The Historical Society.—We have received a copy of the address delivered before the Historical Society of this State, at Chester, in November last, and have barely room to say that it is marked by the fine finish and lucid reasoning which distinguish all the efforts of Mr. Armstrong, whether as a writer or speaker. We shall refer to it again.
Held in his idle moments, with his Readers, Correspondents and Exchanges.
Eminent Young Men.—We purpose, occasionally, to give to our readers, in our own off-hand way, sketches of such of the young men of our acquaintance as have risen to position and distinction by the force of their own indomitable purpose and efforts. These papers will be plain, unpretending, and without any effort at literary display—but if such examples as have passed under our own observation, fairly _put_, shall awaken even one young man among our readers from inglorious sloth, to energetic endeavors to accomplish something for himself and his generation, we shall think our time has been most profitably spent.
America has but one recognizable stamp of nobility. No line of descent in the blood of kings, can ennoble here. The stagnant pool which has lost its vitality for ages in the veins of a scurvy nobility, reflects no honor—enriches no name. That which makes Manhood Great—is _Energy_—_Will_—nobly directed—that quality which Kossuth proclaims to be the conqueror of impossibilities. It is this quality, largely possessed by the Anglo-Saxon, and the free field open for its exercise in America, that have made her what she is—
It is the noble hopes and manly aspirations in the breast of her sons—the far-reaching, the attainable grasp of future fortune, the birth-right of the humblest—the unconquerable purpose to do, to achieve, to conquer, that exalt us to “giants in these days.” We have the highest manifestation of manhood, in a fair field, with _all_ the favor that God grants to mortals to carve out their own destinies. He who sinks here, goes down with supineness, slothfulness, idleness, and their attendant vices clinging to his neck with more than mill-stone weight. With high health and a perfect use of his faculties, no man _here_ has a right to be ignoble. “The longer I live,” says Goethe, “the more certain I am that the great difference between men, the great and significant, is energy—invincible determination—an honest purpose once fixed and then, victory. That quality will do anything that can by done in the world; and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunity will make a man without it.”