The weekly Butte record., 1863-09-05

III tut holI III oAouIo SuuOSAlt Aa4i, "-Aos
a frightful thing would society become
reconstructed by Boys! If Adam had
begun life as a lad, the world would
have been q deal worse it is, We may
depend upon it. He would not have
required an Eve to tempt him to steal
apples, and what life he would have
led all those harmonious animals =
Placable as they might have been, he
would have done his best to set the bull
terrier at the garden cat, or he would
not have been a boy, YOU may take my
word for it. Some boys are doubtless
worse than others; but there is, in my
opinion, no such thing as good boy,
except in the story books. If the least
approximation to such phenomenon
appears in a school, all his companions
twit him with the unnatsralness of his
pretensions. "He boy-no, he must
be a gal. ah, Muf, Milksop, Funk,
Molly y-coddle.''
However bad boys may be if brought
up alone, they are infinitely worse when
in masses. What the Tom Brownies
call fthe tone' of a school, is always
below the public opinion Of grown men,
no matter of what class, age or country.
The instances Of cruelty which arouse
general horror in the newspapers, occur
among boys as a matter of course; nor
do remember of but single instance
of whole boy community rising in
armed revolution and pitching into"
the oppressor. | use that boys phrase
designedly, although, like all boys
phrases it is vulgar one. The author
of the Ingoldsby Legends, with Ii
cense for which not even bis agreeable
muse can be pardoned, has composed an
amusing poem upon "a Vulgar Boy" as
though boy could possibly not be yul-
gar.
fingers OUT
is an action as natural to the boy world
as sucking tofy. sch, yes !" "Ah !"
"Would your "Spell able !" "Jer-
ryuselami" etc., are sarcastic observa-
tions as familiar in the mouths of high
born Etonians in their ''playing fields"
as of the youths with half a pair of
braces and one shoe in a White chapel
lane; nor is the tone one whit less def
ant and impudent in one case than in
the other.
The low bred boy can whistle per-
haps with amore aggrayating shrillness
since he has perfected himself in that
art periods when his aristocratic cotem
porary has been compelled to study
classic authors, but otherwise there is
not pin to choose between them. |
disbelieve in all ameliorating influences,
while boys are allowed to mix together,
and egg one another on to mischievous
atrocities. If, indeed, whole genera
tion of boys could be brought up in sol
itary confnement-well secured-a re-
might be effected, but the
operation would be difficult, and there
seems to be no philanthrop;c enterprise
in that direction. If it be asked with
triumph: How is it, if boys are as bad
as you represent, that they become, as
men, respectable members oc society ?
| confess I can make no reply. Per
haps their savage nature is mollided
when they begin to appreciate the soft
ening influences of the fair sex. Per-
haps they are suddenly impressed on
their emergence from Barbarism by
being brought face to face with Civil
zation. Certain it is that the worst
disappear or find some
legitimate channel in the world of men
such as law-for their tranquil exer-
else. At the Universities, the immedi-
ate transition from the boorishness of
boyhood to the refinement Of grace and
adolescence, is very remarkable. In
Mr.. Doyle's famous book of foreign
travel, there are two companion pictures
Jones at the Opera abroad and Jones
1t the Opera at home. In the one case /
he is in morning costume, he is yawn-
ing, he is Tapped in vulgar ease: in the
i