The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-05-30
ABOUT BOYS.
A biological "@d Phy siOIogieaI study
An English writer discourses of the genus
Bov in this pleasant style:-

A APsychOlOgIcaI aud Phy siOlOgieaI study
An English writer discourses of the genus
Boy in this pleasant style:-
THE IDEAL BOY.
"There is the boy as bebeld by the poet or
philosopher, the boy he appears to the painter,
and the boy as he is seen by the everyday peO-
ple in the world. The boy of the poet and phi.
iosopher must always be spelt with a capital B,
SO as to distinguish the idea conveyed to them
by boy from the notion that the rest of the
world gets. A Boy in Wordsworth's or Bulwer's
pages is no more like Tompkins minor, boy at
Grayfriars, than bison is like brindled cow
When the boy with the capital b. is not
actively engaged in being the father OF the man,
he is making himself the expression OF the free
dom OF nature; his sturdy legs tell of Liberty;
there is Hope under his hat, and Joy beneath
his jacket-he is an inspiration to the bard
Also, In the Bulweran theatre the boy plays
most distinguished part. His clear eyes have
not yet Witnessed the divorce of the True and
the Beautiful; his eaeerness has not felt the chill
OF doubt; his affection Is not poisoned by the
world he believes, and therefore he speaks; the
hard outline of the present is softened by the
same rosy mlsts that in a few years will only
hang over his uture-and all that sort of thing.
Truly the Boy is not to be despised; there is
fine writing to be evolved from the Boy. II is
from some deep insight, like this, into the eter-
nal fitness OF things, no doubt, that Goethe de-
lights in his autobiography to claim this title
for himself and, indeed, to use it freely, instead
OF the first personal prOnoun. Where an ordinary
J
didn't seem as ii | could get at the bottom of it
Il didn't forget this tor a long tlme,'-th i'm
mortal Goethe writes, The Boy was staggered at
this'-'the Boy was conscious of something
which he kept to himself-'and all this made an
impression on the Boy Perhaps, however, it
may only be popularity of style and not of
philosophy; it may be only way OF treating a
boy as q quasi-proper name, Just as we say baby
is tractous baby feels his eet' which are re-
ported to be everyday formulas in the best regu-
lated nurseries. But about the philosophy there
can be no doubt, when we learn, on the autho.
rity OF Hegel, that Egypt represents the boy
hood of the world We have no doubt it does,
but do not quite know why Greece is the youth
OF the world, because its history begins with the
youth Achilles, and ends with the youth Alex
ander; so there is, no doubt, analogous rea-
son for the position OF Egypt
"But HegePs philosophy falls short of that
apotheosis OF boyhood which the unctuous Mr..
Chadband is represented as pronouncing in
Bleak House, When that CITY propagandist
has secured the poor little street Arab from
'Tom-aalone,' for an improving discourse
about the trewth; : he bids him raise uD his voice
in Thanksgiving, not because he is rich or happy,
but because he is Boy-a thought which
makes Mr.. Chadband burst forth with that hymn
of pTalse:-
"'O running stream of sparkling joy,
... To be soaring human boyP
Very excellent toolng is this; and vet it is not
more absurd than much that is gravely said
about the putr UugGris oy those whose penetrat-
ing gaze looks through the concrete TO the ideal
boy;
youthful NazaIte; no razor comes upon his
locks. OF course we do not forget all the pic
lures of squalid little Oeggars with a short scrub
OF hair, but they are utterly concrete, and have
nothing to do with the question. No, the pain.
ter's boy has either the cherubic curl, which, as
Keats reminds us, always seems to be "bown
back" or else rejoice in long wavy hair, which
escapes from the confinement OF the very gen
tlemanlv cap which he wears. The boy need not
have been particularly strong upon his legs;
indeed, a developed calf is inadmssible in his
structure; but his strong point must be his eyes:
they must be absolutely unsearchable, and if
they are fve-and-twenty years too old tor him
they are ali the more ideal for that, as in Mr..
SAINTS picture OF John Milton at twelve years old.
THE ORDINARY BOY.
THE rest of our paper must deal with boy
with a small b. Some people think it is very
dreadful animal; some have said that boy is
the most mercless creature existing; not the
typical Domitan or Nero, or whoever it was
who stuck flies with bodkin, but the casual
boy whether by way Of teasing dumb animals
or OF bullying his own species. No doubt this is
terribly cynical view to take; but 1t would not
be very far from the truth TO describe boy
generally as the most inconsderate animal
under the sun; Tor this trait is not unconnect0d
with much of that thoughtless dariCg @ and that
reckless generosity and independence that gives
so real charm to boyhood. For some folks
boys have an lndescrlbable charm; the idea ef
being schoolmaster is to some the most alIur-
get ON well with boys; sort of unconscious
ireeInasonry, a frank confidence is at once esta
blished between them-Jhey understand one
another. Such a master, with no apparent
effort can get an amount of work out OF a
class of boys that Eve other men, toiling night
and day, would fail to achieve But, again,
there ale others who seem 70 have a consCitu-
tonal vendetta against bows. Sometimes it is
lifelong antipathy; sometimes it is peculiar to
aparticular time OF life; as, for instance, in The
eyes OF young lady OF seventeen boy is gene.
rally an unbearable nuisance.
But not very long ago a venerable arch
deacon took up a strong vie3 about boys in the
University pulpit at oxford, and adapting verse
in the Epistle of ST. Jamts he declared that
every kind Of beasts and birds and of seTpents
and OF things in the sea is tanned and hath been
tanned OF mankind, but village boy can no man
tame; 1t is an unrnly eyil'-and sometimes one
is tempted to endorse the preachers view when
one chances to catch sight of the boys In a
country church who are out OF view of the
clergyman, when the schoolmdster mods on a
warm Sunday afternoon-boys asleep stretched
at full length in the chancel; boys pulling each
others hair; boys pinchng the accessible girls
boys masticattDg adamantlne apples; boys suck
ing the most potent peppermint; BOYS thru;ting
out the most audacious tongues, and pulling the
most hideous grimaces. We have seen such who
really were an nnruly evil.