The Evening Star FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3629, 9 October 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1874.

I 1? is to be hoped that the punishment by the rod inflicted on the young thief yesterday will have the effect of deterring others who may hear of it from committing similar crimes, although no such salutary result has been observed to follow bodily chastisement in times gone by. We are not maudlin in our •pinions with regard to punishments, mid are quite willing to believe that, on certain natures, the lash or the rod is calculated to act as a deterrent • but the instances are. few. Recollections of school days, of the pranks played by boys through mere love of fun, very often enjoyed, with the more zest through the •. consciousness that the difjcoveTyj convince ftU that daring lads geldoia with'

held from ■wrong when temptation offers itself, by the knowledge that some unlucky companion had got himself into a scrape. No dgsibt there is a difference a ' a schoolmaster aMlcine public offence* i ifcg one almost with gib, ami wi#fekr ing in the domestic' cirote; w|iepe it' may raise a laugh j but the othifr is a stain through life—a something that in mature years will not bear reflection —a blot that looks the blacker the

iauger ,a„man,Jives. It.is a brand fixed hy the public” upon a boy,” that has a tendency to prove barrier ,to future respectability and success* In life. " the _ punishment very frequency falls upon a child who is only the victim of ignorance and ill training. But what is to be done 1 It will not do to pass over so grave an offence. Humanity towards the culprit requires that flie enornjity of 'Li?, crime be brought home to him through the severity of the and if a few strokes of a rod priovh a mora f l ’ teacher, he may bless the day that-the sentence was executed,. Unfortunately this is not the usual couise of cause and effect; nor is the personal reformatipn of the, offender the sole end of punishment. ’Phe machinery of government is very- in* adequate to deal properly with young criminals. When the Resident Magistrate sentenced the boy to two days’ imprisonment, and a whipping,, he did the best thing Hd could have done With the reformatory appliances at command. To have imprisoned him for a length ol time Would Kdve beeh have - placdd h.im in ; a yimpus. in .whiph he would have have utterly wrecked .him for all time. The tendency to vice in his character Would haVd been strengthetied and confirmed ; his moral sense- oveuld have been blunted, his tastes degraded ; he ' Would l have becothe unfitted '*'fbr respectable in .. life,;. r . his thoughts and feelings would ’ accord only with those of r the, , r lost. That there is in him a tendency in that direction is pliain throdgh what bas happened. UerTstole, f »jhpi' led -aiiother into crime, he has been punished ; and society congratulates itself on having* vindicated the ofjthprlawr im the person of a boy who, in ail likeliis more sinned against than he has sihriedP 'Tt ! inay Be well for society to ask has its duty been fulfilled, now that this 'poor lad*is once ,more Ipt loose into the society or family that has trained him so badly 1 We think not. A few weeks back we drew attention to a sermon preached by the Rev. R. L. Stanford on “ habit,” and it seems to us this affair is an illustration of the working of habit. We should be glad if the training of all these unfledged criminals could be traced. : "It is veryeasy to ascertain whether they can read and write—most children can now-a-days. These are excellent acquirements, but they may subsist side by side with very inadequate domestic training ; and ifeisat conscience isinstructed and crime rendered abhorrent to the moral sense. All the birch rods in the universe can never compensate- for bad training there. Such searching investigation into the family arrangements of young, criminals: might be inconvenient; •' might sometimes inflict pain in, the minds of weak, well-meaning" people'; but in that case the punishment would fall in the right place, for the child is commonly punished for the mistakes or sins, of its parents, ?The various movements now bn foot; the “ Refuge for, repentant women, the Sailors Home, thoi Servants’ Home, the Working Men’s Club, Good TernplariSm, 1 Young Meti’s Associations” indicate the value society places upon the prevefitibtt and cure of bad habits; Everyone' ef tbpse societies, is baaed upon the conviction that means must be provided for securing beneficial moral associations and nurturing' pure and moral habits of thought and actiofW Amid svich energetic, efforts after good, however, the one pressing necessity; of a reformatory for .young criminals has been oyerlbbked.’ We are spending hundreds of. thousands annually in bringing people from abroad, and are neglecting to utilise the human material bom and nurtured in our midst. Instead of birching a boy and turning him loose to be shunned by respectable companions, and driven to associate with others bearing his own moral likeness, he. should be;withdrawu from the adverse Influences to which he has been isubjeotediplaced ta»ght r to use his hands, and trained in habits of' sobriety atid industry, Pi ‘A’juvenile reformatoiy- might be made self-sup ril porting , but, if not, it is surely ©Equally a, duty to lay out a few pounds a-year in preparing a lad growing up, for future usefulness, as it is to build immigration barracks for strangers, and bring those we do not know into the country at a cost of twelve or fourteen pounds a-head. If the lab«.of the stranger is worth so much, to retain that of the native is surely equally valuable; and unless it is accompanied by moral worth, it is valueless.