A LADY'S ADDRESS TO A YOUNG MAN.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 123, 18 February 1873, Page 2

A LADY'S ADDRESS TO A YOUNG MAN.

llow natural it. is for a man to fly into passion wnen he is accused of something he is not willing to confess r Tho true man, who knows that he is right, keeps quiet, invites criticism and investigation, looks 3011 in the face and tells the truth. The false man always grow* ro.l 111 the face, becomes unduly excited, and makes the strength of hid cause to depend on noise, or threats, or oaths. Now to succeed, in its best sense, a man must have moral courage. ITp needs it if he lives in the biuallest ullage for emergencies will sometimes arise even there; lie needs it especially 111 our cities and large towns, where life itself, from beginning to end, is one great emergency. Let me tell you just what I mean The word bravcrv expresses a -cry admirable quality, but it does not exactly mdicitle the elements of character of whie'i I wish to spook. A man is generally brave on impulse. When is heard tho alarum of war, the general fever runs high. Men fight, the" die. And yet, even they nmy or they may not hare that still loftier element of character which we mean to define. Ono may march up to a cannon's mouth, and yet not dare to face and not be able to conquer, a bad habit. lie may be brave as a lion, and yet not have an atom of moral courage. A man ha 3 courage when he has convictions, and stands by them in spite of the world. When the plague ravage 1 Europe men and women were found knowing that death might result at any hour, and still went about ministering to the necessities of tho 6trirken and tho dying. That is what I call moral courage. They knew what their duty vriw; t hoy deliberately determined to take the hnzard ; and when tho frightened multitudes were fleeing for safety, they stayed to close the eyes of those who were helpless. So tho young man who belongs to fashionable society, who, for his principles, for his temperance or his religion is neered at by " his set," but who calmly pockets the sneer, and keeps true to himself, has something of tho noblest elements of heroism. And that independence, that manliness based on tboughtfulncss, on conviction, is needed by the j oung men of to-day moro than anything else. They are all too flexible, too pliable ; they are not stern enough to their sense of duty and in their adherence to what they know to bo right, There aro some men who alw aj sgo with the majority. Thoy aro empty, and fill themselves with the opinions of others. ' Tbej' are made up, so far as dress is concerned, by their tailors. "Whatever shaped coats the Parisian fop wears, that they wear. I have no patience with that sort of man. Then there arc others who say '"I never pretend to good," and miike that uu excuse for all sorts of evil. Well suppose urn never did protend to be good — is your logic so poor and jour soul so Klin wiled up that yon cinnot »eu that this is only an added guilt F Suppose you go up to the roof bomo line morning, and, saying, "I never pretended to any of tho law •, of nature," jump off — what will be the consequonco ? Why you would simply break your neck like any other idiot. It is jour business to know what the forces of nature are, so fit.' .is they icguhilc jour life, and it is aleo jour business to obey them, And in moralitj the case stands tho same ; you arc not excused for not knowing what it is jour business to know. The simple truth ia, jou are living in a world whoso laws arc partly discovered and partly revealed. And in this world the only course i» to take great pairs to Un<l out what the law is, and then (.0 obey il. Disobedience- always ends in regrets ; obedience alwaj's ends m joy.