TO OUR BOYS.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 147, 7 July 1883, Page 251

TO OUR BOYS.

'."•'". . \ (By Lictob.) jteBAE Boys (for so perforce I mast address you, a' better expression, tliougli, in truth, •Brery few of you really are boys in the hearty, .boisterous, English sense of the word), — '"■ /You resemble your sisters in that you are too fungous in your growth ; you are like ill-weeds •Which grow apace. This pace it is which seems i;o kill all 'the boyishness Nature may have :irnplanted in you. You have few of the virtues, bd& most of the vices of nien, while yet boys in Your peculiar development has necessitated Fipeculiar word to describe you, and to the brogue an Irish policeman we are indebted for the word larrikin, which having no meaning to the ■-uninitiated, yet means so indescribably much to familiar -with the Colonies. There is no . 'doubt, my, hoys, that your breed is unique, and . :not by any means one to be proud of. That this Is your misfortune, rather than your fault, I am perfectly willing to gvanfc ; but I vcJkst take you as I find you, and that is, radically bad, rotten, -core-through, before you are ripe. Many urge that the climate lias a bad effect upon young lads, in support . of their theory the indisputable deterioration of English-born boys when v" *tliey. have been out here a short time. This v I «3annot admit. I, submit that climate may take *he colour out of your cheeks, and some strength \ perhaps out of your frames; but I beg most -.; emphatically to deny that it puts foul language and tobacco into your mouths, or whisky and beer , ■ -down, your throats. Yes, boys, the language aised by the great proportion of you is hideously ; and obscene. I have over and over .', '-again, heard words from the mouths of little ■■fellows going 'to, or coming from, school, so revolting, as to make me (hardened man of the .■world, though I be) almost sick with the horror -of bearing baby lips so vilely polluted.". You think if manly, to curse, and drink, and chew, Vtfoolsthat you are! The manliest and bravest, &ncl best of us, have been men whose thoughts, Vhabits,. and language were types of purity and ■ „ .^simplicity. I could instance hundreds, but one is , ■. -sufficient. The memory of that heroic soldier,; aipble nian, and sincere Christian — Henry Have- . lock— should be. a. beacon to every young man, V. -arid, his history a text -book in every school. .IDdri't think, my poor boys, that I mean to be too '. 3iar,d upon you" The most beautiful flower runs . .to seed, if no.t. cultivated ; the richest fruit loses ■ its flavour .if not pruned and manured and grafted ;; the cleanest river becomes nauseous if it is' made a receptacle for sewage; and nothing is easier than to pollute the clear stream of your : minds with' filthy conversation and vile habits. ; ~Y,oti are often sent to schools, where, through tho ::pig-headed fanaticism of your parents, you are -debarred from all religious instruction, even of ■the. most unsectarian kind. Your teachers are! too often, if not drunkards, drinkers ; chosen, not for their power of imparting instruction, hut fortheir caj>acity for passing examinations. This is a huge mistake, for very often the cleverest x jman is the worst teacher, especially when dealing of incongruity as yourselves. B^t-"ordina'ry, Filiay^almost add ignorant, man, Hpclecl by books, and possessing the gift of •^Sikehing^ will do better than a senior wrangler -who has not the faculty of making his meaning ,clear to youthful intellects. One mighty dif- . i,&rerice j have noticed between.- you and your ■sCompee'iM of the mother kingdom — you don't know. hW to pla.y, they do. I am strongly of -opinion that the best playing boy will make the . best working man. It is painful to watch .colonial school-boys when work is over ; you come •sauntering out with, a half -hearted, what-on-•earth-shall-we-do-with-OLirselves sort of look on -your faces. The eldest amongst you sneak off to "enjoy (,?■) your forbidden and forbidding 1 cigars, or pernicious plugs, or, still worse, get hold of some girls quite as precocious as yourselves, and— well, tho less saiclabout the conversation and ainnsementp in which you indulge the better. The youngsters wend iheir way to some congenial '•corner, where gambling with buttons or marbles. " v interluded with squabbles in which language is used,. that would shock a navvy, form their pasvfcimes. I would far rather see few good stand-up ' fights than hear boys indulging in these foul , slanging matches. As labour is scarce, you arc taken away from school long before you have begun, to taste the pleasure of learning for . learning's' sake, and if you can possibly avoid it, you never open a book afterwards, save, peril ap*, 1 Wn3 trashy, vilely written novel of tho blood and thunder order. I hear that your most popular ' Jbooks are Hay ward's idiotic, and in many cases ;> liarmful productions. I could forgive you for 1 reading Marryat, whose .boys, though somewhat -exaggerated, are at all evewfcs manly ; but. the ludicrous impossibilities, strung together by Hay■■■■vravcl are fit for none hut lunatics. Try Kingsley, ■or even James. Grant, for a change, boys; you Vill learn something from' them, anyway, and no liarm either. . Some few of you take to football, ■cricket., and aquatics as yeu verge on manhood, • but, unfortunately, you defile these grand sports " by the villainous language, and I fear I must, add ; unfair practices, which you are too apt to indulge ia. This. is why colonial teams and op.rsmcn are ■/ ; in "sueti bad odour in England. You bays of the second generation have so much' degenerated that •, ,if soine. means be not found to check the down- ■ -ward tendency, your children and grand-children \vill be Absolutely unbearable. The question of ■•' *'^yrhhi shall we 'do- with them?", is fast forcing ' i&elf: on the minds of parent?, philanthropists, ari'J . i^litk-ianSj and none seem able to' givo a satis- ; VMctory answer. The establishment of Univcrii- " ties, has begun, and now people are talking of ./; 'truimng-ship.sj' both mny do- good, ; and help hi so\rtfe\me;tßure to' give you a little o" that sturdy, ' ' •'-■§i?l£^ii-ft.lP ! ' independence,' which, softened by , ■ i -'^G'.^^psS 'iiiid' politone^s, makes 'us so- pvov.d of - '■ thd^;o'fe'cs ot : . onv English public schools T-nd v UtiivpVsitios. Aa I said before, I would bc^in by ' ' -''iteaehin'a lypti.liow to play. I believe in tho in:-na 'Z's<mm:i* <cc > r JP or ? sa}! ' 0 t ' ICO1 T iu^i^enscly. At" I presfn^'.yo'tt &•$ no good. Bumjjtious, vulgar, ;' - illiterate,! blasphemous, licentious, chicken-hearted -.jfby» bid fair tomake very second-rate men. iYou lift-ant bbck-bpno, ' .both morally and . physically.present' th^e*cTopm ofßuben seems fated to be fours''^" XTfistable; 1 '''44'. r.'^tiei? ' thou . shait ' n©t ";<esceL" ' ■;\'^-.''^ : J^\/ /■"■-■'■' ■'•'■■