New-York tribune., 1876-03-11
rHE ROY OF THE PERIOD.


If there is q time for everything we suppose
there is time in every boys life when such
outbreaks as the street scrimmage between the
Freshman and Sophomore classes of the College
of the City of New-York of last week may be
expected The warm -blooded young animal,
whether colt in the field or lad at college,
must have leave to kick or rush" to Ild him.
self of his viciousness, and the less notice
taken of il the better. Good sense and good
breeding come to even horses of fair strain
of blood. with years, and We may safely trust
TO time to educate the boys. But in the mean
time don't let them imagine themselves heroes
because of the temporary notoriety OF their
outbreak. There is no necessity for them
to hurry to the front with expiana-
tory letters, OF boasts of their proWess
in knocking off high hats, backed by
the opinions of admiring policemen OF
the class whom they style guttcr-roughs.'
Their fight was reported just as any other
street scrimmage is reported; policemen and
public looked upon them precisely as they
would at the young bears snarlng and snap
ping in their pits in the Park. The whole
affair was in no sense heroic or manly, and
while the boys at homo may be of gentle
birth and breeding, on this occasion at least
they took the role of the gutter-rOughs, and
played the part as to the manner born. Boys
will be BOYS, no doubt. But when their youth
leads them into vulgarity and rowdyism, they
should not be led to fancy that they have won
admiration from even the street rowdy whom
for the moment they emulate.
This matter is, of course, of tTiiing impOr-
tapce. II illustrates, however, our remarks the
other day upon the prevailing passion for
notoriety and the lowering influence OF II,
especially upon young people. Everybody has
an ideal boy in his mind-a ruddy, OutspOkcn,
manly fellow, full of heroic fances and absurd
ignorances and cOnceit, tumbling into rldlcu-
lous mistakes with every STEP but rising steadily
ND to honorable manhood. Every father, whose
boy il vet mass of flannel in the cradle,
knows the lad and sees him his companion In
tbe future. The world has always owned him,
and been proud of him. The old Greek delights
to find in the "white -limbed, clear-eyed youth
the warrior who shall avenge his wrongs. All
the way down through our own literature,
from Chaucer 10 Thackeray, while the
Englishman may be brutal miserly,
shOpkeepcr or savage, the English
boy is ingenious, gallant, kindly. The
world has paid this half-quizzical homage
TO the boy because the boy has deserved It,
Nature fights hard To give each new man
new start in life. If the lad be come Of de-
Gently honest we'll hammered folk, the natural
impulse of his youth and ignorant innocence is
to lift him to a higher grade than theirs. He
will fall INTO terrible blunders from his cOnceit,
plume himself upon his scraps OF knowledge,
or, as in the present instance, mistake roWdy-
ism for gallantry but cOncclt and mistakes
will correct themselves, the more quickly, too,
for wholesome neglect. Let him alone. In
wear or two he will be man enough to blush
for that which he boasts of now.
The American boy is too much coddled aud
held up to public notice, especially In low
school of literature Novels, shoals of maga-
znes. and newspapers are devoted to exploit
ing his prowess. Certain spectacular dramas
hold up nightly his adventures as pirate, sol
der. etc. to crowds of other boys, who set out
fired with the noble ambition for fame, and
end in the statOn-hOuse. We shall be told,
no doubt, that these remarks refer to a lower
class of young lads and of training than those
represented by the combatants the other day.
The effect of notoriety is precisely the same.
II induces the boy to fancy that his place is in
the front of the stage and that the foolish heat
of his youth Is an admirable noteworthy mat
ter. Practically his mistake matters little to
society; his conceit will be sure to receive the
prick some day which will remand him to ms
proper place and to more rational views. Bus
IN. lesson costs the poor fellow hard price
to pay. ----------.