OUR MODERN YOUTH.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 97, 5 October 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

OUR MODERN YOUTH.

I- (from Fraeer's Magazine ) To any close observer of society, the ral and intellectual condition of the ing in the present day is not the Kst remarkable peculiarity of our age. lot although laughing comments upon foe of the ungraceful follies they exhi- % are common enough, the subject |ms hardly to attract as much interest Pit deserves. AH who are practically igaged in education must, of course, |dy the condition of the strong mind, |a matter of individual concern; but I a matter of public interest, we seem $rdly awake to 'the deep national imi|rtance of the mental condition of the jling generation. It is »©fc that the ijung are little considered-; we have rearly debates upon popular education ; . re have competitive examinations, and j Jniversity Reform Commissions; 'but; iall these the point in question is the ■ iounfc of knowledge necessary -to be Kyen for the practical purposes of life |n various classes and positions ; they £gard the future, while the condition >f "those now entering upon the praefciii duties of life does not enter into these discussions. But it is this actual •ondition4o which existing systems have irought the young of our own day^ it %■, the evidence which they are giving »f their .power to cope with the great problems of society ; the prospect they bold out to us of future national good or nfil, which appear to us to engage little ittention. Yet, to those who consider it, the mental condition of the young at the present moment offers many strange ilculiarities which cannot be without sffect upon character in maturer years, ; ior therefore without influence on the ibcial and political life of the nation, on ts opinions, its literature, and on the . raining of a future generation. Surely iuch manifestations are worth attention. |In endeavoring to explain and account br some^of them, we will for the prejent look at the upper classes alone. : diiiy wider survey becomes toe complicated, and lets in to many other quesdbns of social relations, which puzzle lie inquiry, and render it more difficult o trace the peculiarities to their source. Even in this narrower field there is more than enough to perplex, if not to baffle ;he observer. 'The first thing that strikes one in nixing with young people now is the bjjsence of 'that diffidence or timidity which has been supposed to belong to inexperience. There is in them generally, though in different degrees, what n the few may be called «elf-possession, rat in the many must be called s-elf-Msurance. Afraid of nothing, abashed it nothing, astonished at nothing-, they ire ever comfortably assured of their' town perfect competence to do or say) Mb right thing in any given position. r ■^schools, in universities, in military ■• ppleges, or in the world, wherever the; Roung are more or less conspicuous. : Dior are they confined to the male sex Bone. A girl of eighteen goes with asj much assurance to her first drawingbom as the boy just out of school goes to meet his first introduction to his irofessional superiors. Their elders emember such days as momentous wriods of agitation or nervous srhyless, and accompany their hopeful iffspring with words of encouragement ; rhile, in truth, it io more probable that he daughter will support the mother's iffidence, and the son kindly patronize [is father in the forthcoming trial to heir nerves. One fear alone would E capable of unnervieg either. If the uth could imagine that his companions spected him of any df the poor-spirited alities which are summed, up under IP awful accusation of being * green ;' •jthe young lady who last week ex- • banged school-room frocks for ball- , wm dresses, could suppose that anyone quid doubt her perfect knowledge €>£■ ft and society, of all proprieties of dress, fanners, and conduct, — then, indeed, a loud might come over their mental tenity, and that grand repose of. e}f»satiB r action might be disturbed ; ■ |t there is littl« fear of such trouble Jling upon them. If it were not for iriooth. cheeks, baptismal registers, and jnpfcy talk, we should rarely suspect ■ i^m of youth. Truly the talk is the ital snare. Registers we might not onsultj cheeks may owe much to art, k the tongue is indeed an unruly ipiber. In manner and conduct, the tsuranee of a settled position, or the ijf-assertion of tried character, may e assumed ; but the tongue is loosed, Bd lo ! all disguises fall away. Rushfg with characteristic audacity into nestions of literature and theology, iprals and politics, their age stands tiickly revealed. Then, according to •m mood, we may laugh or weep , as | hear the morning's sermon and last •gilt's partners discussed with the same Hand ease by a set of young ladies ; ljp heroes of twenty battles criticised Kf beardless boys, as they settle their Bt&ties before a mirror ; grave theofeical points, for which in former ages en were content to die, settled between f courses by creatures who were |rning their catechism last month ; witical questions and the characters public men disposed of in a few tois by lads whose own expenses being necessarily a blank, $* 'fy least taken care to learn ?«ss6ns from history ; points of con- | ct i puzzling to those who best know I trials of life, or rumours of foulWed scandal, blasting honor and fppiness in a breath, talked over by jffe whose untried lives station has outwardly pure, even though ffii has failed to keep them pure in |i<l or gentle in feeling. |Want of reverence is one of the ■Nori faults of the young in our day. Hj^ it should accompany self-assurance BNu'ng wonderful, though jj j s no t MjJto. say which is the cause or the ■I 1 * .of the other ; whether the undue jHfWh- of self-importance first hides Mfo iis the relative proportions of

what" is- out of self, or whether, being first devoid of that noble feeling that pays instinctive homage to all that is great, we are driven to seek satisfaction in poor and arid admiration of ourselves. This knotty question of precedence in mental infirmity we are fortunately not obliged to decide; 1 enough for us is the fact that in some I manner the tendencies of our age have fostered a peculiarity apparently little congenial to youth. For it has been commonly supposed that, left to its natural instinct, the young mind is prone to reverence. Though, often rash and -presumptuous, youth has generally shown these faults in over-calculating its strength for every great and noble deed that had fed its hero-worship, and fired its enthusiasm. A lofty ideal was present, and the untried courage spurned every worldly obstacle. But the presumption of our fast generation is no such heroic feeling. It is not born of hope in future achievei ment, but of overweening satisfaction in i actual achievement. It says not '« Wait and see what we can do ! " but, " Look and beheld what we have done! how deep, we are in the world's lore ! how free fromfoolish prejudices! howfar above ancient objects of veneration ! '' Those who enjoy this consciousness of inward strength naturally look not, as the inexperienced of former ages looked, for advice and encouragement from some whom they respected or revered ; but, on the other hand, they are willing enough to bestow it; thus their elders are saved a world of trouble ; may have guidance if they will accept it, dfemis- : sing that old-fashioned hobbling guide! called experience. It is time •they; should acknowledge that in place of. one ! , Minerva, whom Athens was proud of, we have a whole generation born ready armed for every conflict whose swad-dling-clothes are a panoply of wisdom. No wonder that they go their way rejoicing. They know everything except their own ignorance and the few things that may chance to hide, and divine everything except the feelings which these peculiarities of theirs are apt to excite in differently constituted minds. Nor, as we said above, are they chary of their superior wisdom, but willingly impart it ; the misfortune is that the terms in which it is expressed are not always clear to the uninitiated, to the decrepit understandings whose culture was mostly affected while slang was denied the privilege of decent society ; so that a new dictionary must needs be compiled before the sagacity of the fast school can be usefully digested into a new proverbial philosophy for common use and guidance. JNil admirari is almost necessarily the motto of such a school. It has been at all times the resource of fools aping wisdom; but now we believe it is not a mere affectation, but a sadly-genuine state of feeling. Various causes have combined to wither the poetip element in the young mind, and with itnaturally decays the faculty of admiration, the son-rce of some of our^truest enjoyments and most elevating emotious. The youngest can rarely be content now to sec, and feel, and enjoy i they must also, or rather first, judge> compare, and criticise — a process all the more rapid the fewer the grounds possessed for comparison and judgment. Many would seem to have been born old, so completely has the glass of life worn off before the fulness of life has been even tasted. They come from country homes and London seems quite commonplace to them. They go to the theatre for the first time, and are perfectly composed ; for ever a la hauteur des circonsCances, they criticise the arrangements, the acting, the getting up, and the audience with the aplomb of an habitue. They go abroad, and no contrast seems to prompt an inquiry or awaken an : emotion of surprise. They see the grandeur of nature, or the marvels of art, or the triumphs of science, and they may approve^ but not wonder ; they may express a judgment, but not ask a question ; they may be satisfied, and gratify science or nature by saying so, but not be wraught into that state in which fuller minds feel overwhelmed by the presence of the sublime, and yield themselves with a sense of fuller life to the emotion which finds no utterance. Never, perhaps, were such varied excitements presented to eye and ear as in the present day ; but it would seem that, in the absence of the pure and simple spirit of enjoyment, the excitement itself is the sole object. It is not the music or the scenery, or the riding which is the attraction, but the party with whom these pleasures are to be enjoyed, and the dinner or the dress involved, according as it is a male or female imagination that dwells upon the prospect. It follows that there is little medium between excitement and ennui ; aud that the latter quickly resumes its sway till some 'new thing awakens a moment's curiosity, or promises a fresh stimulus. This love of excitement explains why, in the midst of the prevailing apathy, there exists an insatiable craving for what they are pleased to call fun. Strange enough are some of the things which go under that name. Outre dress, outre language, outre manner, and outre flirting, all come under this head. Even in the female use of the term it often includes slang, smoking, and a somewhat questionable love of adventure ; while used by the nobler sex, it would be hard to limit | its signification ; since ranging through every puerile amusement, it has been seen also to embrace that rare ! delight in other men's peril, which inI spired certain chroniclers of Indian horrors and certain amateur camp-fol-lowers of Garibaldi — voluntary witnesses of a nations struggle for life or , death, who rode out to a battle field to get an appetite for breakfast, and made merry over the squalid equipments of an army of heroes.

Such are some of the frantic efforts made to escape from ennui, that familiar demon of cold imaginations and vacant minds. It seems superfinus, aftar these things, to speak of bad manners, since nothing else could reasonably be expected; but they claim attention as indications that those points of feeling of which good, manners were the supposed expression are no longer held to be so essential as to be assumed where they do not exist. When once the outward semblance of chivalrous feelings ceases to be the traditionary costume of the gentleman, those only will have good manners who truly cherish those feelings. (To be continued.)