dhu.hua.hujourn.1.6

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M M 1 -1 toward'University,
The University journal
VOL. I. WAS HI NOTON, D. C., I'liBkUAR.Y i 5, 1904. No. 6. The Dull] of V o u iK j Men.
What Society, in Its Best Sense, Expects From Young
Men.
BV MRS. A. J. COO FBK.
Ill our modern usage so varied are the meanings of
the term society, that it becomes necessary at the outset
to define clearly the present application of it.
* * * * X *
Society heie means the community in which the sum
total of individuals, belonging to any given time and
place, live, move, and have their being. It is the whole,
| of which individuals constitute fractional parts. Or rath­
er it is the body of which we are the members : so that
if one member suffers all the members suffer with it.
What ought Society to demand from young men,
what are the sacred obligations to social order on the
part of the thoughtful and earnest youth who asks
“ What wilt thou have me to do?" in order that he may
find a way to do it.
First, I would answer it is your bounrien dutj to be
producers in the body politic A withered hand or a par­
alysed leg is worse than useless, it is a positive burden,
an afiliction, a disease threatening the life and happiness
of the whole. Cut it off! is what the interest of the
Shody directs. If a man works not, neither shall he eat, is
the fiat of Holy writ “ Young men for strength” is the
I proverb. The world’s work is to be done by them and a
strenuous hustling world it is. There is no room for drones
S.jmid shirks, no quarter shown to inefficiency and laziness
every young man s' tidy to find what he can do best
uml then do it “ like Hercules” with all his might and
main. A young man at 21 should consider himself in­
debted to society, at the very lowest figure for the full
amount of the cost of his development to manhood.
Up to that time we may assume that his consumption of
goods has been at a loss to society. He ought to be un­
willing to die with the debt unpaid. And what shall we
say of those persistent shirks who are still boarding with
a mother-in-law, or calling Saturday nights at the ser­
vice place of some devoted girl for their week's allow­
ance in spending change ? Parasites they are on the
l>ody politic, like the tape worm or the tick, filching for
their unprofitable bodies the nourishment that has been
produced by the labor of others. Away with them cries
society. No race or nation can make headway enfeebled
and impoverished by such blood suckers. Produce
more than you consume. Put a balance on the credit
side of your account with the world. Strive to leave
society a little richer, through your direct effort and en­
ergy, than you found it. Aim to have something more
than your old shoes to leave your heirs at death. Rest
not till you have met some need of your little world, sat­
isfied a want over and above the narrow and immediate
wants of your personal existence. Support yourself, of
course ; but let not self support bound and circumscribe
your horizon. Produce a margin, a generous bounty to
humanity. Give to make society a little abler, a little
brighter or a little better for your having lived.
A second imperative demand upon young men from
the social order is that they marry, make homes and rear
families. This is necessary for the perpetuation of the
species. Nothing can be more vital to society than the
continuance of its own existence which is conditioned up­
on the reproduction of its components. It is an alarming
sign, in fact it strikes the death knell to our hope for the
future, when alleys and dens of vice swarm with children
while young men with steady employment live in board­
ing houses in comfortable baclielordom. I hold that just
as soon as a man has a steady job paying a reasonable
wage and is capable by economy and thrift of supporting
a wife and little ones, he should shoulder that responsi­
bility. Society expects it. Right living demands it. To
shirk it because of its obligations and exactions is peril­
ous to the individual and perilous to society. God never
had a hand in planning the artificial life of “ bachelors'
quarters” in our modern cities. He created the individ­
ual and instituted the family as man’s proper setting and
completion. “ Therefore shall a man leave his father
and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife ; and they
be one flesh.” Here we have the God-appointed unit
ot human society— the family. The divine order is that
the vigor of youth and strong manhood shall be employed
to support this institution ; work for it, fight for it, sacri­
fice for it, that in return the tottering steps of old
age shall be cheered and strengthened by the buoyant
hearts and hands of one’s own. That when the last
summons comes, or “ ever the silver cord be loosed or
the pitcher be broken at the fountain, when the sound of
the grinding is low and those that look out of the windows
arc darkened, when the strong men shall bow themselves
and the grinders cease because they are few,” •"hen that
day comes and man goetli to his long home, it is the