Accomplishments of Youth.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 108, 9 May 1896, Page 3 (Supplement)

Accomplishments of Youth.

M. M. Mangasarian Tells titf TtttftS

Genius, Ambition and Hopes.

M. M, MangasakiaN, speaking to fche .Society for Ethical Culture 6b the Grand Opera Bouse, Chicago, On 'Young MM Who Made Their Mark in Life,' said :>—

' Tbe great prizes of life have always bsßfi captured by the young. The exdfipbiotn to this are only apparent, nob real. It is true that Homer wrote Mb Iliad after he had crossed the golden bar: Dante composed his pfrem amid the bhieken ing shadows trf life, and Milton taught in song what he had learned through many years of suffering. Notwithstanding, these master minds only fulfilled in age what they had willed in youth. Genius is a perennial youth. That* is no winter in some countries, there is no. getting: old for come minds. By the young, therefore, I mean the intellectually and morally alive, as by the old I mean bhe intellectual pauper, the man whose faculties and aflecbions have become ossified, who can no longer . dream great dreams, in whom the flow of soul has ceased and whoa* heart does nob leap " with the rainbow ia the sky." • At the age of 25 Sir Isaac Newbon diecovered the law of gravitation. Columbus Baw the new world at the bottom of every lake and stream, in every twinkling sfcar, when only a boy ; Shakspere composed his masterpiece " Hamlet," at the age of 36. At the same age Mozart had sung his last notes and fallen asleep in the rugged arms' of poverty. " This boy knows more bban I do," said Dominico when he saw the work of Michael Angela on the Chapel of Sunta Maria Novella. Barry was so young ihato Burke could nob believe that he vras the painter of " The Conversion of the Pagans by Sb. Patrick " — but then was no* Alexander a beardless youth when he drew his sword and cub tbe Gordian knofc, aad Cffiaar when he spurred his horse and crossed the Bnbicon ? Joan of Arc felt bet girlish grip tightening on the hilb of the aword thab was to deliver her dear land of France.

•Youth is strong in faith. I mean faith in its highest senae; faith thab there is a prize worth fighting; for and chat can bo won ; faith thab life is, earnest — very earnest, and very real; faith that there ia a to-morrow ! Devotion is youth's passion. " I will love you, live for you, die for you," such is the holy prayer of youth: 'And, finally, youth is strong in hope. The shadow of despair does nob fall across its horizon. To all' the young 1 would say in the words of Burke: " Despair not, but) if you do, work in despair." The mission of religion and arb is to keep tho world young, its imagination free from the irideeconee of stagnation, its imagination aglow, its faith ardent), its steps quick and sure.'