United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Anecdotes
Boys are apt to think that they must wait until they are men before
they can claim the great rewards which life holds in store for all of
us. History shows that courage, high endeavor, concentration and the
sacrifice of self will give the prizes of a high calling to boys as
well as to men. One is never too young or too old to seek and find and
seize opportunity. Alexander Hamilton was only a boy when in New York
at the outbreak of the Revolution, white-hot with indignation and
patriotic zeal, he climbed up on a railing and in an impassioned speech
to a great crowd which had collected, put himself at once in the
forefront along with Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Otis and other
patriots who were to be the leaders of a new nation. David was only a
boy of seventeen when he was sent to take provisions to his brethren in
the army of the Israelites then encamped on the heights around the
great battle-valley of Elah. There he heard the fierce giant-warrior of
a lost race challenge the discouraged army. By being brave and ready
enough to seize the opportunity which thousands of other men had passed
by, he that day began the career which won for him a kingdom.
George Washington was only a boy when he saved what was left of
Braddock's ill-fated army in that dark and fatal massacre and was
hardly of age when the governor of Virginia sent him on that dangerous
mission to the Indian chiefs and the French commander at Venango. On
that mission he showed courage that no threats could weaken and an
intelligence that no treachery could deceive and he came back a man
marked for great deeds. As a boy he showed the same forgetfulness of
self which he afterward showed as a man when he refused to take any pay
for his long services as general of the Continental Army and even
advanced heavy disbursements from his own encumbered estate.
Napoleon was only a boy when, as a young lieutenant, he first showed
that military genius, that power of grasping opportunities, of breaking
away from outworn rules which made him one of the greatest generals of
all time and which laid Europe at his feet. If only to his bravery and
genius had been added the high principle and the unselfishness of
Washington, of Hamilton, of David, he would not have died in exile
hated and feared by millions of men and women and children whose
countries he had harried and whose lives he had burdened.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account