Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1859-04-08
TIE CAUSES oF CRIME.


Noticing several frightful crimes in three
Of our principal cities, the Louisville journal
remarks that all these deeds of horror are sad
evidence of the improper training of our
/ young men. 1t might also have added "and
Of our young women also"
/ We believe that our cotemporary has cor
rcctly indicated the source of these terrible
outrages The truth is that a pernicious and
radical error pervades the entire system Of
/ youthful training in America The two prom
nent and glaring defects Of that system are,
first the lack of moral teaching, and next over
indulgence There is scarcely one in hum
drcd families which pays regular and strict
attention to the inculcation Of moral and re-
ligious precepts in the minds Of its youthful
members. Boys and girls are alike reared
with the dimmest and most obscure percep-
tions Of their obligatians towards society and
their Maker They are instructed to some
extent in various branches Of merely human
knowledge, and in the course of their educa-
tion they obtain passing and evanoscont
glimpses of holier and more important truths !;
but rarely, indeed is a soduous and pcrscver-
ing effort made TO create in their understand
ing and their will those fundamental conyic-
tions Of right and wrong by the rigid obser-
vance of which they can alone expect peace
of mind and happiness here or hereatter.-
Their intellccts, indeed, are enlarged. but
their hearts are abandoned to all the vicious
and impure passions of our fallen and grovel-
ling nature. Hence American children too
frequently grow up with few and faint ideas
of duty and virtue, and are left in their con-
duct through life TO the guidance of unchast-
! enod desires rather than to the suggestions Of
an ever-wakcful and enlightened conscience
Is itat all surprising that so faulty a system of
training should eveutuate in folly, dissipation
and irivilous pursuits, or darken into horrid
vice and revolving crime
Over indulgence is a potent auxiliary to
imperfect training. Our boys and girls are
scarcely out of their swaddling clothes ere
they are treated as young gentlemen and in
cipient ladies' While yet under the disci-
pline of the teachers ierule they conceive
themselves competent to take their places in
society. Boys of fifteen talk politics. fre-
quent public amusemonts smoke cigars, and
imbbe Intoxicating fluids. Girls of fourteen
or fifteen chatter scandal. arc Gstidious and
elegant in their toilet, play the woman, prate
of marriage, and converse among themselves
about their beaux.
Long ere the years of discretion have ar
rived both sexes know too much Beardless
youths are converted into rakish men of the
world. and simpering misses, who ought still
to wear pantalettes. are thoroughly grounded
in the arts Of Irritation and coquetry. To
anticipate modesty, propriety, moral rectitude,
and a sense of religious responsibility from
such materials would be about as reasonable
as to expect to find humanity in a tiger,
courage in hare, or genius in an idiot.
Seven eighths of the crimes. which the
press is constantly compelled to record, p?o-
coed from these two frightinl sources of mis-
cry and vice. As long as parents and guar
dians shrink from the performance of their
duty. so long will the evil continue un-
checked. It is impossible to plant brambles
and gather roses. No one can habtually
swallow poison with impunity. Children, if
surrendered to the anarchial government OF
their own bad passions, will necessarily be-
come vicious in youth and depraved in man
hood. If untaught the essential restraints
Of morality and religion, they must inevita-
bly, lapse into the worst Of habits. and any
apparent conformity to the accepted canons
of life will arise less from settled convictions
than from the fear of the law. If boy alb
stains from avenging iancied wrong by the
bowie knife or the pistol. because he breads
the prison or the scaffold, it is evident that II
that terror were removed he would rush
headlong into murder; but, if he relrains
from the indulgence Of furious animal
wrath, because he knows it to be an infringe
ment of divine and moral law, he is pro-
tected from crime by panoply a million
times more impregnable than any which the
laws can furnish. If young lady who in
dulges in gossip scandal and backblting is
simply told that the practice is unbecoming
and vulgar, she may abandon the habit for
fear Of censure but if she is well indoctrin-
ated in the belief that slander and evil
speaking are violations of divine precepts, her
reform will be assuredly lasting, because
grounded in conscience And thus we might
illustrate at any length, the efficacy of moral
training, and the certain and miserable con-
sequence ensuing upon its total neglect.
Until parents take to heart these primary
truths and apply them diligently in the cul-
ture of their children's minds and hearts,
we can see no prospect Of marked improve
ment. The jail and the penitentiary are
institutions of human weakness and wicked
ness Let men learn To amend their lives
aud these hdeous embems of an imperfect
civilization will disappear. Moral reform
must proceed from within outwardly. Make
men better, and the prisons will fall to ruins
from diapdation and disuso. Teach the ris-
ing generation to fear God and obey his COM
mandments. and crime will progressively di-
/ minish N q. Bee