青年论 中华文库

第一过渡时期

格言

吴滋物司曰。儿童者成人之根基也。

齐思斐特曰。凡当为之事宜善为之。

耶马逊曰。能罔汝。使汝功败垂成者。唯汝躬耳。

斯塔卜槐特曰。徒驰骋乎沟中。其生有涯。

坡卜曰。教育之转移人心。正如枝之随干。壹唯所响。

方童子渐长而为青年也。已与交游。二者均应竭力戒慎。内杜邪念之滋生。外屏恶习之重染。庶免夭阏其上达耳。

人之一生。少年时代。最关重要。盖后日之熏陶。绝不能尽化其少时所感受也。夫少时所感受者。虽若可改易。其性质虽若可变更。然终有深铭于心而永不得去者。丁斯时也。心之所感。而观念生焉。足以制人毕生之志趣者。即此少年时之观念也。譬之树木然。枝之所向。即他日干之所倾。微讽之即听。略导之立从。是又如播戋戋之种。行且取果于收获之期也。

教士温省特尝著文诏童子。其言曰。“若我为童子欤。噫嘻。若我而为童子者。即此一念。已足照我回思。盖‘若’之一字。不翅导经梦境之秘钥也。于是而我之第一事。我当精自磨厉。知愿力之真。为成德之秘。及时黾勉。无荒无怠。我当愿吾师以艰剧之责。荷于吾躬。使我知当庀材以造成我之人格。使我知我为人而非木石。盖我之为我。即在长涂奋进也。”

青年男女。皆应及时养成善读书之良习。择书如择友然。为道无他。择其善者而已。有某君者诙谐人也。应其女友之招。女固富而不文者也。既至。延入书室。女方坐群书回绕中。语曰。“君视之。环吾座者皆良朋。故吾殊不虞寂寞也。”客不答。徐步近签架。取所知向未开卷者一册。视之而笑曰。“吾甚喜卿不似众人之轻视朋友也。”马珂雷[英文学家]有言。“吾宁为寒士在穷庐而坐拥百城。弗愿为不嗜读之帝王也。”

昔尝见十龄童子。当晚祷前。入威斯敏斯特寺直过甬廊。止于查儿司狄更司[英小说名家]墓下。四顾无人。乃跪碑前。荐堇花一束。凭吊其侧。若不胜情。徘徊片时。乃面有喜色。欢然而去。一士人怪之。就察其所荐之堇。则一柬系焉。所书之字。半未能成形。文云。“为孩提时佳矣。终不及在圣诞节时为尤佳。彼夫大力之创造者。亦一儿童耳。录圣诞词。”少年能嗜读如此儿者。则书中之良友。将于不知不觉中。使彼成襟怀高尚之大人物已。

少时之思想。足以卜人之将来。伽斐德[美国第二十任总统]幼时。或问其长大所志。答曰。“吾先学为人。茍得为人焉。将无为而不适。”夫人而惜取少年时。即所以自成其真正之人格也。

古人诚有若为运会所造成而焜耀于史册者。然蒙以养正。大德大功。恒植基于少时所感受。此其常例也。不观史册所载乎。“亚力山大之父。使非马其顿王腓力。未必能征服世界。汉尼巴[古Carthage之大将]使非有哈密克尔。[ 汉尼巴之父]誓使永报大仇。未必为罗马人之害。拿坡仑使非读荷马[希腊诗人]之诗。 鼓其雄心。未必致全欧流血。”而在吾人今日。彼少时受最良之教者。其所成必大。不唯利己。其影响且被天下也。

然唯约束子弟于青年时期。使不近下流。不染恶习。犹未为足也。必勤播正谊之种子于其心。高洁之训。良知之教。所当大书深刻于其胸臆者。盖亲之约束。外而可见者也。立身之道。内而不可见者也。少年终有离去其亲之日。或竟有摆脱家庭关系之时。斯时茍无正理以董之。则将败德丧行。舟而无柁。必有覆于洪涛之危也

The True Citizen.

By W.F.Markwick, D.D. and W.A.Smith, A.B.

Ⅱ.The Youth.

The First Transition Period.

Memhry Gems.

The child is father of the man.—Wrodsworth.

Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. —Chesterfield.

No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself. —Emerson.

A man cannot live a broad life if he runs only in one groove. —J.Staples. White.

'Tis education forms the common mind,

Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.—Pope.

As the child grows into the youth the utmost care should beexercised, both by himself and by his friends, to prevent thedwarfing of his prospects by evil influences arising either fromwithin or from without himself.

The youthful period of man's life is by far the most important. No subsequent training can entirely obliterate the results of earlyimpressions. They may be greatly modified; the character may bechanged; but some, and indeed many, of the impressions of youth will cling to the mind forever.

It is in this period that the mind forms the ideas which willgovern the will throughout the whole career. Then is the twig bent tothe direction in which the tree will grow. The faintest whisperingsof counsel are eagerly caught, and the slightest directioninstantaneously followed. Then is the seed sown which will bringforth fruit in harvest time.

Bishop Vinceut, writing about boyhood, says, "If I were a boy? Ah, if I only were! The very thought of it sets my imagination afire. That 'if' is a key to dreamland. First I would want a thoroughdiscipline, early begun and never relaxed, on the great truth of willforce as the secret of character. I would want my teacher to put theweight of responsibility upon me; to make me think that I mustfurnish the materials and do the work of building my own character; to make me think that I am not a stick, or a stone, or a lump of putty,but a person. That what I am in the long run, is what I am to makemyself."

Boys and girls should early form a taste for good reading. In thechoice of books, as in the choich of friends, there is but one rule, -choose the best. A witty gentleman, having received an invitationfrom a wealthy but not very refined lady, on arriving was usheredinto her library, where she was seated surrounded by richlyboundbooks. "You see, Mr. X,," she said, "I never need to be lonely, forhere I sit surrounded by may best friends. " Without replying, thegentleman approached a shelf and took down a volume which heperceived to be uncut, and smilingly observed, "I am happy to find, madam, that unlike the majority of people, you do not cut yourfriends."

Macaulay says, "I would rather be a poor man in a garret withplenty of good books to read, than a king who did not love reading."

A boy ten years of age was seen to enter Westminster Abbeyshortly before evening prayers. Goins straight up the main aisle hestopped at the tomb of Charles Dickens. Then, looking to see that hewas not observed, he kneeled before the tombstone, and tenderlyplaced upon it a bunch of violets. The little fellow hoveredaffectionately round the spot for a few moments and went away with ahappy, contented smile upon his face. Curiosity led a gentlemanpresent to examine the child's offering, and this is what he foundwritten in half-formed letters on an envelope attached to the violets :-

"For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better thanat christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself. -ChristmasCarol."

The young person that loves books as this little fellow did, willhave friends that will unoonsciously transform him into a great, noble-hearted man.

It is the thoughts of the boy that shape the future man. Garfield, when asked as a boy, what he was going to do when he grew up, wouldanswer. "First of all I am going to try to be a man If I become thatI shall be fit for anything." To make the most of one's youth is toqualify one's self to become a real man

Some men,it is true,have been seemingly created by circumstances ,and have figured prominently in the world's history.But,as a generalrule,the child makes the man;and the foundation of all greatness andusefulness is laid by the impressions of youth. "Alexander the Greatwould not have been the conqueror of the world had his father notbeen Philip of Macedon.Hannibal would not.have been the scourge ofthe Romans if Hamilcar had not sworn him to eternal vengeance againsthis enemies.Napoleon Bonaparte would not have deluged Europe withblood,if he had not been inspired by the genius of war from the pagesof Homer."Aud in our own days,those men whose early impressions werethe most favorable have been the most successful, both in their ownlives,and in their influence upon the world at large.

But it will not be enough to keep children during the season ofyouth from the reach of improper associates and influences. The seedof right principles must be diligently sown in their minds. Lessons of purity and conscientiousness must be written deep on the tables ofthe heart. Parental restraint is outward and visible, but the guidingprinciples of life are inward and invissble. The day will come whenthe youth must quit the parental roof, and perhaps entirely bid adieuto the influences of home. If he be then destitute of rightprinciples, if his mind be like a ship without a rudder, he willstand in imminent danger of being swept away by the waves of corruption.