I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.--Shakspeare.
Courage is adversity's lamp. Perhaps the young man's
courage is more sorely tried than that of the man of middle age, for age
dreads the whip of events, while youth champs their bit. Youth cannot
endure the thought of a long siege. The ladders must be put against the
walls, the breach must be clambered through, and if the citadel be
strong, the rash onset will be repulsed with heavy loss. But Hope dotes
on youth. The young are her flock, her fold, her children. Into the
hands of her children she puts the scimitar of courage, and bids them go
forth again. Let us suppose you have been cast down your ladder, and
have little but your courage. It may be necessary to leave your pleasant
little town and seek employment where men are used as machines--in the
great cities. Such a fate is, indeed, a sad reverse. The safety of
home, the magazines of moral ammunition stored all about you, the
bomb-proofs against the shells of soul-destruction aimed at every
soldier in life, will all be torn from you, and you will be as a Knight
of the Cross, alone on the desert. Perhaps