Harvey Newcomb
How to Be a Man
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Table of contents
PREFACE.
CHAPTER I.ON CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
CHAPTER II.NATURE AND OBJECTS OF EDUCATION.
CHAPTER III.PIETY, AS THE SPRING OF ACTION, AND REGULATOR OF THE SOUL.
CHAPTER IV.FILIAL PIETY.
CHAPTER V.TREATMENT OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS, AND OTHERS IN THE FAMILY.
CHAPTER VI.BEHAVIOR AT SCHOOL.
CHAPTER VII.BEHAVIOR AT TABLE.
CHAPTER VIII.BEHAVIOR AT FAMILY WORSHIP.
CHAPTER IX.PRIVATE PRAYER.
CHAPTER X.KEEPING THE SABBATH.
CHAPTER XI.HABITS.
CHAPTER XII.EDUCATION OF THE BODY.
CHAPTER XIII.ON USEFUL LABOR.
CHAPTER XIV.EDUCATION OF THE HEART.
CHAPTER XV.EDUCATION OF THE MIND.
CHAPTER XVI.READING.
CHAPTER XVII.WRITING.
CHAPTER XVIII.INDOLENCE.
CHAPTER XIX.ON DOING ONE THING AT A TIME.
CHAPTER XX.ON FINISHING WHAT IS BEGUN.
CHAPTER XXI.CHOICE OF SOCIETY, AND FORMATION OF FRIENDSHIPS.
CHAPTER XXII.BAD COMPANY.—MISCHIEVOUSNESS.
CHAPTER XXIII.ON AMUSEMENTS.
CHAPTER XXIV.GOVERNMENT OF THE TONGUE.
CHAPTER XXV.ON THE ART OF AGREEABLE AND PROFITABLE CONVERSATION.
CHAPTER XXVI.INQUISITIVENESS.
CHAPTER XXVII.ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ABLE TO SAY NO.
CHAPTER XXVIII.ON BEING USEFUL.
CHAPTER XXIX.ON BEING CONTENTED.
CHAPTER XXX.UNION OF SERIOUS PIETY WITH HABITUAL CHEERFULNESS.
PREFACE.
“
Who
reads a preface?” Many do not; but jump at once into the middle of
a book. But it is well to know something about a book, before
reading
it; and who so likely to give you information respecting the
contents
of a book as the Author himself? I wish to see the youth of my
country come forward upon the stage of life, models of excellence,
with characters formed for the times in which they are to act. How
much influence my book may have, in securing such a result, I
cannot
tell; but my design in writing it has been, to contribute something
toward forming the character of some of those who are to be our
future electors, legislators, governors, judges, ministers,
lawyers,
and physicians,—after the best model; and, from the kind reception
of my former attempts to benefit American youth, I trust they will
give a candid hearing to the few hints contained in the following
pages. It is intended for boys,—or, if you please, for
young gentlemen,—in
early youth, from eight or ten to fifteen or sixteen years of age.
It
covers substantially the same ground occupied by a work for girls
issued simultaneously with it; and some of the chapters are
identical
in the two books, while others are entirely different, and some
partially so. It is the hope of the Author, that every one who
reads
it, will strive to
be a man, in the
highest sense of the term.
CHAPTER I.ON CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.
In
one sense, very young persons are apt to think too much of
themselves—in another, not enough. When they think they know more
than their parents and teachers, or other elderly people, and so
set
up to be bold
and smart,
then they think too much of themselves. It used to be said, when I
was a boy, that “Young folks
think old folks are
fools; but old folks
know young folks
are fools.” Although I would be very far indeed from calling
you
fools, because you
have already acquired much knowledge, and have the capacity for
acquiring much more, yet, with reference to such knowledge as is
acquired by
experience, and in
comparison with what
there is to be known,
there is “more truth than
poetry,” in the
old adage. But, when young people suppose it is of no consequence
what they do, or how they behave,
because they are young,
then they do not think enough of themselves. Should you see a man
riding with a little stick for a whip, you would not think his
stick
worth your notice at all; but the biggest tree that ever I saw grew
from a little willow stick that a man rode home with, and then
planted in his garden. You have sat under the beautiful shade of a
great elm-tree; and when you have looked upon its tall, majestic
trunk, and its great and strong branches, with their ten thousand
little limbs waving gracefully before the wind, you have been
filled
with admiration and delight. “What a mighty tree!” you say; “I
wonder how long it has been growing.” But the seed of that tree,
when it was planted, many years ago, was no bigger than a
mustard-seed; and if you had seen the little tiny sprout that your
grandfather was tying up with so much care, when it was a few years
old, you would have wondered that a man should think so much of
such
an insignificant twig. But, if he had let it grow up as it began,
without any care, it never would have been the stately tree it is
now. That was the most important period in its life, when it was a
little twig. It began to lean over, and grow crooked and ugly. If
it
had not been trained up then, it would have continued to grow worse
and worse; and, after it had grown to be a tree, it could not have
been straightened at all. Now, you are, in some respects, like this
little twig. You, too, have just begun to be; and now your
character
is pliable, like the young tree. But, unlike it, your being is to
have no end. Instead of growing a few hundred years, like a great
tree, you are to live forever. And every thing that you do now must
have an influence in forming your character for your whole being.
In
this latter sense, you cannot think too much of yourself; for you
are
the germ
of an immortal being.Did
you ever stand by the shore of a placid lake or pond, in a calm,
sunny day, and throw a little stone into its smooth, silvery
waters?
Did you observe how, first, a little ripple was formed around the
place where it struck, and this was followed by a wave, and then,
beyond, another, and another, till the whole surface of the water
was
disturbed? It was a very little thing that you did; and yet it
agitated a great body of water. So it is with childhood and youth;
the most insignificant action you perform, in its influence upon
your
character, will reach through the whole period of your
existence.It
will not do for you to say, “It is no matter how I behave now; I
shall do differently when I am a man.” “But would you have a
little boy act like a man?” Not exactly. I would not have him
affect the man, and appear as though he thought himself a
full-grown
gentleman. I would not have him imitate the
toad, which
undertook to swell to the size of an
ox, and in the
operation burst open. But, I would have him
manly in his
childishness. I would have him courageous, to meet difficulties,
noble and generous in his feelings and actions, and courteous in
his
manners, always, in all companies, and in all places, behaving in a
manner becoming a person of his age. A well-bred boy, who knows
what
is becoming and proper, and carries it out in his behavior, is
already a gentleman.
But the mischievous, rude, unmannerly lad, who pays no regard to
propriety of conduct, will never be a gentleman. And a boy who has
the courage to face difficulties, and the energy and perseverance
to
accomplish what he undertakes, is already
a man; while the
indolent, cowardly, “I
can’t” boy,
will never be a man.
It is my desire, in this book, to lead you to the formation of a
solid, energetic, manly character, combined with true gentility of
manners; and then you will be both a
man and a
gentleman.Very
young persons sometimes live in an
ideal world. What
they imagine in their plays seems real. They have a little fairy
world in their minds, in which they live more, and take greater
delight, than they do in what is real and true. To this I do not
object, within certain bounds; but often it becomes a
passion, so that
they lose all relish for sober, every-day life. For such creatures
of
fancy real life is too dull, and what concerns realities, too
grave.
Perhaps they will not like my book, because it treats of things
true
and real. But I beg them to consider that, through the whole of
their
being, they are to be concerned chiefly with
realities; and
therefore, to do them substantial good, we must speak to them of
things real, and not of those airy things that belong to the fairy
land. But real things are, truly, more interesting than the
creations
of fancy. The things of fancy interest you more only because they
appear new and less common. A person who has always lived in the
country, and is used to sitting under the wide-spreading, shady
tree,
would be more pleased with the
picture of a tree
than with a tree
itself. But one
brought up in the city would cast away the picture, and hasten to
enjoy the cool shade of the beautiful tree. A castle in the air may
please the fancy; but you want a
real house to live
in.
CHAPTER II.NATURE AND OBJECTS OF EDUCATION.
Perhaps
some of my readers, when they see the title of this chapter, will
think only of confinement in school, of books, and of hard study,
and
so be inclined to pass over it, as a dry subject, which they have
so
much to do with, every day, that they have no wish to think of it
in
a moment of relaxation. But I beg them to stop a minute, and not
throw me away, among the old school-books, till they have heard me
through. I assure them that I use the term
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!