THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Ressurexi. TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2902, 4 June 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Ressurexi. TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1878.

In the annual report of the County Council, published in these columns a short time ago, there was a brief reference to a subject which; has aforetime been largely discusstJ, namely, the prospects which await that portion of the rising generation known as " our boys." It is generally admitted that in a new country the land—subduing the wilderness—should have a special attraction for youth as a means of livelihood, but the tendency of the age seems to be to concentrate youthful energies in the centres of population. No doubt cities and large towns possess great attractions for boys. If they happen to be of studious habits, they can, in these centres of population, satisfy the craving for study. On the other hand, if our boys are prone to imitate on a small scale the vices or failings of their elders, a country life would be to them a prison—an isolation from all that they conceive to be attractive or worth living for. How far education — in school and at home—may be controlled so as to direct the minds of youth into the proper channels of learning, and to develope the peculiar capacities of each individual, there is yet much to learn; for we have not far to seek to find instances of men who, after spending years in acquiring a knowledge of some profession or business, change front and begin life anew in another direction. In these cases there must have been a certain amount of lost times, misdirected energy and application, which the subject must feel have b^en thrown away. It may be that one who thus changes his employr ment is no moro successful, in the second than he has been in th« first. If ofien happens that when a youth comes to man's estate he finds to his sorrow that he has spent the best years of his life in acquiring a knowledge of a profession or busineas which is entirely unsuitable to his physical development and uncongenial to his tastes. Ii considering, therefore, the future of our boys, it is necessary in the first instance to arrive at a correct knowledge of their fnclinations, and then to see that their education is directed to secure the largest amount of success i*i that direction. Unfortunately—vre say unfortunately—in a new country, lads of a certain age attain a value in certain channels of manual labor which they could not attain to at once in a profession, or an honorable trade. By their labor they augment the income of the family, and they have a certain amount of " spending money " to themselves. Their ambition is small; they do not at that .age feel the want of education. Of ordinary acquirements they may be wofully deficient; of accomplishments, beyond billiards, smoking, and an acquaintance with sports requiring only animal spirits and robust frames, they ar9 ignorant. The present is with tl"»m everything. They view the dim future through the roseate glass of youth, unwittingly disregarding the time when the particular walk of life they have chosen may bfcome overcrowded, and they find themselves jostled out of competition by men of superior qualifications. A great del of the responsibility rests with parents, many of whom allow their sons, and even their daughters, to drift iuto employments for which they are unsuited,' and irany of whom are capable of better things. Present profit may be a temptation to allow lads and men to engage in mining, but of the number so engaged, we are fain to say that many lads now contentedly employed in various grades will in the future feel inclined to blame their fathers and mothers for not directing their energies in a more congenial direction. The County Council have sounded the ala-m. They have called attention to a problem difficult perhaps of solution. It will be for parents to consider whether it would not be better to give their sons and daughters a better chance during their early years, and put aside selfish considerations, in "order that the future of "our boys " may be more prosperous and more happy. The present gain may be all very well, but the future of many clefcr, able men may be ruined, by tlio disposition evinced to make as much as possible of the boys while they are boys, before they have had time to develop those inclinations and intuitive leanings which youth generally discloses in regard to a profession or business, but which the accident, of circumstances or the ueossities of Mj© fir- Uy so often

diverts into a channel which ends in premature wreck and lifo long disappointment.