Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] TUESDAY AUGUST 16, 1892. OUR OWN BOYS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4193, 16 August 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

TUESDAY AUGUST 16, 1892. OUR OWN BOYS.

Being the extenoed title of the Wairarafa Daih, with which it is identical

When we come to deal with the Young Colonial, it is not really necessary to draw a hard and fast line between one variety and another, a3 in the case of the Imported Boy, Life in this country is lived to a great extent on one plane, and there is a comparative sameneef) of environment and something approaching to an equality of opportunities, among tho youth of our own breeding. In consequence of this, the type of Young Colonial is tolerably homogeneous. At the same time, we shall be wiso perhaps in keeping to the orderly sequence of description which we introduced at first; and thtuefore, while confessing the non-necessity of quite so much classification in this instance, we will present our publio with the portraits of two Young Colonials: to wit. the son of the colonist with capital and the son of the colonist with Lard hands. It is barely necessary to say that the remittance man pure and simple leaves no heirs behind him—resembling in this respect the nmle, for Nature abhors the perpetuation of freaks. Let us "11 be thankful that the creature who adds the life of a ruffian to the birth of a gentleman is, for all practical purposes affeotmg the Colony, infei'- | tile. Indeed; it is satisfactory torefleet that he is not even preserved in a colonial museum,

Now as touching the spatter's son, He is often a fine fellow in his early days; fond of every form of manly out-door life, shooting straight, riding like-well, riding like a Young Colonial (for tbevo is no higher standard of comparison), physically brave, levelheaded. He goes to school; and let it be npted that there are two or three good schools in New Zealand, in which some of rte traditions of snglisli public schools may he found tra'nSt planted to a sojl where there is no reason why they should not talb root, But jt is at the point when ho leaves school that thp test qf the lad's character and training begins. It often happens with the'squatter's son that his father sends bim" Homo" on a trip, Perhaps it is to Oxford or Cam!: bridge; perhaps to read for tho Bar j occasionally it is to study medicine—though this latter career is generally reserved, we notice, for the sons of our doctors. Anyhow, in sending his soiMo'see the old folks, the Young Colonist of the earlier generation owns to a feeling deep down in his heart fori't tliera U something lacking to the boy,'' Is il'mahnera ? |f—no,, not altogether that, His' manners! are not bad; they are simple/ as a gentjem.Ba'a' should be; and if his speech is more positive than polished, why, polish is a trifling thing, _ yory likely'it may follow upon the visit to English jfolafons; yet it is not for sis'that ijie'fatjier hopjvbep he sends his'p WW- ft.it, .then, knpwledge of thp world that be Would have the boy acquire ? Partly, lorhaps; and yet he is already shtdwderin some ways, bettor able to tajte care of himself, moreversed in the trioUeries of mankind, than his father was at the same age. Still, there is a longing in the elder's heart to see at.:; undeflnable something in his alter ego that he has missed, and so the boy goes uoine. At this stage we Bna!! W» .°ff er ,.f* ppinipn about the desiderated quaiuj'. if'ii.pd'why itieahseut, our resjcjleirs mja'sb presently j utlge' j' Igt it suflfipo to saytbafi the defipjepoy', whair ever it be, marks exactly the meetipg; ppint between the young cojoniajof gentle station and his humbler cpmr patriot the labourer's sop, jßach. lacks the same something; cases, their strength and weakness, are identical. Well, the youth goes to England. He finds thore, as a matter of hard fact, that he is a smarter fellow in porne ways than the average of his new acguainfan.ceß." Tp say fhat he can do'tilings well wjiic!) they can harjjjy do at all, k only to'repeat the truism

i that proficiency in any art is a mere 'question of practice..' Piobably the only outdooor pursuit in which he is unversed is skating—and that he learns prcoious soon. He ridfE shoots, dances, plays criokot and football, at least as well as an' of them; is not seldom a finer ilooking fellow; is infinitely r. m difficult to humbug. If ho finds i'.'at he is Uninformed on general topics, be is not troubled by the discovery. He picks up very quiokly as much of the art of conversation as is necessary for dinner-party or drawing room equipment ; and an ordinary English tailor makes him look like an Englishman born,

• Yet he gains less than ho loses by the trip; or perhaps we should rather say that what he gains he would be bettor without, considering its cost. The advantages that England brings him are relatively unimportant, since they consist for the most part of things external to the young man himself; ho learns, very likely, to turn a compliment in the latest argot |of society; and he gets the degree, or certificate, or diploma which he professedly went lor, The disadvantages which befall him are such as these ;- He loses hia colonial contempt for drunkenness, and his eyes are opened to almost limitless possibilities of practising evil, undreamsd of in the Colony. With all the vigour of his strong colonial character, he plunges into the worst dissipations of the old world. Lord Beaconsfield took for the motto of one of his later novels, " Nosse omnia haec salua juveiUri'u," This is merely a gross overstatement of the truth that "fore-warned is forearmed ;" but our colonial hero adopts it in its fullest significance, He labours to know everything—and at the outset ho is not hampered by strong convictions about right and wrong, He knows good and evil; but in his viow good need not necessarily be followed, nor need evil be esohewed, for its own sake.

After" seeing life" at Home-not without a teen eye to the main chance, for the Young Colonial rarely wastes much more money than he can afford to lose, and rarely fails to pass the examinations that he had in mind

—be comes back to the Colony. His father's heart rejoices; but we are tempted to wonder whether the heart of the father is satisfied in the long run with the result of the travel, Some of the graces of manner and speech have possibly come; the old liking for the lifo of the country seems undiminished; the boy's clothes are greatly superior in their out; yet—just as there was, three or four years ago, a something i lacking, so now there is a something added which bears no relation to the deficiency originally observed, The vacuum is still there; and the acquisitions do not re-assure the father, The Beitirned Young Colonial turns, however, by no means bad in tbo judgment of the world. He is no fop, no prig. All the same, he returns with knowledge, and tastes, and views of life whoso indulgence warps his character continually. He is a good enough citizen; but he is now a lejs desirable friend for other young colonials. And, as years go on, keensighted men find it difficult to aocord him the same real respect that they gave to" the old man "as long as he lived. The son of his father is popular enough, without being esteemed; honest enough without being exactly accounted honourable; gentlemanly enough, yet without (ho true heart of a gentleman, He is as life-long circumstance has made bim; and the blamo does not really rest with him, It may seem to be an indictment against the mother country, to represent the Young Colonial as getting all his worst developments from a visit to England, That (his would be an unfahwnference, is shown, we think, by the fact that his .father, born and bred in England, eame to Now Zealand at precisely the same age without any of the moral defoots that we have been hinting at—nay, with the etrongest moral bias in the Opposite direction. The fact is that in the case of the Young Colonial there was a certain untitled ground which offered a rich harvest for any seed-sowing; there ; was a certain blank space, like a sheet of paper on which a man may write things good or bad. Lot us reiterate what we said in an earlier article—we speak only of the type, the tendeuoy, taking no account of the exceptions, unless it bo to express our thankfulness that they are many.