Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1856-01-08
rHE HAml1w CIRCLE.
rrum the New York Life illustrated.
FAST YOUNG MEN. is1slt

rlof understanding for q man TO make o
fool ofhimself. Hence. though they are
bad enough in rsslity, they affect 10 be a
great deal worse than they are. They
assume vices though they have them moi.
and toll after wick edness ss phiIos Pliers
toll after truth. What throes or nguish
they endure in childhood 10 learning TO
smoke With what for,iluds they bear
up against the nausea Of early drink
What pains they take in acquiring the
slang Of their set! How fabofiously
they try experiments in disfguring their
persons until they have attained the pre-.
else ugliness Of costume dems ndcd by the
public opinion Of the body 10 which they
belong! How resolutely they deny
themselves every rational qualification
in order TO procure irrational With
what q fine nonchalence they sacrifice
all their future possibilities Of we'll. doing
and well.being! All because they think
i is something great TO be a perfect
fool h'4''"
And yet we have some charity for
these deluded creatures. 1t was no! sl.
together their fault that they adopted a
faith SO extraordinary. Rowdies, we
have observed, abound most where those
sec.s have most power tha, forbid or
discourage innocent pleasures. All the
sons Of George III. we're fas, young men /;
for George III. was a narrow. minded
bigot, bigot Of routine, who made his
palace the abode Of dullness and ,edum,
and who kept his children in an unnat.
ural condition Of restraint. ltis noto.
rious, also, that the sons of clersymen
are apt to be Of the fast species. And
there is city, not far off. which ia cele.
brated for two things-Quakerism and
rowdyism. In Germany, where there
are no bigols, there are no fast young
men. In France, we believe, there are
few. In American families, where the
sporlivc impulses ofboyhood are allowed
free scope as long as they are INDUCED
innocenlIy, and where the young are MOI,
nauseated with moral instruction and
religious observances, and where the
youthful mind is awakened and fed with
nulriment suitable to it, where genial
books are on The shelf, and good news.
papers are on the ta5le-In such families
fast young men are not produced.-
Where we see man who makes it a
sin 10 dance or TO take walk on Sun.
day, we see a man whose children are
almost sure TO wiring his heart by their
dissipation or their disobedience. Row.
dyIsn, we maintain, is something unnat.
ural. 1t is the recoil from sanc,imony.
If there were no mock saints, there were
no mock roues. Bigotry and rowdyism
are inseparable, for the latter is-,o
adopt mathematical term-the compile.
ment Of the former.
Know this, oh teachers Of youth that
| If yoa persuade boy that certain in.
nccent act is wrong, and the boy goes
and does the act so stiSmatized, he is as
much demoralixed as though the act
were really wrong, and every time he
does il, he sinks in the moral scale, and
prepares himself to do the worst acts.
That is the process by which fas. young
men ore made. az
To these remarks we will add little
personal experience. The writer Of these
paragraphs passed the greater part Of his
youth at a grimIy sanctmonious board.
ing. school. il was avowedly a secta
rian institution, and every effo,t was
made 10 inculcate sectaran doctrines.
There we're long prayers and Bible read.
lngs three times day. On Sundays,
the pupils went TO church twice, had
severe drilling ia catechism, Bible and
moral philosophy, and in the evening q
long palaver from the principal Of the
school. On feast and fast days there
was extra church. going, and additional
prayers at home. On Sundays all play
was prohibited, and no books were allow
to be read except n as no boy Dill
read voluntarily. The teachers, who
worked this system, we're we'll. meaning
enough, though excessively stupid =
partly from nature, and chiefly from col
Iege. Well, what moral results were
produced I? t5s
We solemnly aver, that in no commu
nifty Of which we have since had any
knowledge was there so low q mora
tone, go much outrageous wickedness
50 li.tles regard for The rights Of others
such habi,ual nastiness Of conversation
such proclivi.y for all that is mos
vulgar, hateful, and suicidal, such eyre
! gious conceit and gross irreverence as ia
that'teligious boarding.school. In ,wc
days we learned more evil in that schoo
than in all our previous life. The sub
lject Of conversation was one which can
no, be here be named. The viles, book.
we're secretly circulated. The constarI
source Of amusement was 10 burlesque
the minister and the Individual who read
4 prayers. To steal the produce Of the
neishbotins farmers-poor, hard.wofk
ing men, most Of them-was accounted
3 great glory. No mans fruit, within
FIVE miles Of that religious institution
WIS safe. Every boy shove the age o
/ fourteen smoked-uo. because he liked
1 Il. bu, because il was against The rules
and required 0 great deal OF trouble tt
escape detection. The delight Of tn,
older boys .wss TO go fsr into the woods
make . FIRE. cook . stolen goose. concoc
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