The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1877-11-20
faltering faith and revive your droop-

faltering faith and revive your droop.
ing courage. frl frq ra'
OF all the pestilential scourges which
afiilct society, those persons whose con
versation and remarks are constantly
tending to lower the standard Of NOR
ais and behavior among young people,
are the most TO be dreaded. II does
not mend the matter but makes il all
the worse, that these persons are very
often good and well-meaning, and en-
tirely innocent OF any intention 10 do
harm, and would feel exceedingly hurt
and abused, il told they had done so.
They are benevolently disposed, and,
wishing to look indulgently upon the
thoughtless errors OF the Young, they
do not always wisely discriminate, or
consider how much their words may
mean, or what they are trying TO ex-
cuse. These people will tell yon that
such and such thing would be right,
but you can't get young people to do
II. This is false and permicious
statement. A young man or woman
worthy OF the name will do what is
right If it is shown TO him. Ii is wrong
and hurtful to expect too little OF any
body. Men aud women, boys and
girls will do and will be Just about
what We let them know We expect them
to do and be. II we set up for them
low standard, il will be partly our fault
II they do not go higher. III we expect
them to be petty and narrow, mali.
cious, spiteful and reyengeful, it is
very likely they will be so. "You can't
put old heads on young shoulders" is
one OF the popular remarks most falla-
ciously applied. No, you cannot, or
at least. you ought not to be able to do
il.
Thank Heaven for that bright, sunny
youth, when the brain over which the
fair locks cluster thickly is unvsxed
by the hard problems which mature
life must bring; when the grass is
greener, and the sky is blner, and the
birds sing more sweetly than they ever
will again.
when meadow, grove, and stream,
lhe earth aud every common sight, doth
seem
Apparelled In celestial light" M
Thank Heaven for that time and for
the memory Of il when the head is not
bowed by care, or yexed by anxiety for
Tomorrow, or regret for yesterday
Thank Heaven for that time when those
young heads on those young shoulders
may be full Of merry, happy, innocent
thoughts; and long may it be ere they
have thoughts Of any other kind. But
let the individual who proclaims his
in the possibility OF the sur
gical operation Just mentioned be very
sure that it has not already been per-
formed before he undertakes to apollo
giZe for certain misdemeanors OF yonth.
de may be by no means confident that
the young shoulders he is talking about
do not already sustain a head that is
old; older in, vice and in sin than the
oldest head now resting in yonder
Another remark very frequently of
fered, IL, boys will be boys. As q
sentence, this is grammatical. As n
statement IN Natural History, il is pos
sibly true, aud therefore unobjectiona-
BILE. As an apology for acts that are
and contemplate it is mis-
erable failure, and an atrocious libel on
a long suffering and much abused class
IN society. propose now to take up
weapons in defence of boys; for my
own sense Of personal responsibility
will not suffer me TO hear their name
thus degraded without entering my
protest. The world is very much in
debted TO boys, and il will never try to
get along without them. There is
species OF creature sometimes desig-
mated in the same way. which it would
which it has never vet been able TO
abolish. With good will toward all and
malice toward none, scorning low
and hypocrisy, rough little
or a good deal, but frank and fearless,
full Of life and spirits, often blunder-
ing, often rushing into mistakes and
getting into trouble in his love of fun
and OF seeing something going on, yet
never dong a mean or eowardly, or
act and never deeming il
beneath his dignity 90 acknowledge a
fault or make reparation for an injury,
upright and downright and straightfor-
ward, with a general tendency toward
the building up of character lofty
and noble, such is the boy who will de-
velop into the highest type Of man
hood; into that manhood which ma
tions delight TO honor, that manhood
in which the weak will find protector
aud the oppressed defender, that
on which woman may safely
rely with perfect trust, and to which
society may unhesitatingly confde its
dearest interests, that manhood which
will ever be found true 10 itself and 20
It's Maker. But of those creatures
whom nature designed for boys but
who have fallen from their high estate
and become mere fellows, what can be
said? By some or by all of these
marks, can you recognize them. They
smoke and they drink. They delight /
10 be seen IA the saloon aud on the |
street corner. They are profigate and
Iicentious aud are very anxious that |
people should know il too, for they
fancy il an honor. They are tricky |
and dishonerable in their dealings, and |
hippant and coarse and vulgar in their
and behavior. They de- |
light TO show their disregard of every
thing that true men hold sacred. They |
ieer at religion and blaspheme the |
name OF the Most High. II they are
where religions exercises are going on,
they delight TO show how utterly shall |
low and contemplate they can make |
10 oppear by complete dis |
regard Of the proprieties Of the time
and place. They are perfectly false /
and unreliable in every relation Of life,
and as IL all this were not enough, they
try to appear worse than
they really are. Every kind OF pre-
tense is bad: TO pretend TO be better
than we are, is hyprocrisy; 20 pretend !
10 be greater than we are Is vanity and
folly; but TO pretend TO be worse than
we are is at once the worst and silliest
pretense OF all. IL 10 Of such that the
remark is often made in plying apollo
gy. Boys will be boys" There never
was anything more inapplicable. They
are not boys at all, neither can they
ever be men, at least not without a
complete change in life and character.
They are creatures, fellows, things.
and unless they mend their ways, such
to the end Of their days must they re-
main. IL is a terrible mistake To sup
pose manhood can ever be reached by
any such course. Maturity will be lust
exactly that for which youth has pre-
pared the way. The chances are ten to
one that the good-for-nothing in early
life will be worse than good-for-noth-
ing when time shall have slvered his
hair. IL is mistaken kindness for So
ciety TO cover up or excuse even the
very beginnings Of IA lapse from decen-
cy. IL IL worse than mistake, (pro-
judgment according 10 the
results.) Let every individual who
desires 10 see a stronO. pure rare 81