Young Characters in History

YOUNG CHARACTERS IN HISTORY.

BY PROFESSOR WILLARD DONE, PRESIDENT OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' COLLEGE, SALT LAKE CITY.

I.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

"The child is father of the man." This old biographical and historical maxim, originated by Wordsworth at the beginning of the nineteenth century, has done yeoman service till its close. But, like all maxims designed to express a general truth, it is liable to many exceptions. These exceptions, indeed, may do much to establish the truth of the general rule, and such is pre-eminently the case with the maxim above quoted. It has frequently happened that in manhood traits of character have been developed which the youth of the man has given his friends no reason to expect; and it has as often happened that characteristics prominently manifested in youth have failed to develop themselves in manhood. But wherever this has happened it has been out of the natural order, the result, no doubt, of conditions and environments which have changed the disposition and produced effects not to be expected from early causes. It is still generally true that the man reaps from the youth's sowing; though many causes may operate between seed time and harvest to blight orimprovethe grain which "manhood reaps from childhood's seed." And it is worthy of belief that no matter what changes may be wrought during the period of growth, most of the characteristics encouraged early in life have developed and strengthened to its close. "Habits in youth become nature

in age." Habits may be changed; manhood's nature is almost irrevocably fixed.

It is the aim of this series of articles to depict the predominant traits in the youthful character of some of the world's greatest personages, showing promises blighted or fulfilled, evil tendencies overcome or given reign, vicissitudes conquered or submitted to, duty done or neglected. No character will be chosen whose youth and manhood have not been marked by strong tendencies toward good or evil, for it is intended that all the lights and shades of each picture shall be strongly drawn, an impossibility if the features of the subject are not clear-cut and prominent. It will be the aim to hold up the virtues of men for study, veneration and emulation; and wherever it is necessary to portray their vices, these will be presented merely for the purpose of contrast: for deprecation, scorn and avoidance. As in a picture the light is rendered all the brighter by contrast with the surrounding darkness, so shall virtue appear the brighter by being set in contrast with vice. Life is a struggle of opposites. The Nephite prophet who tells us that "there must needs be an opposition in all things," merely states a religious and philosophical truth, applicable as much to the career of men as to the progress of the world. Our virtue consists not so much in avoiding the struggle with evil as in overcoming it; strength is gained and tested not so much by evading an opponent as by wrestling with and throwing him. Men in whom strength of good qualities is most marked have had the greatest evils to contend with. Great endowments always imply strong temptations, but not always marked powers of resistance. This accounts for the fact, which will be frequently illustrated in this series, that many men of the brightest youthful promise have allowed their evil passions to quench their energies of soul and defeat their noble aspirations.

But it is not well to anticipate what is to follow. To the young people who read these pages they are intended as an incentive and a warning, a mark of excellence and a signal of danger, a recital of reward and an account of retribution. The dearest wish of the writer is that they may serve their

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purpose of awakening the sluggish soul to renewed determination, of arousing the tempted spirit to an appreciation of its powers of resistance to evil. Many young people are not fully aware of the powers within them. Many a young man has first been awakened to a struggle for excellence by hearing or reading of another's strivings. The divinity and power historically related have appealed to the kindred divinity within the youth and made him "strong to do." To know one's power is to exercise it; one is often made familiar with his strength through an acquaintance with the kindred power of another.

Incidentally it is hoped that a taste for historical study may be developed. In this day of strong desire for the material elements in knowledge, it is well for the mind to be occasionally turned to an earnest search after the no less valuable, though much less appreciated, pursuit of "mind and morals." "Man, know thyself," said the Greek philosopher. Let us add to this the no less important counsel, "Learn to know the inmost souls of others."

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," therefore first in our series of sketches. The character of Washington, from boyhood to manhood, exhibited certain strong traits which "grew with his growth and strengthened with his strength." Therefore he was a striking example of the truth of the maxim quoted at the beginning of this article. With scarcely a shadow of turning his nature developed in manhood along the lines indicated by his youthful traits. Among the most prominent of these may be mentioned out-spoken truthfulness, firmness of will, strength of passion, tempered by self-control, consideration for others' welfare, and indomitable energy.

It is necessary only to refer to the oft-repeated incident of the cherry tree and hatchet to illustrate the first of these characteristics. At no time in his subsequent career do we hear of his gaining an end by the deceit and chicanery so

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often practiced by great political and military leaders. Even those who have dealt historically with his failings have never mentioned deception as one of them. Unwisely outspoken, he may have been at times prone to tell the truth to men's faces when silence would have served as well, but such an error is far better than the sin of deceitfulness. To enemies and friends he was the same; always as reliable, always as candid as when his father blessed him for his boyish truthfulness.

Washington's great work was done at a time when this quality was especially necessary. He labored in the midst of underhanded opposition. Gates, Conway, Arnold are but a few representative examples of those who practiced deception about him, and had for their aim the undermining of his influence. But the one quality which enabled him to resist these attacks and to retain the hearts of his officers and men, was the one which he had so strongly displayed in his youth. Standing in this outspoken truthfulness, as firm and unchangeable as the rock, he could well resist the assaults of the restless, ever-changing waves of misrepresentation. Had he been less manly, and truthful, those asaults might have accomplished their purpose.

In his power of resistance, Washington was materially assisted by commanding strength of will. This quality was developed early in life. Many of the experiences through which he passed in early boyhood and manhood were calculated to temper the iron within him into steel. Chief among these may be mentioned a surveying expedition, undertaken when he was sixteen years old. By his skill and conscientiousness, he had attracted the favorable notice of Lord Fairfax, who owned a great portion of what is now the western part of Virginia. Desiring his land surveyed and placed on the market, Lord Fairfax engaged the boy Washington for the work. The task before him called into fullest exercise the powers and capabilities which he had cultivated in his earlier boyhood. He had charge of the work, and several men were appointed to labor under his direction. He was surrounded, a great portion of the time, by Indians, who, being friendly to the French, looked with suspicion upon this

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apparent encroachment of the English upon their domain. He was exposed to great physical hardships, as cold, hunger, wretched beds, and difficult travel, yet so strong was his will, and so great his power of physical endurance, that he kept perfect control of his men, and came out of the long ordeal stronger and healthier than he entered upon it.

Yet his strength of will was tempered with a consideration and regard for the feelings of others, which like purple mists hanging about the mountain peaks, softened his strength while not decreasing it. One of the most pathetic incidents of his boyhood illustrates this fact. His brother Lawrence, a man of considerable influence, had secured for him a position as midshipman in the English navy. The boy was fired with an ambition to enter upon a sailor's life. Every day stately vessels passed Mount Vernon, going up and down the Potomac, and George had watched them with admiration and longing. Therefore, when the opportunity was offered for him to take his place on one of them, and to go into active service, he seized it with eagerness. His preparations were soon made, — trunk packed and placed on board, uniform donned, commission secured. At length the time came for him to bid his mother good-bye. It was with hesitation and difficulty that she had given her consent for him to go. When he appeared before her, cap in hand, she could no longer control herself. Bursting into tears, she begged him not to go. In sight of her grief he no longer thought of his own wishes and ambitions, or of his own determined mind. His iron will became like clay, he was softened by a mother's tears. His own flowed in response to hers, and he promised not to go. In proof that this consideration for the feelings of others was carried into his mature life, we need only refer to his sharing the sufferings and privations of his soldiers at Valley Forge, and on many a battle field.

The reliability of Washington has been spoken of. An important element of reliability is thoroughness. This he manifested throughout his entire career. It was developed in his boyhod. He was careful beyond his years. His school work was arranged with scrupulous exactness, every problem being worked out in perfect order, and carefully recorded.

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His "Book of Forms," made up when he was but a boy, and consisting of receipts, notes, bills of exchange, etc., was a model of method and thoroughness, worthy of a skilled accountant or lawyer. These forms were of use to him throughout all his subsequent career as a manager of estates and a commander of armies. A collection of "Rules of Behavior in Company and Conversation," was made by him in childhood; and the common-sense, neatness and thoroughness manifested in their compilation, and especially his care in living up to them, stood him in good stead in his manhood. Referring to his work as a surveyor, it is necessary merely to say that his scrupulous care made his surveys the only thoroughly reliable ones executed in the district up to that time. Boy though he was, he excelled all the men who had preceded him in such work.

As a boy Washington was fond of manly, and especially military, pursuits. None of his companions could vie with him in running, jumping, wrestling, and throwing the bar. He was particularly fond of marshaling his playmates into military companies and engaging them in mimic warfare. In this organization he always showed consummate skill, and it was noticeable that on this account the party he led in the sham combat always came off victorious. By such exercise he secured strength and ability which was of incalculable value to him in his long and arduous campaigns. Under other conditions, it would have been impossible for him to pass through the trying struggles of the campaign of Long Island and New Jersey, the Christmas attack on Trenton, the hurried march to Princeton, the winter at Valley Forge, and the long and difficult siege of Yorktown. That his power of organization and of planning and conducting campaigns was valuable to him — that the orderly skill and care he developed in his boyhood, in arranging the parts of problems, the surveyor's lines, and in organizing for his sham battles, served him like a faithful and indispensable friend, receives ample proof in the fact that he handled his limited troops in such a way as to overcome the almost unlimited resources which Great Britain opposed to him.

Our general impression of Washington is that he was

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sedate, cool, calm, self-possessed, and not much given to the display of the warm impulses of the heart. The idea is a mistaken one. In his early youth he developed a strong affection for a girl who lived near his own home. We have no reason to believe that she knew anything of his passion, for he kept it hidden from all but his closest friends, and even they did not know who its object was. He manifested his feelings by occupying his spare time (and his blank paper) in "writing woful ballads to his mistress' eyebrow." Some of those effusions are preserved to us, and it must be confessed, as Washington himself says, "that there is more truth than poetry in them." It is no doubt fortunate that the writing of poetry was one of the few habits that developed merely to die in his boyhood. But the warm feelings which inspired his lines remained with him, and if the conjecture is correct, that the girl afterward became Mrs. Lee, Washington bestowed on her son, "Light Horse Harry," all the affection which it was his wish, though not his privilege, to extend to the lady herself. With such affectionate feelings, it is to be supposed that he suffered great grief in the fact that his marriage with Mrs. Custis was not blessed with children, but "Providence left him childless, that his country might call him father." It is safe to say that his warm-hearted devotion to his mother and to his wife suffered no decrease until his separation from them.

His courage never failed him, his coolness left him not, no matter how great his danger. Traversing trackless woods in the dead of winter, on a delicate military mission; fired at by an Indian at scarcely ten paces; hurled from a raft into a river filled with floating ice; riding into battle in the midst of flying bullets, their most conspicuous target; — in all conditions and under all perils he bore himself with manly dignity and intrepid courage. Trust in God, resignation to Providence, and communion with the throne of grace distinguished him when, as a boy, he poured out his soul to God, or as a man he knelt in the snow at Valley Forge and asked heaven's blessing on his suffering soldiers. His devotion to country was identical with his devotion to God, and all hearts unite in the eulogism pronounced by General Henry