The Rising Generation and Its Path in Life

In life man faces two divergent paths: the first leads him to success and bliss, the second to failure and misery. In his deeds he is more free than fated. Either he is among those upon whom God has bestowed His grace, or he is among those gone astray.

By 'man' I mean the young man or young woman who has received a share of learning and refinement, and is thus better able to grasp the meaning of life and the rights and duties it entails.

But it is a matter for regret that a great number of the young do not perceive the loftiest purpose of life, nor discern the straight path through it, and so spend the best portion of their years sunk in dreams that soon give way before appalling truths. And what truth is more dreadful than that a man in middle age should look back upon the days of his youth and find in them no good work to honor him or to honor his country? What truth is more harmful to this society than that the elements of vigor should waste away in the nation's youth, and that its men of the future should be a burden upon it?

Woman and Work

Prestige, or wealth, or pride, or the love of imitation may be among the causes that make a young man hesitate in fixing his destiny and in taking up a particular calling of his own into which to pour his talents and efforts; so he turns away from work and gives himself over to idleness. He may grow so addicted to it that recovery becomes impossible from this grievous disease — the disease of addiction to idleness — a condition of dire consequence for countries where those without work are many. It is the duty of every organized body to remedy this social ill by making work beloved to the young and drawing them toward it, whatever its kind; for the good — all the good — lies in profiting from the talents of all the sons of the homeland, in all their differing ranks. The field of work is wide, and the active, honest young man will not be denied work if he seeks it. Our country stands in the most pressing need of working hands, above all in the field and the factory — the mine of wealth and the home of security and happiness. Some organized bodies have already begun to undertake agricultural and industrial projects and to invigorate these honorable callings, so that the country's economic level may rise and the number of the homeland's sons who work for the homeland's sake may grow.

The morals of the fathers refine the sons. The home is the source of tenderness and love and the resting place of hope. The first duty of parents is to make the home abound in the means of joy and comfort, and to fill its corners with the fragrance of their affection and love, so that the children feel the home to be the safe refuge where their souls find rest, their minds find peace, and their hearts are gladdened. The absence of these elements in the home may be among the causes that lead children down into the pits of error and corruption. How many are the ruinous places frequented by the youth of this nation! They are the abodes of misery and wretchedness, the seat of destruction and shame. I can well picture the danger that threatens our very being from the heavy traffic to the houses of drink and gambling and the racetrack and their like — a thing that drains the people's blood and money and soils its name and its honor.

Choosing a Wife

A young man may meet a girl in a field, be captivated by her beauty, and proceed to marry her without understanding her nature.

Another may hear of a rich girl and covet her fortune, to turn it to his own profit, giving no weight in his heart to the owner of the money herself.

And there is the young man whom prestige tempts: he inclines toward it and proceeds to marry for love of prestige, not love of the wife. So the first weds beauty, the second money, and the third prestige.

These are examples of marriages that occur from time to time. Marriage in this fashion is a dangerous adventure that may lead to the worst of ends, through the loss of the lofty principle upon which the marriage bond rests. By this principle I mean sincere mutual love, which depends for its nourishment, its strengthening, and its permanence upon a mutual harmony between the man and the woman in principles, inclinations, and feelings — whereby concord and respect are achieved, and forbearance becomes possible in many matters that might otherwise be the spark of a family tragedy if they arose between two spouses with no proportion between them in understanding, character, wealth, and station.

Therefore, among the most important things a young man must attend to, if he undertakes marriage and wishes to be happy — in such a society as this, built upon distinctions and social ranks — is to choose the girl whose station accords with his station, whose character with his character, and whose inclinations with his inclinations. Then he will be safe from the calamity of surrendering to his appetites, and will be assured of a family future wrapped in contentment, blessing, and happiness.

What is said of the young man in choosing a wife is said of the girl in choosing her companion. Indeed the girl's position in this matter may be more delicate than the young man's, for reasons there is no room to mention here. But in many circumstances the girl ought to be left the choice in deciding her own destiny: she should not be forced to marry a man from whom she recoils because her parents' interest dictates such a marriage. And if we may offer one piece of advice in this regard, it is to beware of the young man given to drink and gambling — two plagues that have never crept into a house without destroying it utterly.

There remains the matter of age, which is among the gravest of all for the fate of family happiness. The best that can be said in this regard is that fathers should beware of marrying their daughters to men who far exceed them in years, because of the harm, in many respects, that follows from such disparity.

Sociologists attempt to analyze all the questions of society upon economic foundations and to treat them from that side. On this reckoning it may be said that the first cause delaying marriage is purely economic. The truth is that a great number of our young men — most of them employees and functionaries — do not possess money enough to run a household. Moreover, the evolution of social life in this age, and the rise in the cost of living and the multiplication of its demands that follow upon that evolution, have greatly affected people's thoughts and inclinations. They have come to look at life from a new angle, and a man is no longer content to be what he was yesterday — with the result that the young man and the young woman each aspire to a milieu other than the one in which they live. He is not satisfied with a companion of his own rank in money and lineage, and she is not satisfied with a young man whose financial condition falls short of satisfying her ambitions. The inevitable result is that both parties spend the fairest days of their lives apart. The young man desires success and strives for it; as for the girl, she takes some consolation from the poet's wisdom: 'How narrow life would be, were it not for the expanse of hope!'

There is, however, a cause other than money that holds the young man hesitant before marriage — I mean the abundance of amusements and the multiplication of the means of pleasure, above all in this age when the ways of Western arts of every kind have poured in upon us, capturing the affections of the young and draining their money and their energy. One of them comes to believe, or to incline to believe, that life is play, and that happiness (if happiness there be) is to be found in the café, not in the home. It is a tendency which, one fears, may take root in souls and destroy the best of what the homeland asks of its faithful sons.

As for the claim that bachelor life is a life of freedom and gaiety, it is a doubtful claim, and I do not think that whoever takes this view believes in its truth or can support his word with reasonable proofs.

As for removing the causes that delay marriage, it is a difficult matter, and it is not in our power to confront them directly. They may be lightened when economic and agricultural projects multiply, and when clubs of physical exercise grow numerous, along with other things that bring good to young men and young women.