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Excerpts from Souvenir

Submitted by David M. Waid 

ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN (continued)

        I love the thoughts of good men.  I received a letter not long since from my friend, Hon. G. B. Delamater, once my school teacher, in which he says:  "You have been a laborer.  You did not use up all the products of your labor in useless or worse than useless expenditures.  The surplus products of your labor became capital or accumulated labor."  How true!  And yet, how few young men, comparatively speaking, profit by the proper management of their surplus money or capital.

        Being in Meadville on January 8, 1887, I found myself near the old academy which I used to attend, with a few books under my arm, some students being in advance of me, also carrying books.  Presently I met an old acquaintance, Horatio Wright by name, who asked me if I were "still going to school."  "Yes," I replied, meaning that all of life is a school; and when the term closes I want to go home, where "we have friends over there, over there."  Even this little episode brought up recollections of the past, and joy came with it.  The books I carried were three copies of my SOUVENIR, and perhaps I unintentionally felt a little proud.  One of the books had been sought or requested of me for the City Library by my friend Col. S. B. Dick, who said that if I did not wish to present it, he would.  The other two copies were--one for a prominent business man of Meadville, the other for my old friend O. G. Chase, of Jamestown, N. Y., who was also my father's friend and acquaintance in youth.

"I hold the world but as the world,

A stage where every man must play his part."

                        Shakespeare.

        These thoughts are but the simple record of a life's.  daily occurrences; and it is well for us to consider how the whole journey of life is made up, in order that we may make the best use of it.  We have only to reflect as to how time is measured--by the second, minute, hour, day, week, month and year.  As "the pennies make the dimes, and the dimes make the dollars," so the hours make the day, and the days make the year, and the number of years that make up a life-time is easily told.  The longest life is but a parcel of moments.  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away (Psalm xc:  10.).  Young man, keep in view what life is, what it was given for, and to whom we are accountable for how it is spent.  Ask yourself, how should I live to insure the greatest blessing here and eternal happiness hereafter?

        In view of the fact that the experience of other people has been a lesson to me, and that I have profited by their example, I wish here to call the attention of not alone young men, but of all who may read this volume to the grandest period of my life, when I found a change, a being born again, becoming a new creature; the choosing of the better way; the coming to God through faith in His Son, and the obtaining of grace to cover all my sins.  Had it not been for this change, how sad indeed would my life have been!  Darkness would have covered it as the waters cover the mighty deep.  Think you I could ever forget such a turning point in my life?  And then to have a ray of that glorious light continued not only through my youth and early manhood, but to the present time.  Marvel not, therefore, that I sit down with joy in my heart this night to place on record what I have written.

        Holidays bring pleasure, and we look forward to them with pleasant anticipations, not being likely to overlook them.  Year by year our birthdays come round, and who does not honor them?  So with gratitude and humility I celebrate the anniversaries of my return to the Giver of Life.  I have now almost reached the thirty-ninth milestone on the highway of my journey as a Christian, my conversion having taken place January 10, 1851.  I rejoice that my heart is willing to respond with love and gratitude to the great Author of my being for the innumerable blessings, both temporal and spiritual, with which he has strewn my pathway.

        Young man, before I leave you, I feel myself impelled to ask, have you yet taken the most important step in your life?  Have you decided to become a Christian?  As a friend, one who loves you, I beseech you not to turn a deaf ear to the invitation--Son, daughter, give me thy heart, or in the counsel conveyed in Matthew vi:  33:  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you.  There is nothing so sweet as DUTY, and all the best pleasures of life come in its line.  It is only when we shun it that we feel miserable, for the path of duty is the safe road, and I can furnish proof coming under my own experience, an act of my past life in shunning duty and disobeying my father.  Were my life faultless I would not have this incident to relate.  It was in the summer of 1865, when we were busily engaged in hauling in hay, myself loading and driving the team with wagon for the men to pitch onto, and my father helping bunch and get the hay ready to pitch.  There was an appearance of rain, and we were all planning the best means to hasten the work forward, my scheme being how I should drive to get the hay.  Now, my father, after taking a survey of matters, preferred that I should drive a different way from what I intended.  But no, being obstinate, disobedient and undutiful, I chose my own way.  It is now about a quarter of a century ago, and yet I remember that act of disobedience with remorse, and wish I had never committed it.  There was no pleasure in doing as I did, and it has yielded none since, nor ever will.  If this is the reward of shunning duty, I trust my experience will be of a permanent nature; yet "out of evil comes good," and I bear with me to the grave the reflection that, where to efface a fault in the eyes of men it is necessary to repent for years, with God a single tear suffices.

        Not long since, while enjoying an evening with a friend, I was asked how I seemed to get along so quietly and smoothly with the world, as compared with many other men.  My reply was that I always tried to take a lesson from whatever I might see or hear, and this gave rise to the following colloquy, my friend being the questioner:  ( Q. ) What do you learn when you hear a person speak ill of his neighbor?  ( A.) I learn to shun his bad example.--( Q.) What do you learn when you see a man frequent a saloon, or meet with an accident?  ( A.) I think of danger, and desire to shun it.  And so on, the general deduction mutually arrived at being that "faults in the life breed errors in the brain," and that one of the great lessons of this life is to do those things we ought to do, and leave undone those we ought not to do.  To effect all this we must have WSDOM, an attribute St. James the Apostle tells us how to get:  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  Also in the book of Job we are enlightened as to what wisdom and understanding are:  And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

        Young man, can you tell me why we try to content ourselves with the temporal blessings of this life, and seek not after spiritual blessings which we the more need?  Both are attainable.  God does not want us to be content with only bread to eat and clothing to wear; He has far better gifts in store for us if we love and obey Him.  The ravens may lack and the young lions do suffer, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.  Is it not possible for a young man to do anything in the morning of life that will bring peace and happiness here, to say nothing of the life hereafter?  Go, ask that aged person in the decline of years, who sought early in life the way of righteousness, and then the aged one who did not seek the good way, how each feels in spirit, and compare their answers.

        I remember, in my boyhood days, being sent by my father to spend several weeks with Caleb Perkins, father of Lyman Perkins, latter of whom was not only a merchant, but also a drover, and still later a lumberman.  Caleb Perkins then owned and lived on the farm, and operated the saw-mill where my brother, G. N., now lives.  The time I speak of was in the fall of the year, and I recollect among other chores I had to do was corn husking, apple gathering and attending to (I think) six cows.  Now Mrs. Perkins was somewhat deaf, and a duty devolved on me which I would much rather have been excused from if I could have had my way, and that was to read to her during the day or evening, in a loud distinct tone of voice, from some book or newspaper, alternately with her granddaughter, Maria.  At first it was hard work for me, and what aggravated it to some extent was the consciousness that Maria read better than I did; and I wished at the time that she had all the reading to do and I all the chores.  But Mrs. Perkins knew what was for my good, and I appreciate her memory for it.  And not to her alone am I indebted for interest taken in my welfare, as witness the many instances I have recorded in this book.

"In silence and in stillness a religious soul advantageth herself

and learneth the mysteries of Holy Scripture."

                        Thomas A'Kempis.

        The truth gathered from the pages of Holy Writ during my whole life has been and yet is of inestimable value to me.  In that book are to be found words of encouragement in both prosperity or adversity, as the case may be, just adapted to our case, if we treasure them in our memory.  Solomon says in Ecclesiastes vii:  14:  in the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider.  Begin sowing the seed of kindness early in life.  "Overcome evil with good" is a motto we should not let slip our memory.  When a school boy, I think I read this sentence in a spelling book:  "Acts of kindness will be repaid."  I mention this because I was fortunate enough to invest a little at that time of my life which has been yielding fruit for over thirty years.  I refer to my experience in teaching in a certain school district many years ago, of which I have already made mention.  There was among the scholars quite a large family of children, some of whom were very intelligent, and for aught I knew in advance of their teacher in some of their studies.  It was, therefore, necessary for me to review and prepare myself for recitations, which you may be sure I did to best advantage.  But this alone was not sufficient, for if I wished to gain and retain the love and esteem of my pupils and their parents, my teaching would have to be accompanied with kindness and charity, and these I practiced to the best of my ability.  In so doing I learned much myself, and I think I can safely say that the friendship toward me of both parents and children continues to the present day.  To paraphrase one of Cicero's proverbs:  "Men's deeds are like wines; age sours the bad and betters the good."  So in this alone I find ample encouragement to continue my work by the same rule.  Patience and time will bring the rewards.  Any and every kind act I may do in my lifetime I want to see transferred, so to speak, among my fellow creatures, that all may derive some benefit therefrom.  Acts of kindness are like Christianity, of which Bowland Hill says:  "I would give nothing for the Christianity of a man whose very dog and cat were not the better for his religion."

        "Each of us has a special call to duty," and the writer of these words has said that as surely as disaster overtook Jonah, so it will overtake every one who goes toward Tarshish when God calls him to Nineveh.  The path of duty is safe.  "Who," asks St. Paul, "can harm you if you be followers of that which is good?"  To any young man who may ask me if it is a duty for him to use tobacco or liquor, or both, I would simply put the question:  "Does either of these so-called luxuries do you any good whatever, morally, physically or financially?  Just examine the following statistical statement, which will give you an idea of where the money of our country goes to.  These statistics, I believe, refer to last year (1888), and the figures, which are facts, are startling and humiliating, but they are taken from the official records of the United States: