The Tragedy and Triumph of Youth, V: Insincerity of the Intellect the Curse of the Age

THE TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH OF YOUTH. BY J. E. HICKMAN, A. M., PRESIDENT OF THE MURDOCK ACADEMY. V.— INSINCERITY OF THE INTELLECT THE CURSE OF THE AGE. The crying need of the age is not more truth, but a disposition to apply that which we know towards the perfecting of our lives. The hungering for and the loving of truth is sincerity of the intellect. In my frequent interviews with erring youth, I scarcely ever find one who does not absolutely know and freely confess his course is wrong and will lead to harm. "Why do you follow this course?" I often ask. The reply generally comes back, "I don't know/ The truth is, they love bodily and mental stimuli, produced through evil society and questionable conduct, more than they fear results. The present pleasure, regardless of consequences, is the cause of action. The present age is running mad with pleasures, — self indulgences. The curse of the age is insincerity. How many stop and ask, when an impulse urges to act: "Is it right? What will come of it? Will I regret it?" Too many look at the immediate desire, and seldom if ever weigh the consequences. The struggle for character is to put one's self in harmony with all the laws of life, — physical and spiritual. To be out of harmony with the physical, means weakness or death; out of harmony with the spiritual, means stultification or agnosticism. Both of these conditions are upon us. The one fills groaning hospitals and untimely graves; the other empties churches and fills saloons. Man is prodigal of truth. He is far more concerned in applying it to the forces about him than in obeying it. The engineer is

THE TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH OF YOUTH. 379 deeply concerned that every part of the machinery shall work in harmony; that friction be reduced to a minimum; that dust and other obstructions be eliminated. In fact there must be perfect adjustment and rhythmic harmony with burr, belt, and wheel. But, with himself, he often acts as if his life, — body and spirit, — were subject to no law. He often enslaves his body with deadening narcotics and vicious habits; and of moral and spiritual laws he thinks not at all. Why will he admire a beautiful animal that lives the perfect law of its creation while he himself disregards all law? This seems almost incredible, and yet it is a lamentable fact. Of all God's works, man alone falls below the sphere of his creation. As a result, in spite of all his intelligence and possibilities, he suffers infinitely more than does the animal. Animals, forced to break the laws of life as man freely does, rapidly degenerate and become heirs to man's nameless ills. Dogs forced to the liquor habit, through putting alcohol into their food, become deformed, — crooked and shriveled-limbed, hare-lipped, cross-eyed, and idiotic. The death rate becomes very great before they reach their maturity. This needs no comment. Young reader, apply the moral to the human family, and read the damning story, then answer: Why this world of misery? If man would live the physical and the moral laws as the animal lives his, reformatories would disappear, prisons would be emptied, insane asylums would crumble with disuse. When man learns the laws of his creation and feels them deeply enough to live them, then and not till then, will he live to the age of a tree. Then, and not till then, will children grow up as calves in the stall with nothing to molest them or make them afraid. The integrity of the intellect is the fountain head of patriotism, and this is not dependent upon a great and mighty nation for its development, for citizens of small and feeble countries are equally devoted in their patriotism. Preeminently is this true of mountaineers whose mountains shelter their huts. Yes, the humblest home with virtue and devotion is a divine nursery of that rare and matchless quality,— character. Virtue, earnest labor, definiteness of purpose, gratitude, and great-heartedness are the indispensible factors in building a noble

380 IMPROVEMENT ERA. character. Virtue is God's stamp upon the soul. Who dares sell it for a mess of pottage? Earnest labor keeps out idleDess and gives stability. Definiteness of purpose enables one to reach out and grasp the truths beyond. Gratitude is ''the memory of the heart," and without it man is detestable. Great-heartedness causes one to love his neighbor as himself, and to care for the poor. The greater the soul, the more he lives for his fellow men; the smaller and meaner the being, the more he lives for self. Without these virtues, man may be likened to a stagnant slough with disease and death swarming in its waters; with them, to a limpid stream from the mountain heights, watering the parched earth, giving drink to the thirsty, and turning the wheels of industry. Character has often been symbolized by the oak and the granite cliff, because they represent strength and loftiness; because they are unmoved by every opposing force. They resist the storm and hurricane, and the winter blast howls past them harmless in its fury, while weaker objects give way to the opposing powers. I well remember walking, some years ago, down the streets of Ann Arbor, the morning after a terrible storm had swept over the city, unroofing houses and uprooting trees. On a certain street was a beautiful row of stately poplars; one of them, the tallest and most beautiful, was lying prostrate upon the ground, while the others stood erect and calm in the morning sun. The mighty tree lay across the entire street and lapped over the opposite side walk. I said to my friend, "Is it not strange that the most magnificent of the entire row of trees should fall and the rest remain unharmed?" As we walked around the broken stump, however, we saw the cause of the prostration. Worms had eaten at the heart of that tree until its resisting force was gone, yet without, it was green and healthy. The tree was an emblem of human life. In this busy world of hustle and bustle, hooded and cloaked humanity pass at their face value; but once let a contending force sweep over the land— a force that tests the moral courage of men — then the worm-eaten, virtue-pretending souls, fall down before the wondering gaze of angels and of men. Beaver, Utah. [to be continued.]