subsequent years, his commands must be such as will commend themselves to the free agency of those for whom
they are designed. But this species of authority does not cease-or rather should not-at
exactly twenty-one, as too many suppose. The
same species of authority which is proper at
sixteen, is proper at twenty-one; and that
which  is really needful at twenty-one, does
not entirely cease to be necessary at twentytwo, or twenty-five, or even thirty. In truth,
it remains as long as the parties remain in
existence.
But if parental authority, though it may
slightly wane, should not cease but with the
last pulsation of parental life, then it follows,
of course, that obedience, on the part of the
young, ought not to cease at an earlier period.
Authority on the one part implies submission
i
i
I
I
I
I
I 
DUTIES TO THE  A(;ED.
on the other, and of course cannot exist without it.
Such views as these-in these days of pseudo republicanism-may not, I know, be very
popular. But I have another thing to aim at
in these letters besides being popular. I am
to state the truth, according to my views of it,
without fear of losing favor, as well as without
an overweening desire to receive it. The truth
is, that insubordination has been the order of
the day, in these United States, and even in
this land of the Puritans; and the whole
length and breadth of society are infected by
it. And it is almost as much as a man's reputation is worth to set himself against it. Nor
will subordination be very soon restored, unless it can be done through the medium of the
family and the school; for the genius of our
government tends to perpetuate it.
i
I
I
i
i
i
l
i
I
I
i
i
, I
i
i
I 
LETTER XXIX.
POLITICS AND POLITICAL DUTIES.
WHILE the young need information at almost every step of life, I know of few things
in regard to which counsel is more neededthe counsel of old men, even-than on the
subject of their political conduct and duties.
Mankind, young and old, are so constituted
as to be prone to extremes. In departing from
Scylla, theare apt to fall on Charybdis. This
is especially the case in the matter of politics.
Here is a young man, for example, scarcely
in his teens, who knows more, in his own
estimation, by one half, than his neighbors of
thirty, forty, and fifty. He can discuss with
unblushing boldness the merits of all our presidential  and  gubernatorial  candidates.   He
knows because he knows, and if he can render
na reason it makes little difference to himself.
I
i
I
ii
i
i
i
i
i
i
I l,
I!
'I 
POLITICS-POLITICAL DUTIES.
est young man, disgusted with his
goes to the opposite extreme, and
haste, that he will have nothing to
itics; and ten to one but he carries
lto execution.  He falls as far short
course as the other goes beyond it.
ay happen occasionally, that the
politician of twelve or fifteen may
ome disgusted, and fall upon the
treme.  Such things have come unervation during the last fifty years,
ot have escaped the observation of
on why young men move in this
is, run from one extreme to another
ey have no conscience in the mat) good reason for supposing that
e.   They take up their opinions
trust, or by chance, and they hold
them as a mere matter of convenilsement.  In short, to them, politics
e than a game, into which they as
of carrying any thing in the shape
oe, as to a billiard-table or a checker
Ites
is little mor
|    little think
of conscienc
board.
i       
____  ____              ____________________        _____________                jj
I
I
I
I
i
ii
i
i
i
253
i
I
i
i
I 
-.7
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Need I say to the intelligent young men of
0our own intelligent republic, that all this is
wrong?  Need I remind you of the great truth
so often and so earnestly insisted on by Paul,
that whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever
we do, we are bound to do all to the glory of
God? This is, indeed, a rule for Christians;
but am I writing for any other?  Is there a
young man who reads one of my letters through,
who does not aclmknowledge the divine authority
of Christianity?
To do a thing to the glory of God, is to do it
in such a manner as will be acceptable to him.
It is to perform it as a matter of duty-not
without, but with a conscience. I entreat you
to remember this. Whatever is worth doing
in this world, is worth doing well. But to do
a thing well, we must regard ourselves as under obligations to high heaven to do it rightthat is, conscientiously.
You are to attend to your political duties in
the fear of God, and with a sense of accountability to him for the manner in which you discharge them, just as much as you are to go to
church in this way. But on this point do not
i
i
i
I
rum
ii   2541
No
Ioiir
!i          r~
I
I,I 
i
POLITICS-POLITICAL DUTIES.    255
misunderstand me. I am not placing your
duties to God and those to your fellow-men on
a par with each other. I have not the remotest
thought of doing so. All I mean to say is, that
duty is as truly duty in the one case as in the
other. It may be higher in the one case than
in the other-indeed, it is so-but then both are
equally duty; and, in their respective places,
equally binding.
But if the duties we owe to our fellow-beings
in the shape of political duties are to be thus
sacredly regarded, then it follows that they are
matters about which every young man ought
to be enlightened. He ought not to be permitted to grow to manhood in almost utter ignorance of this whole subject. And yet such is
the unhappy condition of most of our American young men!
This word American, to my own apprehension, speaks volumes. Young men of America
-free, enlightened, and comparatively happy
America- is it to you that I am permitted thus
to write?  Exalted privilege! may it never be
abused. And may you never, in the plenitude
of your freedom, find yourselves disposed to
I
I
i
i
i
Liw 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
make light of those counsels which, tho
they come from age, are yet warm from a h
that age has not yet chilled or contracted.
You are bound to make yourselves acqua
ed-familiarly so-with  the geography
history of your own country.  Is it said, 
at the present day, every one is thus instr
ed?  Not so fast.  The great majority of
young men know almost nothing, practice
about either.  They may have recited at
schools on both.  But their recitations h
been, for the most part, mere parrot wor
They were words of others, and not ideas
their own.
Some of you may be inclined to ask M
this thorough knowledge of the geography
history of one's own country has to do with
proper and conscientious discharge of our l
tical duties.  It has every thing to do wit
Why do you take a deeper interest in the 
fare of places you have resided in, or seen, t
in places which you never saw, and of wh
you have a very faint, or very crude con
tion?  Why would you sooner defend the
Is it not because they are to you realit
i
I
i
i
I
I
r
l
ii
i
il
i
ii!
i
I
i I
i
I
i
Il
I
I
i
I
I 1
iI
l
i
i
. i, ii
i i
I I
i
i ii
I I
I
11
em?
ies? I
i
I 
POLITICS-POLITICAL DUTIES.
Then become familiarly acquainted with the
whole country of which you are an inhabitant,
that all parts of it, and the interests of all parts
will be realities to you.
There is as great a difference between two
young men at the ballot-box-or in the battlefield, even, if battle-field there must be-one of
whom is thoroughly and practically a geographer, and the other grossly ignorant on this
whole subject, as can possibly be conceived.
The former is far more ready to have a due
regard to the rights of those who are to be affected by his conduct or his vote, than the latter. Nor is he as readily influencepd unduly by
the example or persuasion qf others. He cannot as readily be bought and sold.
Mankind, unintelligent and unprincipled, are
very much like the herding animals. They do
this or that because others do it, and not because it is right. They are thinking-if they
think at all-of their responsibility to those
around them, and not of their responsibility to
conscience and to God. They are far more
likely to ask, What will others say, than What
does God say? or Is it right?
I_
I
I
i
i
I
i
I
I
257
I
I
=il 
258    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
They go where their own clan, or party, or
sect, or neighborhood are going. If they do
not go to the polls at all, believing it to be a
matter of no consequence, many a young man
follows their example. If they go for a particular candidate or measure, it is sufficient,
they seem to say, if they do the same. If they
go to destruction, the young man who is uninstructed and unprincipled will be apt to go
with them.
But in proportion as a young man can be
made to acquaint himself with the geography
and history of his own country-especially
such a country as ours-he will be apt to take
an interest in its true welfare, not only as a
whole, but as composed of various and numerous parts. True, this is not all which is required of him. He must study the constitution
and laws of his country. I do not mean to say
he must devote his life to this study, for that
were impracticable, except his object were to
become a lawyer, a jurist, or a statesman.
Nor are these things all. Every young man
is under obligation to understand well the customs, habits, manners, and institutions of his
*i
|,I
I -    -    
POLITICS-POLITICAL DUTtES.   259
country. Travelling is indeed greatly useful
for this latter purpose; but then there are sub
stitutes for this. Others have travelled for us
and have given us the results of their observa
tion and reflections. And since no one young
man can do every thing, you will act the wise
part in consulting the best of our authorities
on the subject.
Do not tell me you have no time for making
yourself acquainted with the matters to which
I have referred; for it is not so. You may not
I am well aware, have as much time to spare
as might seem desirable. And yet you have
time enough to learn how to perform you
duty.
God is not a hard master-gathering where
he has not strewed-he requires nothing of you
in the way of duty, but what you have time
and ability to do. If he has given you the
right of suffrage, and required you to exercise
it under the light of the nineteenth century
and under the genius of institutions and con
stitutions like our own, he has given you time
to study those institutions and constitutions.
As one of your duties, in this life, you are to
L
I
i
iii
i
1
1
i!i
I
I I
i
i
i
,I
11
I 
260    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
"redeem your time."  Now how much time
have you hitherto suffered to run to waste in
reading which was wholly useless, and in conversation which was equally so? Understand
me, however. I am a friend to conversation
as a means of improvement, as well as to reading. But then there is not a little time spent
in conversation which amounts to just nothing
at all, except to amuse.
Such is most of the common conversation on
petty and party politics, of which so many
young men are excessively fond. It does not
qualify them in the slightest degree for the
performance of their duties as the free citizens
of a free country. Time thus spent I repeat
it-ought to be redeemed.
Nor is it to be redeemed by reading, ahy
more than by conversing on the little and be-littling things to which I have alluded, and which
fill so many of the columns of our newspapers
in these days.  It will require the efforts of
more than one generation of young men who
shall be true to themselves, their country, and
their God, to remove the evils which those
pests of society-worse than the scourges of
11
1
i
i
I
I 
POLITICS-POLITICAL DUTIES.   261
ancient Egypt-have inflicted on our land.
They have not only pandered to a miserable
taste, but they have created such a taste where
it did not before exist.
How can a true friend of his country repress
the emotions which are roused by the consideration of the abuses which have been heaped
upon us by-not the freedom of expression, but
-the licentiousness, and lightness, and sophistry, even, of some of these publications. Need
I urge you to shun their corrupting portions and
parts, as you would shun the plague or the
cholera, and to redeem your time because the
days are evil I
F.  -..-.
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
i
i
i
i
l
I!
I
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
i
1
I
i
I
I
I 
LETTER XXX.
FEMALE SOCIETY
THE Author of the world we live in might,
for aught we know, have arranged things very
differently. Instead of giving but one globe to
eight hundred or a thousand millions of our
race, he might have divided this larger globe
into a thousand million smaller ones, and
assigned one of these to each individual.
Then, again, instead of making provision for
successive generations of his creatures. he
might have formed them on the solitary plan,
and allowed them to live on,' sole monarch'
each of his own domain, for thousands-perhaps, thousands of millionsof years.
But such is not the Divine arrangementsuch, in our own terrestrial sphere, it never
will be. The decree has gone forth from the
i
i
i
i
i
1
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i 
FEMALE SOCIETY.
council chamber of the Eternal; It is not good
for man to be alone. It is not good for man
individually-it is not good for him collectively. The sum total of human happiness, no
less than of human usefulness, would be
greatly diminished if all mankind-whether
of one sex or two-were to live hermits.
Hence the necessity of the conjugal relation,
whose office is twofold-to complete the education of the parties themselves, and to be the
means of human progress and improvement
through another generation. Hence it is that
man shall leave father and mother and cleave
to his wife, and that the bond shall not only
be as strong as life itself, but as permanent.
Hence, in one word, the family and the family
state.
Man, divinely appointed to be a social and
not a solitary being, begins his career in the
family. Were it possible for him to be cast
forth on the wide world, like Caspar Hauser,
and yet survive, he would be but the mere
fragment of a being, and that fragment all
almost useless one. Rough, rude, boisterous,
and in one word but half-civilized-hewn, but
I
I
- -
263
I 
264    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
would very imperfectly fulfi
It is not good for him to be
f female influence, and hence
ted to it.
o n have any idea-the most
how much they owe to the
ers and sisters, especially the
nen at the best. and under
, are often coarse, passionate,
en would they have been
and sisterly influence?  If
e y burst those bonds which
nan  mild  and sociable to
d they be and do, if those
br than now, or above all if
isted?
mutually, of brothers and
l. From the days of Cairin,
r Abel to influence and to
to the present moment, the
e masculine have been ap to rule over, by a wise and
feebler and more feminine.
lence wholly on the6side of
sex.  There is a reciproca
i -  - - -
i
11
1 1
l
i
Il
just influence, the
Nor is the inflr
the more powerful 
FEMALE SOCIETY.
tion, and more than a reciprocation. Female
influence-that of the weaker party-and precisely for this reason that it is female influence,
is even stronger than any other.
Brothers, then, I say again, little know how
much they owe to the influence of sisters.
They would better know-though the experience might be a sad one-had not the Divine
mind planned the arrangement which we see
of nearly an equal number of brothers and sisters in each family. At least the exceptions
to this rule are so few as to constitute nothing
more than exceptions. Dr. Rush used to ask
those young patients who came to him with a
bodily constitution well nigh ruined, if they
had sisters.
Despise not, then, 0 ye young men-as some
of you affect to do-the other and weaker sex.
Remember they are all sisters-sisters of somebody whom they influence. Nay, more than
this, learn to esteem and love them. Lowel
them not, by word, look, deed, or thought, in
their own estimation.
On the contrary, do all in your power to increase rather than diminish their respect for
12
I
i
ii
i
I
i
i
I
i
II
I
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
iI
ji
i
I
I
i
i 
266    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
themselves, for so shall you take the most
direct course to elevate your own sex.
What if you are not brothers and sisters un
der the same father and mother? You are still
brethren and sisters of the same great family,
whose members, from East to West, and from
pole to pole, have one common interest. You
are in an important sense the children of the
same Heavenly Father.
What can be a more lovely sight than that
of brothers and sisters who truly love one
another, and who seek to elevate, adorn and
improve each other?  The sight is the more
interesting from the fact that the licentious
notions of Byron have been so frequently
swallowed by the young. They have heard
that every woman is at heart a rake, or something worse, till they have been almost led to
look with suspicion on their own sisters.
Happy those who have learned that the reverse of what is implied in the slander of
Byron were more true. For except in those
rare cases where the old adage that "a shameless woman is thie worst of men"  becomes
I
Ii
I 
~                     _
FEMALE SOCIETY.
applicable, woman is by nature not only less
rakish, but much purer than man.
I have inquired, what can be more lovely
than the sight of loving brothers and sisters
under the same roof. But there is a sight still
more interesting than even this. It is the sight
of those who have bound themselves together,
in the love and fear of the great Jehovah, for
life.
The former attachment partakes largely-it
is inevitable-of the instinctive; the latter is
more closely allied to heaven and divine things.
The former is apt to wane, as life passes on;
the latter ought to increase; and if what it
ought to be, does increase till life's termination.
It is one of the most curious of all the Divine arrangements for social life-this new
attachment of mankind to each other-precisely at the time and under the circumstances
which so imperiously require it. For what
would become of you, 0 young man! if it
were so that just at the precise period when
deprived of maternal and sisterly influence,
and endowed with new and strong passions
ifi  _            _
i
i
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I 
ml
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
and appetites, you were to be cut asunder forever from the soft and tender ties which have
hitherto bound you? In passing the Terra del
Fuego of human life who shall be your pilot?
Must you not experience a most dangerous and
fatal shipwreck?
And yet, just at this critical moment of your
life-this hour of great moral and social peril
-behold a new and tender passion springing
up, unlike that which bound you to the family
circle, and yet in many respects more important. Who is so blind as not to see, in this
part of the Divine arrangement, the most
boundless wisdom and the most infinite love?
And, if susceptible of gratitude at all, in
whose heart does not gratitude spring up,
while he contemplates this amazing proof that
a Father is at the helm of the universe, "educing good from ill," and blessing all who
refuse not the blessing?
And now will any young man, whose heart
is not like the nether millstone, permnit himself
to eye askance, and above all with disdain,
that sex which was so manifestly designed in
the good providence of God, not only to save
I
I
i
i
i 268
I
11
i
I 
K
FEMALE SOCIETY.
him from perdition, but to lift him to the dignity
of his real nature?
You love your mothers and sisters; be exhorted then to show your love to them, by securing in your own time and God's, such influences as shall carry out and perfect the great
work which your mothers and sisters have
begun.  In one word, seek the companionship
of one who shall prove to you more than mother
and sister both, and that for life.
You will not have to live to the age of fifty
years, in the present aspect of society and
things, (as some of your predecessors have been
compelled to do,) before you can spell out the
true philosophy of society, and the true ends
of conjugal life. God is showing the nations
of the earth-and you cannot shut your eyes
to the great lesson-that the world's true advancement is to be brought about cllefly by
means of individual, family, and neighborhood
or church improvement.
Governments have no power-the best of
them-to reform mankind and hasten the latter
day glory. Their power is always in proportion-as regards both quantity and quality-to
i
269 
270    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
individual and family elevation. It is so every
where; but it is especially so in our own
country
i
I
I
II
I
I
l
i
i
i
I
i __ 
LETTER XXXI.
GENERAL DUTY OF MARRIAGE.
IN my last letter, I promised you something
more on the great subject to which I then
called your attention. My present purpose is
to redeem, in part at least, the pledge there
given.
I have more than intimated in that letter,
that matrimony is a duty, and I mean so. It
should be regarded as such by both sexes, but
especially by our own.  It is a divine ordinance-as old almost  as the creation.  If
order is heaven's first law, as Pope says, it
does not seem to be earth's. The first genieral
law here is, that man shall "leave father and
mother, and cleave to his wife."
The  Scriptures do not say, I grant, that
i
i
I
11 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
marriage shall take place at twenty or twenty
five, or thirty, or at any particular age. The
general rule, I again affirm, is, that we shall
marry.   Like other general rules,  however,
it may, nay must admit of exceptions. Some
there are, no doubt, that ought not to marry,
on  account of health.   And  there may  be
other circumstances in operation, for a time at
least, equally imperative.
I would not lay so much stress on this point
-the duty of the young to "lay their course"
for marriage, were it not that some very excellent persons of both sexes have stoutly denied
the doctrine, and insisted that if we are free to
do as we please in any thing, it is here. Now,
I do not deny that we are free, even to do
wrong. The Creator has never as yet made a
decree for man that hinders him from doing
what he pleases-probably he never will. We
may, if we choose, refrain from eating and
drinking, and starve ourselves to death, but
starvation, we may be sure, forms no part of
the plan of the Creator. He made us to eat
and drink, and live. So also, he made us for
matrimony.
I
iV
I
272
i
1i
II
ii 
MARRIAGE.
The motives to this duty, strong as they
y be, are none too powerful.   Appetite,
action,  passion,  ambition,  fancy-all of
m  seem  to be needed.   They  seem inded by  the Creator.  Not, of course, to
e; but to have a subordinate place.  Nor
suld they be too excitable.
There is a wide difference between strength
1 excitability-and generally, in the case
ore us, they are in an inverse proportion to
h other.  In plain terms, the greater the
itability, the feebler the appetites and pasns; and the greater the strength, on the
Ltrary, the less the excitability.
For notwithstanding the whole array of
tives to this duty of matrimony, we  see
usands and millions in the Old World, and
te too many in the New, who set themves against it.  In some of our cities, for
mple, like Paris, marriage would seem to
almost unfashionable, and celibacy to have
splied its place.  And this state of things
l1 soon exist in our own country, unless the
y ng can be thoroughly imbued with correct
nciples on this important subject.
12*
r —
i
i
i
i
i
I
i I
I I
I
i
I!
i
i
i
i
273
i
i
I
I
Il
pri
i
I 
274    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
Some shelter themselves under the plea that
matrimonial life is so expensive that they
cannot maintain it. Once, they say, married
life was as cheap as celibacy, for woman was
both able and willing to do her part; whereas,
now-a-days, most women are either unable or
unwilling to do any thing towards supporting
a family. Woman, they say, marries now to
be maintained; not to help to maintain others.
Others dread the cares and responsibilities
which  attach to this state of life.   They
might support one person besides themselves,
they say; but as for supporting half-a-dozen
or a dozen more, they cannot for one moment
think of it. And it cannot be right, they suppose, to be at the head of a family and not
take care of it.
Others again dread the confinement. God
made me to be free, it is said-as free as the
air. I enjoy that freedom; and if I am not
very useful in the world, I am sure I do no
harm. And now shall I sign away this golden
privilege? Shall I confine myself to home all
my  days?   Shall  I not, on the contrary,
remain free, as God made me?
I
1
i
I
I
i
i
I
i
I
Ii 
MARRIAGE.
Others, still, speak of the risk they run.
"Marriage is at best but a lottery, in which
there are many more blanks than prizes. And
when the chance of an even match is so
small, and the prospects of an ill-adapted, illassorted, unhappy selection, so numerous,
why should I dare to adventure? Surely, if
we must be miserable, it is better to be miserable alone."
And there are, lastly, those who speak of
the evils of perpetuating disease. They have
heard that consumption, scrofula, and many
more diseases may be transmitted; nay, that
the mere bringing together of striking peculiarities, has a tendency that way. But they
have heard again, that almost every body is
affected by inheritance in some way. And
now, say they, what shall we do? You
desire us to marry; and yet advise us to avoid
the sickly. Is not this to advise, where compliance is impossible?
Now these objections are all of them specious, and a few of them weighty. True, they
can be met, and most of them can be shown to
be more specious than solid; but to the young,
I
iI
i
i
I
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
I
i
I
I
.I
I
i
I
275 
276    LETTERS O'0 YOUNG MEN.
some of them seem formidable. Let us see,
then, to what, in reality, they amount, and how
great the difficulty is which, to the young, appears so well nigh insurmountable.
Is it true, then, that the wife does not, in
modern times, aid in bringing up a family?
Does the whole burden devolve on the husband? Or if it is so now, must it continue to
be so? If woman is a slave to foolish and
hurtful fashions, is there no release? Can she
not return at once to those simple habits and
customs which prevailed in the last century,
and which permitted woman to act her part in
matrimonial life, as well as her husband?
You will say, perhaps: But women, now,
have not strength for this. Some, yes, many,
have not, I grant; but if they can have a little
respite firom a constant round of drudgery,
which is as unreasonable as it is silly, there is
hope they may recover their vigor. Besides,
there are a few among us who have as yet
tolerable constitutions.
And as to care, it is "the stuff that life is
made of." More among us are sufferers because they do not have care enough, than be
[, 
7
MARRIAGE.
cause they have too much. Multitudes there
are who, if they had somebody to care for,
would not prey upon themselves as they now
do.  I acknowledge there is such a thing as
being care-worn; but, upon my word  I find
fewer care-worn persons in matrimonial life,
than in " single blessedness."
You speak of the risk to be run. This may
be greater or less, according to circumstances.
If you are governed by wise principles in the
selection of a partner for life, the risk is not so
great as you may suppose. If reason and
judgment predominate over fancy, your success
will, after all, be something more certain that
of drawing a prize in a lottery!
In forming an estimate of character, for example, you must not expect to come at truth
in the concert, or at the ball, or the assemblyroom. Here there is, practically, a mask drawn
over every thing.  To know a person thoroughly, as she truly is, you must see her at home,
in the domestic circle. Would you know her
temper, you must observe itg trials in small
matters rather than larger ones. Thousands
mistake here, and vainly suppose they under
i
i
11
l
l
277
I' 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
stand character, when a borrowed part is acted
rather than a real one. It is much easier to
govern ourselves on a few great occasions,
than in the thousand and one smaller items, of
which real practical life is so essentially and so
extensively made up.
And, in the next place, you must study
adaptation more than young men usually do.
It is not by any means necessary that you and
your companions should be alike in any thing
except general purpose or aim. But it is indispensably necessary that there should be
mutual adaptation to each other in a great variety of particulars. Some are of more, (that is,
standing by themselves,) others of less importance.
There should be adaptation, physically. One
should not be many years older than the other.
Not only does much physical, but much social
and moral evil, result from inattention to this
circumstance. Most men, especially bachelors,
are apt to prefer a companion in life, who is
considerably younger than themselves; and,
strange to say, not a few females prefer those
who are older than they.
I
Fi
i
ii
I 
MARRIAGE.
On the other hand, if one party is tall, experience appears to direct that the other should
be rather short; and if one is corpulent, that
the other should be comparatively lean. It is
still more important that if one be habitually
too grave-an error by no means uncommon
in this world-the other should be habitually
mirthful.
Intellectual adaptation is of little less importance than physical. The one party should
make up, so to speak, for deficiencies in the
other. I do not mean to say that we should
turn Mohammedans, and regard women as
made only to complete man, or as having no
separate, independent existence. And yet it is
somewhat as if it were so. Men and women
as they now exist, are but mere fragments of
human beings, and it requires at least two of
them to make up any thing like a decent
whole.
Moral and religious adaptation deserves to
be considered among the rest. Some have
been inclined wholly to omit this subject, in
forming an estimate of the character of one
whom they would select for life's journey.
ifi-        -_
I
I
I
I 
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN
This seems to me no part of true wisdom.
There must not only be charity in regard to
differences of opinion, but the difference must
not be too great at first setting out. otherwise
there will be danger of collision.
And then, finally, those who make the foregoing objections to matrimony, should remember that however plain they may come up
before the mind's eye, they must be still more
plainly seen by God himself, who  ordained
matrimony. If, then, in view of all these difficulties, God has said, It is not good for man
to be alone, and no repeal has ever been uttered, who shall withstand God?  What God has
joined together, most surely man may not put
asunder.
Besides, the God who ordained matrimony,
ordained also the existence of those who are to
engage in it. He made them human beings,
too, and not angels. And in assigning them
their duty, he has nowhere required more of
them than they are able to perform. Ini selecting a companion for life, we are but to do the
best we can.  And
280
I
I
I
i
i
I 
I
MARRIAGE.
"Who does the best his circumstance allows,
Does well; acts nobly-angels could no more."
One thought more. I have barely alluded
to age. The popular doctrine at present is,
that we should marry young. I admit its
truth, but what is young? In some states of
society, twenty-five or thirty would be regarded as such; in others, young would mean
twventy or eighteen.
This is a great and an important question.
I have barely room to say that I consider
twenty-five to twenty-eight, in our own sex,
as young enough; and twenty-two to twentyfive, in the other sex. Some, however, are as
mature, physically, mentally, and morally, at
twenty-five, as others are at twenty-eight. No
young man is physically mature much sooner
than twenty-five.
Perhaps I owe you an apology, my young
friends, for the familiarity with which I treat
you and my subject. In a better state of society-one in which fathers did their whole
duty-such instruction, from such a source,
1
i
'I
281
II 
282    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
would not be demanded. Unite, then, your
prayers and labors with mine, that such a
state of society may one day exist; nay, even
that so golden a period mav not be far distant.
L      __ __
ii
i
l
I;
Il
11
I 
LETTER XXXII.
RELIGION AND SKEPTICISM.
MANY of you have seen a volume which made
its appearance some years since, entitled, "In
fluence of Religion on Health," by a physician
of eminence, containing not a few wholesome
truths and important suggestions. And yet, so
much has the worthy author confounded false
religions with the true, and the abuse of Chris
tianity with its advantages, that you may have
risen from the perusal of the work with 
stronger tendency towards skepticism, that
you had when you sat down. If these are
the influences which religion exerts-you may
have said to yourselves then, the less we
have to do with it, the better.
Young men, in this country, are naturall]
I
I.i
I
i
I
i
I
I
i
I.
ii
I
I
I
I 
284    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
inclined to skepticism. The genius of our institutions favors this tendency; that is, it does
so indirectly. Not that there is more skepticism abroad in regard to religion, than in regard to many other things, especially medicine;
perhaps not so much-still, there is such a
tendency. The freedom of our civil institutions, leads to free thinking.   Men  cast off
many opinions in which they were educated,
because they seem to them utterly unfounded;
ply because they were educated
i in passing from one extreme,
to go suddenly to another.  In
la, they fall on Charybdis.
ch a community, with such tenthe "Influence of Religion on
h t an increase of skepticism.  It
work which, in all probability,
tended.  But the impressions it
blic mind-so manifestly erroneeptible of being removed, and
Religion, pure and undefiled-in
Christianity, in its influences on
and happiness-is very far from
rable.  On the contrary, as can
II
I i
11
ii
II
!I
I
i
i
i
I
ii
human health
I
ii being unfavor
I
IL — 
RELIGION AND SKEPTICISM.
be easily shown and clearly demonstrated,
godliness is as profitable to this life, as it is for
the life to come. And if so, instead of rendering us skeptical, it ought to diminish our skepticism, by affording us one more internal proof,
that religion is divine. For, can such a result
or tendency, in a world like ours, be a matter
of mere chance or hap-hazard? Is there no
proof here, of design-nay, more, of benevolent
intention?
Let us consider, in the first place, the tendencies of repentance and faith on our present
well-being. I take these first, because it is
these to which the gospel of our Lord and Saviour first directs our special attention.
In taking the ground that repentance is favorable to health and happiness here, I shall
doubtless be met at once by the inquiry: But
does not repentance for sin, involve grief and
self-loathing, and other feelings of the depressing kind? And can long-continued grief be
healthful? The reply to this inquiry is, that
the best part of repentance is reformation. It
is not necessary, in the nature of things, as
God has established them, that we should con
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
285      i
i
i
i
I
i
I 
286      LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
tinue to grieve always; if it were so, the result
would most certainly be unfavorable.  To live
permanently and habitually under the in  fluence of any of the depressing passions,
must ever be injurious both to body and soul.
So that, after all, to repeat the statement-the
best, and indeed the principal part of repent  ance, is reformation. The essential meaning
of the foreign word whence the verb repent is
derived, implies, as its leading idea, the act of
turning.  And to repent of sin, is to turn away
from it.
Now, who that has read the catalogue of
vices which Paul makes out against the Ori  entals-and our modern catalogue would not
be shorter-before their repentance, will doubt
for a moment, whether or not the turning away
from these is favorable to health? Can it, by
possibility, be otherwise than that to break
away from licentiousness, intemperance, and
anger, is to promote health and longevity, and
thus to add to human happiness?
But if repentance is healthful and salutary,
faith is much more so. The faith or confidence
of infancy and childhood in parental love, can 
RELIGION AND SKEPTICISM.
hardly be over-estimated; and whether it have
much or little resemblance to the faith of the
child of God-that faith by which Abraham, at
the command of his heavenly Father, went
out, not knowing whither he went is as certainly salutary to the body as it is to the soul.
So is that common faith or confidence which
men have in the constitution of things-or
what we sometimes call nature. The agriculturist who sows or plants his field in full faith,
i. e. in full expectancy of a crop, is all the
healthier for it. The merchant who, with the
same faith, commits his ships to the seas, is a
healthier man, other things being equal, than
he who is faithless. Such men have a better
circulation of the blood have better lungs,
brain, nerves, skin, &c.-than other men, as
could be demonstrated.
I know of few things that can conduce more
to happiness in this life than faith. It is not
merely that it favors bodily health, and thus
conduces to longevity, but it tends to bring the
mind and soul into that tranquil state for which
thousands and thousands sigh in vain. The
wicked are as the troubled sea. says the Scrip
i
i
i
I
1
1
I.
I
l
i
I
287
1:
I,,
11
i
i
i'
i 
L ETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
ture; and so are the faithless and skeptical.  I
have been acquainted with many skeptics; and
have waded through the wide sea of infidelity
myself; and yet I can truly say, I never knew
of any peace to the mind under this sort of
"wickedness."
Men of this description generally say they
are at peace; but facts prove that it is otherwise.
I do not refer here to their peace in death, so
much as to their peace in life. As men live, so
they generally die. It is not true, always, that
death-beds are honest places, as many pretend.
They are true, generally, to the life. If the
life has been an honest life, the death will be
equally so.  If it has been a peaceful life, its
termination will usually be peaceful.  If faith
has predominated during life, it will prevail in
the hour of death.
It is, however, the influence of principles or
practices, or opinions on our lives, and not on
our deaths, that I have principally to do with.
And I say again, that a life of skepticismeven of skepticism in regard to parents, the
laws or results of nature &c.-is a most per
~            __     __
!,
...........I
288 
RELIGION AND SKEPTICISM.
may have been exceptions to the truth of this
remark; but then, too, they may not have
been.   There was  a restlessness,  at times,
about the latter-a sort of desperation-that
does not seem much like the peace of the gospel. Admit, however, the most that is claimed
for them, in this respect; and yet they stand
nearly alone. Besides, these men seem not to
have been wholly destitute of that common
faith to which I have adverted; and this must
have greatly modified their skepticism in regard to God and things heavenly and divine.
But, for one skeptic like Hume and Voltaire,
we have thousands and tens of thousands of
smaller ones, who, while they have no confidence in any thing in the heavens above, have
little more in what pertains to the earth beneath. Little more, did I say? They have
not half as much. There is vastly more skepticism in regard to ourselves and those around
us, and especially in regard to nature and nature's laws, than there is in regard to a higher,
and, as it is usually believed, a more culpable
kind.
To illustrate. Voltaire, in early life, could
13
i
i
i
i
I
I
I
I
289 
290    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN
invest his money in slaves and trust them to
the winds and the ocean, and the chances of
trade in a capricious market-and he could do
it in confidence or faith. I do not say that he
had no misgivings-that he never for one moment doubted whether the elements might not
conspire against him, or at least, whether the
winds might not blow unpropitiously; for this
were more than could be expected of humanity. But I do mean to say, that with every
drawback, and every deduction, his common
faith in common things, was in large measure.
I do not know how it may have been in this
particular with Hume; but I repeat it, one
thing I do know-it is not so with skeptics in
general. They are the last men to trust, or be
trusted.  Doubting  and distrusting  heaven,
they doubt and distrust every thing else. They
are timid, fearful, irresolute and capricious.
They are fretful, moreover, beyond other men.
There is fretfulness enough every where; but
it grows in richest profusion in the hot-bed of
practical skepticism.  Would  a young man
avoid the world of fietting, let him have faith,
even though it were but worldly faith. Let
I
1'S
Il
i
I
i
i
l
il 
RELIGION AND SKIEPTICISM.
him add, however, to his worldly faith, as a
cap to the climax, the faith of the gospel.
I have alluded to fretfulness. By this I do
not so much refer to those outbursts which, like
Etna and Vesuvius, do large but temporary
mischief, as to that internal fretfulness, or continual anxiety and worry with which our
earth is filled. Even the professed disciple of
Jesus Christ, too often comes much short of the
faith and quiet of his great Master. Never
such faith as His, and never such peace-such
freedom from fretfulness, both internal and
external.
For, when and where did our great Master
manifest fear and trembling, lest the weather
should be unfavorable-too hot or too cold;
too wet or too dry; or lest winds, seas, or markets, should disappoint his expectations?
When and where did he not encourage the
same faithfulness in others? Nay, when or
where did he neglect to rebuke this same
want of faith in those around him? Was it
on the sea of Galilee alone that he said to the
over-anxious, 0 ye of little faith? Was he
not equally bent on portraying this ever-ap
ii
i
I
I
iI
I
II
i
r
-i
i
291
i
i
I
I 
tl
LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
pearing skepticism, when on the Mount he
said to his disciples: Be not anxious (i.e.
over-anxious) what ye shall eat, or what ye
shall drink?
In this respect, no less than in others, is the
young man of Nazareth worthy of being your
model. Happy, if you attain, in any good
measure, to his divine image. Happy if you
have but the tithe of his practical faith. It
will be profitable both in this lite and that
which is to come.
Paul was a most eminent instance of the
same virtue. For it cannot have escaped the
notice of the most unobserving, that he was
full of faith-at least, common faith-before
he became a disciple of Him whom at first he
opposed. It was his faith in God and nature
-and finally in God's own  Son-that made
him one of the most healthy, vigorous, self-de nying, enduring and happy men the world ever
saw.
No wonder the Bible-writers lay so much
stress on faith. No wonder the Apostle Paul
recounts with so much pleasure the doings
and sufferings of those who were stoned, torn
I
292
I 
_
RELIGION AND SKEPTICISM.
asimder, tempted, slain with the sword-who
wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins,
being destitute, afflicted, tormented, scourged,
shipwrecked, killed all the day long, &c.of whom, as he says, the world was not worthy. No wonder he was himself a host in the
cause of man and of God. So would every
young man be, with Paul's repentance and
faith, especially the latter. And well might
the Apostle affirm to Timothy, that godliness
hath promise of the life that now is, no less
than of that which is to come.
~    _ _
i
i
I
293
i 
LETTER XXXIII.
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
IT is not possible to mistake, when we
say that our young men are inclined to slpticism. The genius of our institutions, and
the geneial tendencies of things, favor such a
result. Nor is it the part of wisdom to come
down upon the young, in a species of vengeance, because they entertain doubts on
religious subjects. It were wiser to take a
different course. Let us rather, in the language of holy writ, "reason together."
Nothing is more common than the remark
that belief is safe, because if the truths believed in should prove to be but the "baseless
fabric of a vision "-a mere delusion-the
delusion is a pleasant one; and we shall, at
least, be as well off in the great fiuture as the
I i
I
i
I
I'
l
11 
___           -   -p
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
opposer of Christianity; whereas, if religion
should be true, we shall of course be safe.
Now, such remarks as these, however common,
appear to me not only idle, but despicable.
One who was far from being very orthodox in
his sentiments has said, "An honest man's the
noblest work of God"-what, then, of a dishonest man? And what but dishonestydownright hypocrisy-is it to pretend to believe what we do not believe, under thq idea
that it is safe?  Safe to be dishonest-hypocritical?  Perish such a sentiment!  Let it
revert to the bottomless pit, whence it came!
If our religion-the Christian religion-be
true, it ought to be sustained by proper evidence.   If otherwise, if it cannot be thus
sustained, then I, for one, say to every young
man in the world, Reject it. God never meant
you should receive that which you honestly
think unworthy of your reception. You may
not, indeed, have examined the evidence he
has placed in your way;  and herein may be
culpable.  But I say again, it would be the
strange administration of a still stranger sovereign, who should so arrange things as to
l
l
I
I'
a!i~
295 
296    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
require his subjects to believe against their
honest convictions, after a perfect and candid
investigation.
If it can be shown, to the entiue satisfaction
of my readers, that the doctrines, duties and
graces of Christianity, in their practical application to daily life, as well as its institutions
(when not perverted), are as beneficial to the
body as to the soul-favorable, in short, to
man's every interest, here and hereafter, is
there not, even in this, an indication of its
divine origin?
We have seen, in former articles, that the
repentance and faith to which the Gospel calls
us, are not unfavorable to human health and
longevity-and that the latter is even highly
favorable. But the Gospel requires us to add
to our faith a long list of other qualities ol
virtues-such as love, hope, peace, joy, tem
perance, purity, doing good, &c. It sanctions
marriage, the church, the Sabbath, religious
training, and indeed whatever may be said to
be pure, lovely and of good report.
Now, if it could happen by any remarkable
coincidence, that though Christianity was a
l
I
i
i
I
i
ii
i
I
iI
| l
I1
i] 
I
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
fable or humbug, yet some one or two of
these-as faith and repentance-were favorable to health and longevity, it could hardly
happen that the whole list which I have enumerated would be. Such an agreement would
be more than chance or hap-hazard. It would
be the harmony of truth; and would be a
strong argument, a very strong one, in favor
of our religion.   Indeed it seems to me an
argument which few, if any, would attem'npt
to gainsay or resist.
And yet it can be shown, most clearly, that
all the virtues above, as enjoined or sanctioned
by Christianity, together with its doctrines and
institutions, are as favorable to the happiness
of mankind, even in this life, as if this state
of probation were all; as if our motto should
everywhere be, "Let us eat and drink," let us
enjoy the present moment, "for to-morrow we
die." It is not repentance and faith alone, but
the whole list of elevating affections and passions. It is every thing, in short, which tends
to make us representatives of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ.
I shall be met here, I know, with the
13*
I
I
I
i
I
I
i
i
i
I
i
297
I
i
.......I —----- , I 
298       LETTERS TO YOUNG  MEN.
common objection-How happens it, then, if
the graces, virtues and institutions of Christianity are favorable to health, that so many
of those who profess to be influenced by it,
especially its ministers, are gloomy, sickly, or
short-lived?
But this objection assumes two things as
true which are manifest errors. First: it confounds the profession of piety with the practice of it, whereas it is too well known that
they do not always go together. Second: It
takes for granted that there is an efficacy in
piety to restore immediate health and cheerfulness, which none of its most zealous advocates would claim. Besides, it assumes, as
proved, what some may well be supposed to
deny, and what has certainly never yet been
proved, that the piety of gospel ministers re?tders them sickly.
For nothing is plainer, with regard to Christian ministers, than that they are badly educated.  The world is, indeed, full of miseducation-but on no class do its evils fall so
unsparingly as on ministers.   They are selected while mere boys, as a very general fact,
l1
I
i 
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
from the ranks of the nervous, the scrofulous,
the consumptive or the dyspeptic. And then
their treatment through their whole course, is
just such as it should be if those who direct
their destiny were fully determined to set all
physical law at defiance. And yet, in spite
of all this, we have a few healthy ministers;
and more than a few who have health enough
to render them  exceedingly useful in their
profession. Perhaps, as a whole, they are
nearly as healthy as most other classes of
men, in spite of all the unfavorable tendencies
by which they are surrounded.
And as to common Christians, it should not
be forgotten that, for the most part, the voice
of mercy is not heard by them till their health,
though it may have been tolerable by inheritance, is ruined, or nearly so, by the various
forms of physical and moral transgression to
which they have been more or less subjected.
It is not for Christianity, in these latter days
at least, to perform miracles. It does not take
possession of the individual in a pure or
healthy state, but takes him as he is, deformed
and diseased by sin, and strives to make him
I
I
i
II
i
I
Ii
I
I
i
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
i
i
i
I
I
i
i
I
299 
300    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
better.  But the changes it works are not, in
every instance, very rapid. The improvement
it proffers is for the race, rather than for the
individual. If in tile present generation, but
two per cent. be gained, it is very much.  The
next generation, with the same efforts, means
and principles, can gain five per cent.; the
next ten, and so on. All-powerfutl as piety is,
and even all healthy as it is, it can hardly
elevate those angles of the mouth which have
been depressed for a score or two of years by uin,1
governable passions or by continued fretfulness.
Nor can it smooth the brow that, by the same
causes, has been knit for years in wrinkles
and frowns. Nor can it change in a moment
or a month that temperament, which, once
happily balanced between the sanguine and
l
nervous, has become deeply tinged, even to
bilious disease, by a predominance of the an    gry passions.
While, therefore, I claim for religion the
Christian religion I mean, of course-a power
almost unlimited in its tendencies to health, I
do not, I again say, claim for it any thing
miraculous.  All I maintain and hold myself
i
I
I
I.
I
i
11
I i
II
I!
i i
1:
ii
i
; i
I i
I
I!
i11
i
Ii 
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
competent to prove is,
and the tendency of
health, and every fort
It is not given us
equally useful to live
would need one me
possess of its superio
ism, or even Paganism
it be healthy and
virtue and every pre
the well-being of the
soul, then we have an
not to be found elsew
I have already said, i
I am the more parti
ment as above, becau
and also because the
every instance correc
thor of "The Influene
whom I quoted in a
professed  believer  i]
founded Christianity
its abuses, and even
with the tru(, as to
perhaps unintended i]
perhapsunintended!impession,thathela
i
i
I
I
I
I
I
11
ii
i
II
I
i
i
I
I
i
I!
,I, 
'i 
302    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
itself was not healthful, but the contrary.
And I most fully believe that the effect
of this very learned and ingenious work,
was to produce a very general belief in the
minds of a multitude of the young, that the
whole matter was one of very doubtful utility,
so far, at least, as this world's happiness is
concerned; that if religion is useful to die by,
it is of little consequence-rather none at allto live by. In other words, its tendency was,
as I conceive, to infidelity.
~~  ~~~~ ~~~..__,   _ 1
I
I
i
I
i
i
i
ii
I
i
I
i
I
ll
I
I
I
I 
LETTER XXXIV.
DEATH AND FUTURITY.
THERE has been almost as much speculation
on the subject of death as on that of life. Philosophy, physiology, mesmerism and morality,
have all failed to tell us what either is. The
only satisfactory information we seem to have
concerning them, is derived from the Scriptures.
One thing we do know, however, that both
are-that we live, and that we die.  Whether
originally designed to live a hundred, a thousald, or ten thousand years-or whether to
die at all-is not the question. All that are
now on the stage of human existence-all that
have been born —must sooner or later die. It
is a warfare from which there is no discharge.
i  Some tell us that the time, manner, place,
i
i
i
I
I
I
i 
304    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
&c., of our death, are of no conseq
as we live, so we shall die.  Tha
well we shall die well; but that if
we must die ill.  At least this is, 
the general rule.
Others make every thing of t
stances connected with death.  Th
a person's spiritual worth almost
the manner of his exit. If he dies i
or fear, they set him down as a bad
if he dies joyfully-in expectation o
then there is hope in his death.
Just views on this subject woul
lead us midway between these two
It is true on the one hand, that 
so are we apt to die; but it is eq
that a happy death-bed is desira
does not love to see the sun set 
Who does not love to be happy
others happy in all the circumst
events of existence-and is not de
them?
I counsel you, my dear friends, t
just views of death and dying.
may cast a gloom over your feelin
I]
il!
tances and
ath one of
to entertain
Not that it
zns; but for 
DEATH AND FUTURITY.
the very reason that it may not. It is not they
who never think of death-but always shrink
from it-during life, that die with the most
composure; but those as a general rule who
make it a subject of frequent reflection.
Death is not, of course, the blotting out of
any of our powers. It is, at most, a change.
Job calls it a change of countenance. Is it
much more?  We are not sure-uite surethat even the body ceases to be. Most look
for a resurrection-the reunion of soul and
body-and not a few suppose they are to have,
in the resurrection, not merely a body, but the
body;-the very same body which they lay
down in the grave.
I shall not of course enter upon any discussion of this great subject, though it might be
interesting. All I contend for now, is, that
death is only a change; and so far as we can
see, a slight one. It is merely the putting on
of immortality.  It is, as it were, the fabled
Styx which we must cross. It is the gate
that leads to the celestial city-at least if ever
we arrive there. It opens to us the portals of
_I
i
I
I
l
305 [i 
306    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
the eternal world, whether we are to be happy
there, or miserable.
I have said that death is a change-but of
what? Is it a change of character, or even
accompanied or immediately followed by any
such change? This is a belief into which
some young men fall. But beware of such a
fallacy. As the tree falls, so it lies; whether
towards the north or towards the south, where
it falls, there it shall be.
Many solace themselves, now-a-days, with
the idea that a great and beneficial change
passes upon all men, as soon as they "pass the
bounds of time and space." But is it necessary for me to say that such a notion accords
as ill with reason, as with Revelation? Need
I repeat what I have said elsewhere, that no
miracle will be wrought at death, or subsequently, to make you fit for a state of happiness for which you have not with God's help
already prepared yourselves?
Is death a change of place? This we cannot certainly know. The idea of passing the
bounds of time and space, in the last paragraph, is a poet's idea, and not a Christian's.
~  _       _
i
ii
1
i
I
i
i
i
i
i
i
iI
i
ii
I
I
ii
i
I
i
i
j
i
I
I 
-— I!
DEATH AND FUTURITY.
~
We know not whether heaven and hell are all
around us, so to speak,-a world within a
world —as chariots and horses were  round
about the man in the days of Elijah and Elisha, though he saw them not till his eyes were
opened; and we know not, on the other hand,
but there are literally mansions for the blessed
as well as dungeons or pits for the miserable.
Our modern theology that would teach us
heaven and hell are holy and unholy characters- states, and  not places-may be little
more true than that of a thousand years ago,
which taught of streets literally paved with
gold on one hand, and a literal lake of fire on
the other. Future ages may learn, perchance,
not to be wise on this subject, above what is
written.
Let us, then, return to our first position.
"Thou changest his countenance, and sendest
him away," said the ancient; and this is
nearly all which is known of change at death
to the moderns. The mode of our existencethe externals of it-are changed; let us stop
at this point, and study humility before we
proceed further.
307
i
i
i
i
i
I
I
ii!
I
i
i 
Th    _ __ __
308    LETTERS TO YOUNG MIEN.
ne thing we do know, however, that we
made susceptible of everlasting and inconc able progress, both intellectually and morr-it may be physically.   And what we
made capable of, we have sufficient motive
become.  We  know not yet what we shall
said the beloved John to his spiritual breth.  And  may  I not, in my  own humble
ere and way, say the same thing to you?
You are ambitious;-I had almost said, you
ht to be. Certainly you were made to soar
at in pursuit of something.   Your noble
ure was never given that you might creep
the serpent and lick the dust.   "Man
st soar," said the poet Young.   And is it
so?  Is he worthy the name of man who
o degraded as not to desire to rise, and rise,
rise, where Gabriel and Raphael, in their
upard flight, are yet strangers?  But I have
1 enough of this in other letters.
This is a world of preparation; a world
ere we are to learn the first rudiments of
art of flying amid the hosts of heaven, and,
connected by faith with the Author of the
istian scheme, of rising higher than any
i as e
Chr 
DEATH AND FUTURITY.
other created beings. Here we are first to
spread those pinions, which after death are to
become free and full of immortality.
Now every act of your lives, however small,
bears in this view upon your eternal progress
in know4edge and happiness. It is, however,
one thing to know, and quite another to love
and obey, and enjoy the reward of obedience.
It is one thing to fly upward, with increasing
speed through everlasting ages, a missionary
of good to all; and another to fly into thicker
and yet thicker darkness and ignominy,
through ages interminable, dragging downward at the same time as many others as you
can. Satan knows enough-but alas! Satan
is Satan still, despite of knowledge. He has
been so for thousands of past years, he will
doubtless be so for thousands of ages to
come.
Will you not, then, think much concerning
the future?  I do not ask you to think much
of death, though I dare not counsel you to
overlook it.  But I ask you-I urge youmainly to think of life. Oh, this Life! I
sometimes wonder what death is, and heave a
I
i
I
i
i
i
I
I
i
1
i
I
i
i
i
i
I
I
i
i
i
I
I
1i
ii
i 
310     LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
sigh on account of it.  For once, however,
that I think of death, and sigh, I think a
hundred times of life.  Oh, the responsibility
of living-and of living on eternally-and of
eternally living for others!
Have you thought much on this subject?
You have thought no doubt of California.
You have even thought of going thither.  But
why?  Is it not because you seek happiness?
And yet it is a long way to California-its
golden sands are all to you in the future-to
gain them will cost you weeks and months of
preparation, and perhaps of privation.   You
know  this;  you  knew  it when  you first
thought of California, and half resolved to
go there. Did preparation or privation much
daunt you?  Or was it the uncertainty of all
things?
But suppose this uncertainty were all removed. Suppose that by one year, or even
two or three of preparation, you could be sure of
success.  Suppose you could know that after
a probation of three years-a mere subsistence
and many trials-you could dig from the valley
of the Sacramento and bring to your own home
I
i 
DEATH AND FUTURITY.
$100,000. Would the long preparation at all
daunt you?
Let me, then, direct you to a land as much
more desirable than California, as a means of
making you happy, as can well be conceived.
Think of a land 1500 miles square, so abounding in gold that its streets are paved with it! A
land, too, of which, with all its gold, you
may have full possession after a few short
years of preparation, and without any real
privation at all.
Is not such a land desirable? I have
spoken as if you might become its sole possessor. But I mean not quite so much. A
different law  obtains in that bright abode,
from what obtains just now in California. In
the latter place the great strife at present is to
be richer than the rest; and every increase of
one's own wealth above that of others, though
it sets them at a greater distance from him,
seems to add to his happiness.   That is to
say he is neither happy nor rich in proportion
as he sees others rise, and aids them in the
work of progress, but exactly the reverse.
Whereas in the new city of which I have
I
il
1:
I',
l
i'
i
i
I
i
I
i
i
i
311
I
I
i
I
i
I
i 
312    LETTERS TO YOUNG MEN.
spoken, every one is richer and happier in
proportion as others are made rich. Instead,
moreover, of but one king, there all are kings
and priests, and that for ever and ever. Instead of a contest who shall rule and reign,
whether gold or strength, the great question
is who shall serve most, and most effectually.
Is not this golden city-this New Jerusalem
-worthy of your highest aspirations and
highest efforts? Will you not, then, take
right views of Death and Futurity? And
knowing in what consists your highest interest and the will of God, and that these are
in everlasting harmony, will you not be wise
-wise for time and wise for eternity?
i
I
I
I
Ir-   -
I
i
I
I
ii
i
i
ii