THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3733, 11 December 1880, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1880.

"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, As, to be hated,Jneeds to be seen ; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face

We first endure, then pity, then embrace." —Powt—• Essay on Man.— Epis. ii; Line 217. We are glad to see that oar leading article of Wednesday has caused a difference in the aspect of both the Post Office and Naval Hall at night time. The blackguards who congregated in those places, much to the.; disgust and annoyance of decent townsfolk, hare taken the hint casually thrown out re the police paying them a visit; and hare deserted their pristine scene of vicious pastimes, and are now to be observed at nightfall literally swarming in the passage leading to the Prill Shed, and in other places where the light of Luna will not disclose their festive sports to the unsympathetic townspeople. The police hare informed us that they are short-handed, and therefore are not in a position to take the measures suggested by us. As an instance of our remark that " the schools had no restraint on young lads," we might mention the following circumstance t— A friend of ours was passing down Baillie street when he was accosted by a man who informed him that he had no control whatever over his child, who was only eight years old. Our friend went into the house and saw the child, and expressed himself rather strongly upon the fact that the parents could not control the evil passions of this Jack Shephard in embryo, and furthermore asked the dutiful offspring if he went to school P The child replied that he did, but that he had left the Catholic schools because they thrashed him for " playing the wag." He further informed our friend that he went now to the Government schools, where they never caned him for playing truant. The latter portion of this information was given by the *|j|d with great glee. This will serve to >!>s§? the mistake people labour under. Had Che boy been treated to a judicious amount of corporeal chastisement, it would have not only rendered him more tractable, but would have enabled his parents to exorcise their control over him. "Tfc the other day said a few words about the apparent carelessness of parents in regard to the mini culture of their children. The mind of every child is like a mirror, and every action whether good or bad of its parents is reflected in it. Thus it is that | bad actions will be equally well received as goqd, and it therefore behoves all parents to be particularly careful in setting before their children such an example as will give them an inclination to follow a righteous instead of a brutaUsing and immoral life, and should endeavour to train their offspring to take an interest and an active part in all intellectual and scientific pursuits. Unfortunately many parents have an erroneous notion tbat it is well to allow children to see all that can be seen, and imagine that permitting them to " loaf" about the streets late at night makes them independent. It does make them so with regmrd to thiir own parents, who -by allowing them to have plenty of latitude gradually lose what little control they had over them. Too many parents are too, much occupied in the worship of Mammon to inculcate into the minds of their children a love of truth, and a desire for intellectual knowledge, and neglect to give them that moral training which is bo necessary. Without moral training we are fostering the growth of educated unprincipled rogues. The gaols now are full of educated men, who, not receiving moral training while young, turned their, education to a wrong account, and ended in gaol whef they^ might have been

respectable citizens. The educated larrikin has become the pest of Sydney and other large colonial towns, and the amount of crime committed by him never comes to light, as his education adds to his cunning, and enables him to elude the vigilance of the police. Thus the authorities cannot tell the amount of crime committed, and the statistics are a mere bagatelle to the real amount of crime. It is a grave question we would like to put to all parents :—Are you, by neglecting the moral training of your children fitting them for the position of rogues, or honest, upright—principled men ? And, Do you always endeavor to set before your children such an example as will cause them to respect you, and lead good lives themselves ? These questions we would submit to our readers, trusting that this matter may receive more consideration than it does at present, as it involves the moral safety, not only of the rising generation, but of their sons after them.