Energetic Men
We love upright, energetic men. Pull them this way, and then that way, and the other, and they only bend, but never break. Trip them down, and in a trice they are on their feet. Bury them in the mud, and in an hour they will be out and bright. They are not ever yawning away existence, or walking about the world as if they had come into it with only half their soul; you cannot keep them down; you cannot destroy them. But for these the world would soon degenerate. They are the salt of the earth. Who but they start any noble project? They build our cities and rear our manufactories; they whiten the ocean with their sails, and they blacken the heavens with the smoke of their steam-vessels and furnace fires; they draw treasures from the mine; they plow the earth. Blessings on them! Look to them, young men, and take courage; imitate their example; catch the spirit of their energy and enterprise, and you will deserve, and no doubt command, success.
From Readings for Young Men, Merchants, and Men of Business, 1866
Great way to start a Sunday!
Great post! And very inspirational to women as well!
Oh, what a great excerpt! This is the type of thing that we men need for motivation! Well done!
Was that really written in 1866?
And yes ad a female I find that inspirational too!
The book is still available – or well a reprint anyway – via amazon – http://tiny.cc/BfOIm
I like this passage. I wonder what a modern version would sound like? Even one that looked at the last 50 years, i think would be very different. We have had much automation built into our lives – no doubt we still work as hard though – just in different ways. Instead of breaking our backs plowing 100 acres by ox we now plow thousands of acres with machinery, etc…
Regardless still a great passage.
Nice passage. This piece feels pretty antiquated, though. I don’t think this is particularly admired anymore: “and they blacken the heavens with the smoke of their steam-vessels and furnace fires; they draw treasures from the mine;”
The fellow who wrote this obviously doesn’t understand what happens when you salt the earth.
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