The Ruling Element
"Jason and His Men."
What constitutes a state?
Not high-raised battlements or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate;
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned;
Not bays and broad armed ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride;
Not starred and spangled courts,
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No! men--high-minded men--
With powers as far above dull brutes endued,
In forest, brake, or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude.
--Sir William Jones.
The Young Man
Jason has just stepped over the threshold into the glory of a rich young manhood. And he is careful to select for his expedition some of the choicest heroes of Greece--young, brave, and strong. It has ever been thus. Youth has always been synonymous with adventure. It is a condition which seems inherent; nature instilling into the blood of her sons the very spirit of discontent--of longing to push out from the commonplace scenes of childhood into broader domains of experience.
The very books which most fascinate the boy are those which deal in thrilling tales of adventure. The wily and unscrupulous traffickers in cheap literature have ever been awake to this fact, and their highly-colored productions have been flung from the vicious presses like lava from Pelée to pollute the minds of the young. Why is it that "Robinson Crusoe" and stories of this character hold such a charm for young people, lingering in their minds long after books of a profounder type have been forgotten? It is the love of adventure. To what boy at school does not the doleful history lesson assume a more brilliant aspect when the adventures of Columbus are taken up? His interest is awakened, his imagination inspired, and he is delighted, all because again that chord in his nature has been struck--the love of adventure.
Perhaps no other single painting in the art galleries at the World's Fair of 1893 attracted the attention of a greater number of people, nor awakened in so many human breasts a feeling of such intense pathos as Thomas Hovenden's painting on "Breaking Home Ties." Here we have it once more, adventure--Jason setting off on his journey in search for the golden fleece of fame and fortune. The narrow path that so long has led him out into the silent acres--the fields that so many years have responded to his toil--he has forsaken. The dull routine has ceased to inspire, the home circle has become too narrow for his expanding soul. He has caught a glimpse of the glories of a new kingdom, and now he is going out to realize them.
The young man has always been the ruling element in every new departure. He has been the rock upon which the ages have been founded. In the words of another: "When the roll-call which men have written is read, it will be found that the young men have ruled the world. The oldest literatures have this record. The patriarchs unfolded the careers of boys into the conquest of old age. Kingdom and empire rode upon the shoulders of young men, and their voices of enthusiasm and hope have sounded through many a black-breasted midnight and trumpeted the dawn through skies of thickest darkness. To causes that drooped they have come and added the raptures of hope; to enterprises that were sickening and faint they have brought the bounding power of new enthusiasm. To the dead they have brought life. Everything from the foundation of the world has been crying for 'young blood,' and the armies of the advance have gained the day at the arrival of 'recruits,' whose hope and earnestness have never been defeated. Age and experience put themselves upon dying pillows made by young hands; into young palms and upon young ears falls the meaning of all the past; and thus God has written the natural dignity of the young man's life in the eternal statute book of the universe." [Footnote: From "Young Men of History," by Dr. F.W. Gunsaulus.]
We have but to turn our gaze back over the centuries to find that it has always been the young man who has embarked in the world's great enterprises. If we turn the pages of religious history we shall find that he has been potent there. For when the stream of Hebrew destiny was to be turned, a young man, Joseph, who had been sold as a slave into Egypt, was selected to accomplish it. And later young Saul of Kish while roaming through his father's fields was summoned to a throne. It was the young shepherd boy--David--that was chosen "to keep the banner of Israel in the sky while the shadows hung black above the hills of Judah." When the gospel was to be borne to the Gentiles the divine finger fell upon a young tent-maker of Tarsus. Fourteen centuries later a miner's son, Martin Luther, won Germany for the Reformation, and John Wesley "while yet a student in college" started his mighty world-famous movement. At fifteen John de Medici was a cardinal, and Bossuet was known by his eloquence; at sixteen Pascal wrote a great work. Ignatius Loyola before he was thirty began his pilgrimage, and soon afterward wrote his most famous books. At twenty-two Savonarola was rousing the consciences of the Florentines, and at twenty-five John Huss was an enthusiastic champion of truth.
But we see the young man standing before the footlights on the stage of secular history, too. At twelve Remenyi was making his violin tremulous with melody, and Cæsar delivered an oration at Rome; at thirteen Henry M. Stanley was a teacher; at fourteen Demosthenes was known as an orator; at fifteen Robert Burns was a great poet, Rossini composed an opera, and Liszt was a wizard in music. At the age of sixteen Victor Hugo was known throughout France; at seventeen Mozart had made a name in Germany, and Michael Angelo was a rising star in Italy. At eighteen Marcus Aurelius was made a consul; at nineteen Byron was the "amazing genius" of his time; at twenty Raphael had finished some of his most famous paintings, Faraday was attracting the attention of his country, and two years later was admitted to the Royal Institution of Great Britain. At twenty-one Alexander the Great conquered the Persians, Beethoven was entrancing the world with his music, and William Wilberforce was in Parliament. At twenty-two William Pitt had entered Parliament, while William of Orange had received from Charles V command of an army. At twenty-three William E. Gladstone had denounced the Reform Bill at Oxford, and two years afterward became First Junior Lord of the Treasury, and Livingstone was exploring the continent. At twenty-four Sir Humphrey Davy was Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institution, Dante, Ruskin, and Browning had become famous writers. At twenty-five Hume had written his treatise on Human Nature, Galileo was lecturer of science at the University of Pisa, and Mark Antony was the "hero of Rome." At twenty-six Sir Isaac Newton had made his greatest discoveries; at twenty-seven Don John of Austria had won Lepanto, and Napoleon was commander-in-chief of the army of Italy. At twenty-eight Æschylus was the peer of Greek tragedy, at twenty-nine Maurice of Saxony the greatest statesman of the age, and at thirty Frederick the Great was the most conspicuous character of his day. At the same age Richelieu was Secretary of State, and Cortez little older when he gazed on the "golden Cupolas" of Mexico. These are a few of the splendid names that illumine the pages of history across the sea.
But the young man has been no less potent in the affairs of our own Nation, which has always been conspicuous for its production of truly great men. The story is told that when one of England's great men was visiting Henry Clay, and the two were riding over the country, the distinguished guest inquired of his host, "What do you raise on these hills and in these beautiful valleys?" "Men," was Clay's reply; and the English patriot declared that this was the greatest crop to enrich a country. We boast that we have given the world a full quota of really great young men, some of them like Jason embarking on the sea of adventure while the dew of extreme youth is still on their brow. If we wend our way back through the grand procession of events of but a single century we will find extreme youth marking out the lines of progress and directing the course of the nation in politics, in literature and religion.
We would see William Prescott, a boy of twelve, diligently at work in the Boston Athenaeum, or Jonathan Edwards at thirteen entering Yale College, and while yet of a tender age shining in the horizon of American literature; while the same age finds H. W. Longfellow writing for the Portland Gazette. At fourteen John Quincy Adams was private secretary to Francis H. Dana, American Minister to Russia; at fifteen Benjamin Franklin was writing for the New England Courant, and at an early age became a noted journalist. Benjamin West at sixteen had painted "The Death of Socrates," at seventeen George Bancroft had won a degree in history, Washington Irving had gained distinction as a writer. At eighteen Alexander Hamilton was famous as an orator, and one year later became a lieutenant-colonel under Washington. At nineteen Washington himself was a major, Nathan Hale had distinguished himself in the Revolution, Bryant had written "Thanatopsis," and Bayard Taylor was engaged in writing his first book, "Views Afoot." At twenty Richard Henry Stoddard had found a place in the leading periodicals of his day, John Jacob Astor was in business in New York, and Jay Gould was president and general manager of a railroad. At twenty-one Edward Everett was professor of Greek Literature at Harvard, and James Russell Lowell had published a whole volume of his poems; at twenty-two Charles Sumner had attracted the attention of some of the famous men of his day, William H. Seward had entered upon a brilliant political career, while Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry D. Thoreau occupied a conspicuous place in literature. At twenty-three James Monroe was a member of the Executive Council, and one year later was elected to Congress; at twenty-four Thomas A. Edison and Richard Jordan Gatling were inventors. At twenty-five John C. Calhoun made the famous speech that gave him a seat in the Legislature, George William Curtis had traversed Italy, Germany, and the Orient and soon after became known by his books of travel. At twenty-six Thomas Jefferson occupied a seat in the House of Burgesses, John Quincy Adams was minister to The Hague; at twenty-seven Patrick Henry was known as the "Orator of Nature," and Robert Y. Hayne was speaker in the Legislature of South Carolina. At twenty-eight Edward Everett Hale had found a place in the hearts and minds of the people, and at twenty-nine John Jay, youngest member of the Continental Congress, was chosen to draw up the address to the British Nation.
These illustrious ones, who before their thirtieth year had written their names on the immortal banner of their country, are only a few which adorn the pages of our early history. Others of like purport might be added indefinitely both from the early and the later life of our country. And there has been no time when the young man played so important a rôle in human affairs as he does to-day in the dawn of the twentieth century, when the heart and the mind, philanthropy and literature, virtue and truth, science and art, capital and labor are the principal factors in the world's progress. To refer to but a single instance in this period of our national life, there is no greater statesman and patriot than our beloved President, Theodore Roosevelt,--a young man to whom we are proud to point as a true type of American greatness and American manhood. Assuming control of the Nation at such a critical moment in her history, when so many dangerous rocks lay in her course, tremendous, indeed, was the responsibility thrust upon him. But by his inherent principle of rule, his unquenchable patriotism, his indomitable purpose, and the imperiousness of his will, founded on a rich scholarship and a broad policy, he has spelled triumph out of difficulty, and his name will go down in twentieth-century history an example of illustrious young manhood.
The young man is emphatically the ruling element in politics to-day. It is estimated that a sufficient number of young men come of age every four years to control the issue of the Presidential election. Constituting about one-half of the present voting population, they hold far more than the balance of political power. It was Goethe who said that the destiny of any nation at any given time depends on the opinions of the young men who are under twenty-five years of age. And William E. Gladstone affirmed that the sum of the characters of this element constitute the character and strength of any country.
And when we consider the young man in his relation to all the aspects of life--civic, commercial, industrial, and social--we must recognize him as the ruling element. Like Jason, the young man of to-day is the hero to invade the empire of thought and action in quest of the Fleece of Gold.
"Lives of great men all remind us,
We can make our lives sublime;
And departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time."