Litchfield enquirer., 1858-01-14
pipes in and about. London extend to about
 l2,000 miles. -, = ''~'-' -
Bows.

Boys.
 The Boy is piece of existence quite sepa- 1 rate from all things else, and deserves epa- rate chapters in the natural history of man The real lives of boys are yet to be writteu. The lives of pious and good boys, which en. rich the catalogues of great publishing sosic. l ties, resemble real boys life about as much as chicken picked and larded upon 6 spit, 1 and ready for delicious eating, resembles a free fowl in the fields. With some few honor- able exceptions, they are impossible boys, with l incredible goodness. Their piety is mon- s:rous. A mans experience stuffed into 6 lit. ] tie boy is simply monstrous. And.w are soundly sceptical of this whole school of juye. nile pate ds foie gras piety. Apples thGt ri- pen long before their time are either diseased or worm bitten. ' ] sSo long as boys are babies, bow much are they cherished! But hy.and-by the cradle is need for another. From the time that . babe becomes boy until he is young man, he is an anon alous condition, for which there is no special place assigned in Nature. They are always in the way. They are always do- ing something to call down febake. They are inquisitive as monkeys, and meddlesome just where you don't wish them to be. Boys have period of mischief just as they have measles or chicken p X. They invade your draw rs, mix up your too+ h-powder with har-oil pull your laces and collars flom their repositories upset your ink upon invaluable manuscript tear up precious letters, scatter your waftrs, stick everything up with experimental scaling wax ; and spoil all your peus in the effort at spelling all your paper.
 Poor boys What are they good for [ It is ah unfathomable mystery that that we come to our manhood Gas the lsraelites reached Ga. naan,) through the wilderness of boyhood. They are always wanting something they must not have, going where they ought not to be, coming where they are hot wanted, saying the most awkward things at the most critical ] times. They will tell lies, and after infinite pains to teach them the obligations of truth, they give us the full benefit of frankness and liter"lless by blurting out before company . whole budget of family secrets. Would you take quiet nap? Slam-bang go whole bevy of boys through the house Has the nervous baby at length, after all manner of sinEinEs. trottings, and maternal bosom opiates, just fallen asleep! Be sure an unmanneriy, boy will be on hand to bawl out for permission to do something or other which he has been do- ing all day without dreaming of leave. | Who shall describe the daily battle of the hair and the hair and the bath, the ordeal of aprons for the table, the placing and moving up and the endless task of good manners? lf there is one saint that ought tu stand higher than another cn the calendar, it is a patient, sweet-tempered children's nurse Talk of saintship, simply because man lived in a cave, and was abStemious, or because he died bravcly at the stake What are faggots or fiery sticks for few hot moments compared to those animated faggots which consume uurs- es and governesses for months and years, to say nothing of the occasional variety of ta- rental coals
 Are we, then, not on the boys side flo be sure we are. It is nct their fault that they are boys nor that older people are not patient.
 The restless activity of boys is their neces. sity To restrain it is to thwart Nature We need to provide for it. Not to attempt to find amusement for them but to give them an opportunity to amuse themselves It is as- tonishing to see how little it requires to satisfy ] & boy-nature.
 First in the list put strings What grown-up people fnd ill thousand forms of business and society, boy secures in a string He ties up the door for the exquisite pleasure of unteing it again. He harnesses chairs ties up his own fingers, haltets bis neck, coaxes a lesser urchin to become his horse, and drives stage which, with boys is the top of human attainment. Strings are wanted for snares, for-bows and arrows, for whips for cats'.cladlcs, for kites, for fishing, and hun dred things more than can recollect A kaife is more exciting than string, but does not last so long, and is not so various. After a short time it is lost, or broken; or has cut tho fingers. But string is the instrument of endless devices, and within the management und iufenuty of boy. The first article that parents should lay in, on going into the coun. try is large 6o0 ef tuine. fhe boys must not know it. If they see whole ball, the charm is broken. It must come forth hyste. riously, unexpectedly, and as if there were no more
 Fer indoors, next, we should place upon the | list pencils and white paper. At least one hour in evety day will be safely secured hy that. A slate and pencil are very good. Bpt as children nlways aspire to what men do. thev account the unused half of letter and bit of pencil to be worth twice as much as anr slate.
 Upon the whole, we think a safe stream of water near by affords the greatest amount of enjoyment among all natural objects. There is wading and washing; there is throwing of stones, and finding of pebbles there is euy. neering of the most laborous kind, by whi,h stone and mud are made to dam up the water, or to change the channel. Besides these thing, boys are sensitive to that nameless attrectit.., uf beauty which specially hovefs hbout tie sides of streams and though they may not recognise the cause, they are persuaded of u Q fact that they are very happy when there slc stones with gurgling water around them, shady trees and succulent undergroUth, moss sl.;l' water-cress, insect, bird, and all the population Of cool yatercoprsss "