青年論

青年論
作者：威廉·F·马克威克　威廉·A·史密斯
1915年
譯者：中国一青年

本作品收錄於《新青年/卷1》

中文译文

青年論

美國馬克威博士斯密士學士同著

馬斯二氏同著之The True Citizon.坊間已有譯本。顧舛晦不可讀。 茲擇原書之第二篇The Youth.重譯之。並錄原文於下方。以其命意遣詞。均親切可味也。

譯者識

第一過渡時期

格言

吳滋物司曰。兒童者成人之根基也。

齊思斐特曰。凡當為之事宜善為之。

耶馬遜曰。能罔汝。使汝功敗垂成者。唯汝躬耳。

斯塔蔔槐特曰。徒馳騁乎溝中。其生有涯。

坡蔔曰。教育之轉移人心。正如枝之隨幹。壹唯所響。

方童子漸長而為青年也。已與交遊。二者均應竭力戒慎。內杜邪念之滋生。外屏惡習之重染。庶免夭閼其上達耳。

人之一生。少年時代。最關重要。蓋後日之薰陶。絕不能盡化其少時所感受也。夫少時所感受者。雖若可改易。其性質雖若可變更。然終有深銘於心而永不得去者。丁斯時也。心之所感。而觀念生焉。足以制人畢生之誌趣者。即此少年時之觀念也。譬之樹木然。枝之所向。即他日幹之所傾。微諷之即聽。略導之立從。是又如播戔戔之種。行且取果於收獲之期也。

教士溫省特嘗著文詔童子。其言曰。「若我為童子歟。噫嘻。若我而為童子者。即此一念。已足照我回思。蓋『若』之一字。不翅導經夢境之秘鑰也。於是而我之第一事。我當精自磨厲。知願力之真。為成德之秘。及時黽勉。無荒無怠。我當願吾師以艱劇之責。荷於吾躬。使我知當庀材以造成我之人格。使我知我為人而非木石。蓋我之為我。即在長塗奮進也。」

青年男女。皆應及時養成善讀書之良習。擇書如擇友然。為道無他。擇其善者而已。有某君者詼諧人也。應其女友之招。女固富而不文者也。既至。延入書室。女方坐群書回繞中。語曰。「君視之。環吾座者皆良朋。故吾殊不虞寂寞也。」客不答。徐步近簽架。取所知向未開卷者一冊。視之而笑曰。「吾甚喜卿不似眾人之輕視朋友也。」馬珂雷[英文學家]有言。「吾寧為寒士在窮廬而坐擁百城。弗願為不嗜讀之帝王也。」

昔嘗見十齡童子。當晚禱前。入威斯敏斯特寺直過甬廊。止於查兒司狄更司[英小說名家]墓下。四顧無人。乃跪碑前。薦堇花一束。憑吊其側。若不勝情。徘徊片時。乃面有喜色。歡然而去。一士人怪之。就察其所薦之堇。則一柬系焉。所書之字。半未能成形。文云。「為孩提時佳矣。終不及在聖誕節時為尤佳。彼夫大力之創造者。亦一兒童耳。錄聖誕詞。」少年能嗜讀如此兒者。則書中之良友。將於不知不覺中。使彼成襟懷高尚之大人物已。

少時之思想。足以蔔人之將來。伽斐德[美國第二十任總統]幼時。或問其長大所誌。答曰。「吾先學為人。茍得為人焉。將無為而不適。」夫人而惜取少年時。即所以自成其真正之人格也。

古人誠有若為運會所造成而焜耀於史冊者。然蒙以養正。大德大功。恒植基於少時所感受。此其常例也。不觀史冊所載乎。「亞力山大之父。使非馬其頓王腓力。未必能征服世界。漢尼巴[古Carthage之大將]使非有哈密克爾。[ 漢尼巴之父]誓使永報大仇。未必為羅馬人之害。拿坡侖使非讀荷馬[希臘詩人]之詩。 鼓其雄心。未必致全歐流血。」而在吾人今日。彼少時受最良之教者。其所成必大。不唯利己。其影響且被天下也。

然唯約束子弟於青年時期。使不近下流。不染惡習。猶未為足也。必勤播正誼之種子於其心。高潔之訓。良知之教。所當大書深刻於其胸臆者。蓋親之約束。外而可見者也。立身之道。內而不可見者也。少年終有離去其親之日。或竟有擺脫家庭關系之時。斯時茍無正理以董之。則將敗德喪行。舟而無柁。必有覆於洪濤之危也

英文原文

The True Citizen.

By W.F.Markwick, D.D. and W.A.Smith, A.B.

Ⅱ.The Youth.

The First Transition Period.

Memhry Gems.

The child is father of the man.—Wrodsworth.

Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. —Chesterfield.

No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself. —Emerson.

A man cannot live a broad life if he runs only in one groove. —J.Staples. White.

'Tis education forms the common mind,

Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined.—Pope.

As the child grows into the youth the utmost care should beexercised, both by himself and by his friends, to prevent thedwarfing of his prospects by evil influences arising either fromwithin or from without himself.

The youthful period of man's life is by far the most important. No subsequent training can entirely obliterate the results of earlyimpressions. They may be greatly modified; the character may bechanged; but some, and indeed many, of the impressions of youth will cling to the mind forever.

It is in this period that the mind forms the ideas which willgovern the will throughout the whole career. Then is the twig bent tothe direction in which the tree will grow. The faintest whisperingsof counsel are eagerly caught, and the slightest directioninstantaneously followed. Then is the seed sown which will bringforth fruit in harvest time.

Bishop Vinceut, writing about boyhood, says, "If I were a boy? Ah, if I only were! The very thought of it sets my imagination afire. That 'if' is a key to dreamland. First I would want a thoroughdiscipline, early begun and never relaxed, on the great truth of willforce as the secret of character. I would want my teacher to put theweight of responsibility upon me; to make me think that I mustfurnish the materials and do the work of building my own character; to make me think that I am not a stick, or a stone, or a lump of putty,but a person. That what I am in the long run, is what I am to makemyself."

Boys and girls should early form a taste for good reading. In thechoice of books, as in the choich of friends, there is but one rule, -choose the best. A witty gentleman, having received an invitationfrom a wealthy but not very refined lady, on arriving was usheredinto her library, where she was seated surrounded by richlyboundbooks. "You see, Mr. X,," she said, "I never need to be lonely, forhere I sit surrounded by may best friends. " Without replying, thegentleman approached a shelf and took down a volume which heperceived to be uncut, and smilingly observed, "I am happy to find, madam, that unlike the majority of people, you do not cut yourfriends."

Macaulay says, "I would rather be a poor man in a garret withplenty of good books to read, than a king who did not love reading."

A boy ten years of age was seen to enter Westminster Abbeyshortly before evening prayers. Goins straight up the main aisle hestopped at the tomb of Charles Dickens. Then, looking to see that hewas not observed, he kneeled before the tombstone, and tenderlyplaced upon it a bunch of violets. The little fellow hoveredaffectionately round the spot for a few moments and went away with ahappy, contented smile upon his face. Curiosity led a gentlemanpresent to examine the child's offering, and this is what he foundwritten in half-formed letters on an envelope attached to the violets :-

"For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better thanat christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself. -ChristmasCarol."

The young person that loves books as this little fellow did, willhave friends that will unoonsciously transform him into a great, noble-hearted man.

It is the thoughts of the boy that shape the future man. Garfield, when asked as a boy, what he was going to do when he grew up, wouldanswer. "First of all I am going to try to be a man If I become thatI shall be fit for anything." To make the most of one's youth is toqualify one's self to become a real man

Some men,it is true,have been seemingly created by circumstances ,and have figured prominently in the world's history.But,as a generalrule,the child makes the man;and the foundation of all greatness andusefulness is laid by the impressions of youth. "Alexander the Greatwould not have been the conqueror of the world had his father notbeen Philip of Macedon.Hannibal would not.have been the scourge ofthe Romans if Hamilcar had not sworn him to eternal vengeance againsthis enemies.Napoleon Bonaparte would not have deluged Europe withblood,if he had not been inspired by the genius of war from the pagesof Homer."Aud in our own days,those men whose early impressions werethe most favorable have been the most successful, both in their ownlives,and in their influence upon the world at large.

But it will not be enough to keep children during the season ofyouth from the reach of improper associates and influences. The seedof right principles must be diligently sown in their minds. Lessons of purity and conscientiousness must be written deep on the tables ofthe heart. Parental restraint is outward and visible, but the guidingprinciples of life are inward and invissble. The day will come whenthe youth must quit the parental roof, and perhaps entirely bid adieuto the influences of home. If he be then destitute of rightprinciples, if his mind be like a ship without a rudder, he willstand in imminent danger of being swept away by the waves of corruption.