No, the
Father of Lights has thus highly endowed us that we may do the very
things which are at our hands to-day, and those other and greater
things which will follow. It is for us Americans to solve the problems
that confront us now, and the still harder and deeper ones that we do
not yet behold; and we will solve them, never doubt. Live up to this
ideal of your Nation's place and purpose in the world, young man. Be
an American.
CHAPTER XI
THE WORLD AND THE YOUNG MAN
There has been much counseling of the young man respecting the world.
But what of counseling the world respecting the young man? Do not men
and women riper in years and richer in experience need to have their
attention called to the young man and the potentialities of him. He
faces the world with vigor, courage, and faith--this stout-hearted,
hopeful young fellow with To-morrow and all its possibilities coiled
up in his brain and heart.
The young man is the future incarnate. His soul is the abiding-place
of uplifting ideals, and the world--that vast collective individuality
to which you and I belong--too often dispels those sensitive
enthusiasms by its neglect or disapproval. Do we not find in our daily
speech a certain cynicism toward youth? Does not our skeptic wisdom
paste the label "illusions" over the word "ideals" written on the
young man's brow? Is there not a refusal to recognize young manhood's
force until it compels recognition by sheer mastery?
If so, it is a fault that the world should remedy.
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