With Our Rising Generation... on the Roads of Life

In life man faces two opposing paths: the first leads him to prosperity and success, and the second to failure and misery. In his deeds he is more a chooser than one driven; either he will be among those upon whom God has bestowed His favor, or among those who go astray. By "man" I mean the young man or young woman who has received a share of learning and refinement, and who is thus the better able to understand the meaning of life and the rights and duties that follow from it.

But it is a cause for regret that a great number of the young do not grasp the loftiest purpose of life, nor discern the straight path within it, and so spend the best part of their lives sunk in dreams which soon lay bare terrible truths before them. And what truth is more dreadful than that a man in his middle years should look back upon the days of his youth and find in them no good work to bring honor to himself or to his country? And what truth is more harmful to this society than that the elements of vigor should wither away in the nation's youth, and that its men of the future should be a burden upon it?

Prestige, or wealth, or pride, or the love of imitation may be among the causes that make a young man hesitate in determining his destiny and in taking up a particular profession into which to pour his talents and his efforts; so he turns away from work and gives himself over to idleness, and he may grow so addicted to it that recovery from this pestilent disease — the disease of addiction to idleness — becomes impossible for him. It is a condition of grave consequence for countries in which the workless abound. It is the duty of every organized body to remedy this social ill by making work beloved to young men and drawing them toward it, whatever its kind; for the good — all the good — lies in profiting from the talents of all the homeland's sons, in all their different ranks. The field of work is wide, and the active, honest young man is never denied work if he seeks it; and our country is in the utmost need of working hands, above all in the field and the factory, the mine of wealth and the abode of tranquility and happiness. Welcome, then, the call to undertake agricultural and industrial projects and to invigorate these honorable professions; welcome the call to use what our land produces and what our factories turn out, 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 Home and the Club:

The morals of the fathers refine the sons. The home is the source of tenderness and love and the resting place of hope; and the first duty of parents is to make the home abound in the means of joy and solace, and to fill its every corner with the fragrance of their tenderness and love, so that the children feel that the home is the safe refuge in which their souls find rest, their minds find ease, and their breasts are gladdened. The absence of these things in the home may be among the causes that lead the children down into the pits of error and corruption. And how many are the destructive places frequented today by the youth of this nation — they are the homes of misery and wretchedness, the seat of ruin and shame. I can well imagine the danger that threatens our very being from the heavy resort to the houses of drink and gambling and horse-racing and the like — a thing that drains the people's blood and money and soils its reputation and its honor. I believe that woman is able to change the course of life if she wills; and the best means we can resort to is to multiply the literary and athletic clubs, to hearten those who run them, and to urge the young to frequent them — and this includes the houses of drama and music and the other houses that refine the soul and cultivate the mind.

The Sound Marriage:

As for the choosing of a wife, I say: a young man may meet a girl in some field, be captivated by her beauty, and proceed to wed her without understanding her nature; another may hear of a rich girl and covet her fortune, meaning to invest it for his own profit, without giving the owner of that money any weight in his heart.

And there is the young man whom prestige tempts, so that he inclines toward it and proceeds to marry for love

of prestige, not for love of the wife. Thus the first weds beauty, the second money, and the third prestige.

These are examples of incidents in marriage that occur from time to time; and marriage in this fashion is a dangerous adventure that may lead to the worst of consequences, through the loss of the lofty principle upon which the marital bond rests. By this principle I mean true, mutual love, which depends for its nourishment, its strengthening, and its endurance upon a mutual harmony between the man and the woman in principles, inclinations, and feelings — so that concord and respect are achieved, and forbearance obtains in many matters that might be the spark of a family tragedy were they to arise between two spouses with no proportion between them in understanding, character, fortune, and standing.

Therefore, among the most important things a young man must attend to, if he proceeds to marry, is to choose the girl whose station accords with his station, whose character accords with his character, and whose inclinations accord with his inclinations. Then he is safe from the calamity of surrendering to his appetites, and secures for himself a family future wreathed 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; and 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 to decide her own destiny, and not be forced into marriage with a man she recoils from 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 matters for the fate of family happiness; and the best that can be said on this head is that parents should beware of marrying their daughters to men who far exceed them in years, because of the harms, in many respects, that follow from such disparity.