New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-10-08
ROTS IND GIRLS.

BOYS and GIRLS
The Young Mems Christian Associations OF
Massachusetts will meet at Lowell on the l4th
inst, and among the questions which have been
announced for discussion is the following:
"What shall be done to reach the boys oil
eight to sixteen years of age-thls being con-
4" fessedy the period of greatest peril to youth"
We do not suppose that the word "rcach"
here refers altogether to religious influence
for probably in persons so young the members
of the Christian Associations would be con-
tented with the preservation of reasonable
degree of moral innocence; and even this, such
is the precocity of American children, is not
always to be anticipated with certainty. Inc
palpable solution of the problem Is to be found
in a healthy relation between the parent ana
the child; and if reform is needed, 1t Is with
the parent that the reform must begin
There are no foreign expedients, there
are no scjentiic processes of education, there
are no devices of the most generous DeneVo-
lence which can compensate, IN the formation
of boys character, for an evil example or
for careless oversight at home. TO compll-
cate the question we have the whole train OF
inherited propensities and like in the father
is lenient to like in the boy. coarse genitor
will have coarse progeny. Moreover, 1t Is very
much, so far as our limited knowledge extends,
a mere matter of chance whether child will
be colored in his character by his father who
may be bad or by his mother who may he good,
or whether he will not reproduce either their
virtues or the vices of some remote ancestor.
There is temptation, so hard is the settlement
of the whole matter, to refer it to some mex
orable fatality; and many an anxious parent,
weary of constant effort and comparative fail-
ure has settled into kind of pathetic despair.
1t may, however, be safely affirmed that In
n majority of cases in which n boy goes TO the
bad his parents, or one or the other of them,
is alone to blame. A father who allows him.
self to be utterly absorbed in worldly affairs;
who makes it manifest to the quick perception
of childhood that the pursuit OF gain Is the best
business of life; who INDUCES himself III vices
which cannot long be hidden from the eyes OF
his sons; who is coarse in his speech and vul-
gar in his manners, or who preserves an Icy
dignity which repels confidence; who speaks
contemptuousy, if he speaks at all, of the cul-
tvation of the intellect; who does nothing to
develop the tastes and to encourage the gene
rous energies of his chldren-such father,
when shame and anguish come of juvenile
evil-dong may then remember how widely
different might have been the result, II the
highest of duties has been faithfully performed.
If to this negligence has been added the con-
slant evil of an over indulgent mother-of a
weak woman who will not believe that her
beautiful boy can ever go wrong-ot silly and
unfathful wife who secretly takes the side Of
her son against her husband should he make
the feeblest effort to avert the impending ruin
in such O miserable conjuncture OF mallgn
influences, we may be sure that the ruin OF the
child is predestinate, unless he has native
force upon the presence of which it is presump-
ton to count.
We have offered these suggestions because
we believe that for many years the parental
character has been growing weak and inefficient.
Not only is there too much reliance upon our
system Of public education, but there has been
a pretty general abdication of parental author
ity. Children do not love, or at least do not
treat their parents with the ancient piety.
They are disobedient without repentance and
disrespectful without remorse. Kindness
awakens no gratitude, and self-sacrifce no
sense of obligation. A father whose whole life
has been devoted 10 Ills CHlluIcI, WIN arc
dearer to him than life itself, may watch in
vain for some sign of thankfulness; and yet he
will still pursue the same unwise methods, and
endeavor by increased indulgences to win the
love for which his soul Is craving. And so the
domestic comedy-alas! is it not nearer
tragedy goes on. Master insults papa, and
miss DULLES mamma; wel-meaning observers
who tender their advice are requested to mind
their own business; from attic to cellar
the children are q pervading nuisancej ILL
treated servants give warning and are
dismissed; visitors shun, if they can, the house
which harbOrs such terrible infants, who grow
less and less tOlerabe as they grow older and
stronger The years advance; the little faults
of infancy ripen and rot into mature and in
corrigibe vices and these unfortunate chill
dren pass from the bud of peccadillo to tho
full and nOxious bloom of comparative de-
pravity, themselves destined to perpetuate in
subordination and to experience the discomfort
which they formerly inflicted.
In every wellconstituted household children
are at once safeguard against lapse into
the looser ways of life and al ornament bring