The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-09 00:00:00

SLAVERY-WHAT IS SLAVERY

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—As some author says, and as I casually hear
others also say, something tantamount to this—" Dash
into your subject at once, without wasting your time in a
wordy preamble, if your object be to interest those who
read what you write " This may all be very true ; and
no doubt many who are fowl of wielding the pen have
this failing at the starting point, as very likely may be
my case ; but, sir, it's a failing I've got, and I can't help
it, for I love a good preface, whether it be in concocting a
letter for the columns of a newspaper, or writing the
exordium of a work to be handed down to posterity,
and extolled or criticised as may be by thousands ; yet
there is nothing, I say, like a good beginning—a good
exordium often leads to a good peroration, and, therefore.
whether some of your readers think me prosy, or other-
wise, I will proceed in my own way, if it is agreeable to
you, and not encroaching too much upon your space.
The world we live in is a constant scene of bustle and
confusion—it is the great kaleidescope ever being shaken
up, and ever presenting new objects to the eye. If we
wander abroad and mingle with the out-of-door world,
many things must be rivetted on our attention, some
things which appear laudable and good, others, on the
contrary, which are greatly to be deprecated and radically
bad. It is a common saying, that woes and troubles
seldom occur sing:y, or at distant intervals. Calamities,
in families especially, generally come in clusters. There
are few who have not, at some period or other, personally
verified this truth, and given fresh sanction and currency
to the proverb. Family disasters and bereavements will
sometimes multiply as swiftly as the chastisements of
Job, or as the plagues of Egypt. Some people's sorrows,
at certain eras fall thick and heavy, like the showers of the
tropics, caused, too often, by the reckless conduct of their
offspring. And this leads me to my present subject, which
pertains to parents of a higher sphere in training and
bringing op their children, and I will endeavour to shew
that slavery, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking,
slavish habits, are too often carried on, by wilful neglect,
or otherwise, even in this grade of society. I will, first
of all, then speak of the young men of the present day.
But to reverse the picture, I will shew that though they
are not made slaves of like those so often brought before
your readers' notice—they are, indeed, worse, for they make
slaves of themselves which is perhaps the worst of slavery.
We see around us many allurements and attractions
for the unwary to be led astray, and let us see where the
fault really lies, whether with the young men themselves,
their parents who have reared them and let them loose on
society, or those who receive large fees in order to initiate
them in one of the higher callings—" the profession."
How often do we notice the dangerous weeds which are
sown in the hearts of children by inconsiderate and im-
prudent parents ? Alas I what years of sorrow and
misery have fond and foolish fathers and mothers laid up
in store for themselves by forgetting the divine admoni-
tion " Train up a child in the way he should
go." The indulged and uncorrected one—grown up
into the wayward boy, the undisciplined self-willed,
extravagant youth—too often sows the seeds of disease
in his own frame ; and that, too, just at the period
when a father's hopes and a mother's fend expec-
tations would, under proper training, have been
realized, and their toil rewarded by seeing an industrious,
well-informed, useful race of sons, to whom the cares and
the business of life might be intrusted. As well may the
farmer expect to reap a full crop of wheat from a field
rank with docks, nettles, and thistles, as the weak
indulgent parent hope to realize such joyous feelings
under an aspect of things like these.
But to young men themselves, a neglect of early disci-
pline and watchful restraint is no less a source of bitter-
ness. Now, if we only walk along the principal thorough-
fares in our town, we cannot help being struck with the
number of " fast young gentlemen ' of apparent respecta-
bility and intelligence, who, it is evident from their air
and manner, are sacrificing the freshness and vigour of
their hearts and minds to the most frivolous and fruitless
pursuits, and often undermining for life the foundations
of health and happiness.
A really and truly intelligent and virtuous young man
will have neither vices nor vanities ; he will not be in the
habit of spending money on expensive pleasures—in dress
and ornaments, at theatres and casinos. His spare time
I will be given to books—to the acquisition of general
knowledge, or to mastering the theory of his profession,
and getting ready for possible openings and opportu-
nities ; to innocent recreation ; to intercourse with
I' respectable friends and acquaintance; to getting or doing
good. He will risk nothing by late hours at night ; he
1 will excite no suspicions in the morning by his heavy eyes
) and languid gait—his gaping and absence suggesting the
, idea that some folly or debauch had made him stupid and
useless when he should be wide awake. There will be no

lack of energy in the study of his pursuits ; he will not be
continually wanting more time to get up what is required ;
he will not stare with ignorant wonder, or be silent with
conscious shame, when appealed to about something he
ought to know, or might have known, and the thorough
masterhood of which, had he known it, would have been
IDS,meipq.4lo,l,o,oAllinakAPArghiggsnirTiOTs
made—whether it be in the attorney's office, the surgery,
or the church.
Who, then, are so far the slaves to their own dissipa-
tions as the insubordinate, the indolent, and the loose
extravagant spendthrifts, who not only dishonour their
own home, but also their name ? And are not such chiefly
to be found among those whose parents commands,
though oft repeated, have been treated as empty breath ;
whose own will, and not a parent's desires or orders, has
been their only law, and who have been allowed to be
their own masters in youth, and be, moreover, their own
curse when they grow into manhood—peevish,
disappointed, and jealous of restraint or control ? Further,
it may be asked, who are the greatest pests to society
but the proud supercilious youths, who swagger and toss
their heads as they walk through the public streets,
showing off their Albert chains and silyer-headed canes,
smoking their cigars or foul meerschaums, and whose
presence in a house is the cause of apprehension and
alarm to every prudent parent ?
Such will ever be the inseparable relation between
cause and effect. The thorns and thistles which sin, and
Satan have planted in the human heart, if allowed to
remain there will grow and thrive, and ultimately end in
abject poverty an 1 ruin. Still, let it be remembered, on
the other hand, that harsh and violent measures are not
best calculated to make lasting impressions. The man
who trains the tender shoot around his bower, or over his
wall, does not secure it by an iron band, or drive a nail
through it ; yet it must not be forgotten that he does bind
it and secure it from the winds of heaven, the spoliation
of men, and its own earthly tendencies. Parents, I leave
these counsels with you. Ponder them well, and be
careful to eradicate the growing tares before they exhaust
the soil, choke up the good seed, and spread their baneful
influence all around.
I have dwelt at some length upon the respensibnity of
parents towards their children, showing how, in many
instances, a well disciplined kindness may be appreciated
and tend to their future welfare, and I nave also endea-
voured to illustrate how over-indulgence, and mistaken
kindness is too often the unwitting cause of their being
led astray when once the opportunity is afforded them of
leaving their parental root. Now, sir, is there not
frequently another cause, do you think, why many young
men of our day are so ' fast' and reckless. Is the fault
entirely to be attributed to the father and mother who
brought them up ? Not exactly. What becomes of the
sons of many aristocratic families, and families also of the
middle sphere, when the time arrives that they should
leave school ? Is not some professional occupation fixed
for them in accordance with their sphere in life, and,
most likely, in nine cases out of ten, they are never con-
sulted as to which they must follow, whether suited or
unsuited, to their natural tastes ? Well, what is the
consequence of all this ? Let us look, first of all, at the
medical student, and fancy for a moment he is placed with
an eminent surgeon, the fee paid down being 150 or 200
guineas, under whose care he is intrusted, either by deed
of indenture, or otherwise, to acquire the knowledge of
his profession in a given space of time—say, for three,
four, or five years. Now, how is that time occupied ?
Does the eminent professional who rolls about most of the
day in his handsome equipage, paying his visits to the
wealthier class of his patients, always bear in mind that
the " student" is educating for a surgeon, and that the
time is fast drawing nigh for him to commence on his own
account ; and does he ever reflect, moreover, upon
another thing—the intricate examination he must undergo
ere he can bo launched into the medical world ? One
would think not, having had, at some time of his life, to
gq through the same ordeal ; but, I fear many of them
arse very lukewarm in such essential matters as these, and
that when they have once " fobbed " the fee, the pupil may
look out for himself, and it well behoves him to look out.
" Look out," did I say ? The expression may not be
considered in the eyes of some as a very elegant one, but,
nevertheless, it is characterised by force and brevity.
Yes, that one curt utterance should be the parental advice
given to every son on his leaving home to enter life. But
brief and expressive as the term may be, like every thing
else useful and good, it may be abused, and often employed
by the selfish to designate a course of low cunning; it
may also, however, be used with advantage to " point a
moral " as well as to "adorn a tale."
That youth, who, four or five years ago, left his com-
fortable home happy, ardent, and virtuous, to enter on the
'• battle of life," and who is now sunk and degraded into
a blasphemer and a dehanchee, would 'never have ruined
himself, body and soul, by his slavish habits, had he acted
on the simple, but valuable advice given him to " look
out." That noble young fellow, to whose manly spirit you
were wont to look up to for guidance, and whose genius you
thought to be sublime, and who is now the brilliant, but
bad centre of a sottish Circle of boon companions, would
never have reached his depth of degradation had he been
on the watch when sinners enticed, and when the wine-
cup was nigh. Need I multiply Illustrations ? I think
not. If, sir, anything more is necessary to induce your
young readers to be, in the best sense, on the " look out'
for their highest interests for time and eternity, it will
only be to hint, that every •unit of all that dreary corn•
pany with whom they have been identified, and who at
the last shall "suffer the bitter pangs of the second
death," might have stood upon sure ground, had they
only avoided the many shoals and quicksands which have
daily beset their walk through life, and :had they, when
warned in their hour of danger, reverently and promptly
obeyed the injunction—" Look Out."—Yours, &c.,
Liverpool, Feb. 3, 1857. VERITAS.