Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-10-26
RUTLAND HERALD.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER "a, 1866.
Juvenile Offenders.


ally appear In every paper in the State,
We ooEld wish that something might be
started out as travelling companion TO
This wall" and in the absence OF any
thing better We viii OFFER Q Jew sugges-
lions:
a ooy u Burlington was recently
Aned 60 Tor stealing grapes. Two boys
IA Windsor were lined the other day 81
each Tor stealing chesJnuts near 9 gen
uemans house,-One Of them having
oeen previously told that they should
NOT be meddled with. IL is time that
the law agains. iruiI stealing was put
in force"
In the first place by way OF defining
our position, We remark that we do not
believe in taking things without liberty.
Let the line Of demaykatioI between
msJua and taioa be .airly drawn and pre-
served from obliteralon. We would IN
eulCate upon children, both OF a larger
and smaller growth the propriety and
duty Of asking permission Of the owner
before entering upon his grounds, even
for The purpose Of picking second growth
raspOerr!es. strictly speaking, 1t :
lust as much st,ai1sq 90 take man ber-
ries without permission, as 70 take any
thing else. Ii IS custom which sane
lions Tie practice and custom n this
county. and especially in this State, S
ore55y loose IL reference ~ many other
5hings besides berries
In the second place We Jelieve IN the
supremacy OF lawn Ii. practical en-
forcemeat O. the laws-and that it is no
yalld argument against q law. that it
has remained TO = grea- extent, :. dead
Letter. N the cases referred 70, It S
quite possible taa- me offenders de-
served to he dea.r with according to
law.
Bu5 -he question arise, whether any
greater odium should be attached to
ordinary boys who Jepredate on fruit
and beechnuts, than upon college stu
dents and soldiers who take lit, mel
ons, green corn, pigs and poultry nj tJ.
nm, and az considered by themselves
and n&ay others as having done a smart
and funny thing. We are inclined to
decide that question II the negative.
Bur, in the third place We have known
d lew individuals, the owners. OF choice
lrult, WAC never suffered from pilserers
Or II they did, they were unconscious Of
1t. How they managed 10 escape, we
are not prepared to state in detail. We
only know that they always manifested |
a friendly interest in the welfare Of !
young persons and this fact appeared |
to be we'll known to all the boys and |
girls o. the neighborhooa.
1t should ever be borne in mind that
there is "a good deal Of human nature"
up il the cugicles Of young
Americans They are nor unmindful Of
kindness and generosity on the one hand. |
Or Of cnurlishness and stinginess on the
other; and they are not slow to repay
In kind, according to the best Of their
knowledge recollection and belief
In The fourth place il might be well
10 Inquire who are the most influential
5eachers of morals and manners that
many eoys have. We suppose that we
have none amongst US that would fully
answer the description Of Old Fagin, the
lew, or his pupil the Artful Dodser,
mat We read Of in Oliver Twist. But
We have tull grown loaiers in great
abundance, who in1ess country stores
snd groceries, making day and night hid
,ors by Cheir profanity, vulgarity and D,
her tales ofadroit ka&very. And there
Ire always listening boys, who drink in
mis- kind OF instruction, assimilate it,
Ind carry the infection to all their asso-
,iases, Such are some Of the teachers
1ndeT whose training many Of the boys
u our State are forming their charac-
iefs, Some parents exert q counteract-
ne and salutary influence and others, by /
heir own dishonest practices, cooperate
With the loafers and embryo artful dodg-
Drs, Some boys attend the Sabbath
'ehool, and we would fam hope, receive
rood moral and religious impressions,
Jul the majority DO not. Some week
lay teachers endeavor to cultivate the
aculty Of conseientiousness, and, as one
writer has said, make conscience "
where none apparently exists. But a
majority OF teachers hardly even make
he attempt, and those who dc, find it an
lp hill business They are like the frog
n the well, that jumped up two feet
very day, and fell back three every
light.
We have known instances, not very
en-, IN which persons have made bitter
to teachers about the depre-
ations of their scholars, and those same
Individuals have raised a tempest on
mall scale If the teacher occapied any
,ortion of his school hours in repeating
he ten commandments, reading the bible
Z engaging in any kind of moral or re-
IciCus exercises. Notwithstanding the