A WORD FOR OUR BOYS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2070, 22 February 1889, Page 3

A WORD FOR OUR BOYS

Lady Jetrola recently entertained a nwnbwr of Ud(ea at the Glrli' ptlendly Institution In Wellington, and In the •ooraeof an address gave the followlog T«ry vivid plctuie of New Zealand boys of a certain olsis. Her words are fall of homely wisdom, and free from caat or gash. The oorreotneis of the drawing bespeaks uouooal power and aooteneei of observation, She laid ;— I am often pazeied by • remark commonly made ai an excuse for bad oonduot In boya, ' Ob, boys will be boys.' But why should the word ' boys ' be a synonym for rongh oonduot and bad talk ? Boys will be very muoh what their parents make them. They hare strong animal spirits, like noise and fan, and it is good for them to have plenty of both. Bat why should their fan be cruel, and their talk sometimes saoh as no woman oan liaten to ? If all psrents wer* to cbeok their children eirly In this habit it would In time disappear. It seams to me a matter of pnbllo opinion and jf»t »• pablto opinion b»e largely put down intemperanoe, to that, instead of being a joke as formerly, It Is no* a dlsgrace for a man to be drank, so I hope that In a faw years' time the bad talk and wild life whioh are now too often allowed In boya and yonng men will then be thought a thing to be aahamtd of. Bad talk m the boy Is too often followed by a bad life In the man, and all women, iloh and poor, who value what li right and good, should set their faces against it. This may be regarded as the * word m ■eaaon,' oomlng from an admirable woman at the oloieof her oonoeotlon with the