Show TO THE YOUNG FOLKS my dear young friends life with all its hopes anticipations joys and sorrows its fears and and doubts and all its ite stern realities lies hes before you you are just entering upon n its race just upon the thresh threshold arld 0 of f manhood and womanhood with all the obligations thereto necessarily attached do you comprehend its requirements have you seriously reflected upon the conditions necessary to enable enable you to battle advantageously with the difficulties to be met with or are you like logs turned adrift on a stream or on the ocean to be carried along by the current or blown hither and thither by the winds and to be knocked about indefinitely like a ship without its rudder let each one answer for himself arher or herself and thereby find their true bearing how forcibly the lines of the poet longfellow occur to us life to ie real life Is earnest and the grave is not its goal dust thou art to dust ret urnest was not spoken of the son soul to the young then we say pause reflect upon your status and find out if possible whether you are preparing yourself to empl grapple ale with the realities of life as s you know knew them to exist what is las your education what are your qualifications necessary to obtain a livelihood for yourself and those who may become dependent upon you for their support serious questions these they should be met and fairly answered with resolution and determination mi nation dont shirk them but meet them fairly and squarely and answer them to your own satisfaction if your education is not complete and who can say it is are we not le learning arnini day b by day ay throughout our lifetime try while you is i 8 yours and the cares and perplexities ties have not yet woven thease themselves ves around you like a garment to cultivate your mind increase in knowledge and every good thing bead B ead bead 11 II read beadil III vork work I 1 work work III I 1 do not expect ex e ct to accomplish anything ath without out an effort if you do you will be mistaken and should you perchance succeed succeed you would not kot E appreciate it remember al w ways there is no excellence without labor taking this as a fundamental truth upon which to build let us begin and endeavor to add truth upon truth and knowledge to knowledge until we become the embodiment of learning to achieve this result is no light task but if we have only the disposition to try and the determination to succeed we shall accomplish it when we get old and staid and reflect upon the wasted hours and opportunities that were afforded us ua for study we shall have the mortification of knowing how unwise we were how thoughtless we were of the future how foolish not to avail ourselves of those golden moments that we wasted in idleness and folly and which are now beyond recall how happily the words of the poet burns here apply oh man while in thy early years how prodigal of time spending misspending Mis all thy precious hours thy glorious youthful prime I 1 of course we realize the force of the saying we cannot put old heads on young shoulders but lot let us try at least to stimulate the young to action let us strengthen their determination and show them the folly of wasting the precious opportunities tuni ties that only now they can claim and call their own begin at once buy a book read it and commence to form the nucleus of a library save your you r nickels and dimes and from time to time add another and yet another volume and you will then begin to realize the pleasure to be derived from such good and quiet company you will always be in good fellowship with those best of friends how pleasing to the senses to see a goodly number of useful books in a house and what shall we say of a nicely furnished comfortable home without a al single le volume to be seen does it not M indicate n the utter thoughtlessness of its inmates their minds must indeed under such circumstances be barren of every requisite information and knowledge and their time must surely be passed in gossip and in perusing the cheap love novels that find an entrance into too many homes of the latte rd saints have our youths got ambition enough to forge ahead and hew out a course for themselves or are they contenting themselves by relying on n the father doing something for them or still worse depending upon something to turn up by chance they should certainly avoid this let us learn to d depend e nd upon ourselves let us develop individuality nd vi duality and endeavor to outstrip our associates in the school at play at work and in the race of life to the boys then we say cease ceabe your idling nonsense and hoodlumism and get to work keep at it till you accomplish something and so fit yourselves that your services will be in demand and valuable to yourself and to those who wish to engage you but says one there is nothing to do this is winter time and there is no work going on all is in abeyance just now well what of it cannot you educate yourself cannot i you read and store up learning and information cannot you school yourself in some branch of education or in the mechanism of something thin you do not now understand Is ie egere there nothing to make or repair around home why cannot you I 1 make furniture of some kind that would sell at a price which would bring some remuneration forvour for bour labor if you cannot do anything of this kind then invent something else that will be suitable to your individual inclination and tastes bring your thinking powers into use do something for yourself the avenues to occupation and labor are not few with us but what is wanted is educated help almost every day there are openings for bookkeepers clerks cherka salesmen etc etc in different lines and this will of necessity continue as our population increases but what are am the boys doing in to prepare themselves almost Ito no nothing hing we fear there is a disposition amongst our youth to jump ump right into I 1 Is a goo good place wit without out any previous training F n g or knowledge w whatever alever of the business this can no more be done than a boy can presume to become principal of the deseret university it requires years of training discipline and experience with small beginnings and a determination to overcome obstacles read the lives of lincoln grant garfield and many others think of the poverty and obscurity of their boyish days and remember also the fame the they achieved and the service they re rendered our country read bead the life of joseph the prophet the greatness of the man and his mission read bead the lives of brigham y young I 1 heber C kimball parley earley P P pratt orson pratt and others read bead all good books read ponder and reflect and your mind will become becomer a perfect storehouse of information from which you and others can draw as may be required it has haa been revealed to us through the prophet jow joseph ph smith that they who through their diligence acquire acquire more knowledge than others in this life will have so much the advantage in the next this should stimulate us to action we know that those who apply themselves assiduously at any work or occupation gain an advantage in this life industry brings ite own reward again we are reminded that lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime and departing leave behind us footprints on the sands sande of ti time to the girls we say what are you doing to qualify yourselves to become our future wives are you educating yourselves in the duties of the household and acquiring a knowledge of domestic economy are you adding to those necessary qualifications which every goo good wife should possess an acquaintance with dressmaking and also with the milliners art these are things that every daughter of zion should be posted in A good face and figure without any of the necessary qualifications for a useful housewife will be poor comfort indeed to a workingman the revelations thus advise us let the beauty of thy garments be the workmanship of thine mine own hands this is true economy and such garments afford infinitely more satisfaction and pleasure to the wearer than if made and embellished by of paris thus would our ur boys and girls become meet and fit companions for each other thus would their union be agreeable and pleasurable and the union of two such hearts would bring joy and re peace around d the Br fireside eside and give a f foretaste ore of heaven D L M |