The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-04-03


were very strong that the lad. if he were
good for anything possessed either in
fact or fancy the advantage BY which the
hgood old tutor set so great. store. The
fcontlitions of his htewere as much in "a
vof. Of the chance "a those of his sons life
E,ara against it, His time had been
passed between his home and bis private
tutor ssh His Eholndays, at mitsumner
and Christmas. peacefully" spent in the
| society Of his sisters, We're diversified by
occasional long visits from their young
lady friends, IwhoMt the a. exigeAcies of
house room or travelling usually brought
one at a time; and the neighboring par
ish also not improhably anshriped some
local divinity, five years older than, him
self. r.. =" .-ss '8' 5e.'-'f1"" ~ f."
+. Under these conditions, when his Six
WEI ks were ended, he went back TO what
be was plensed to call school ;'Aor, in
other words, to the companfonship of SIX,
eight or ten boys fIom nine years old up
wards, to most of whom he was an object
Of exceeding awe because he had bed
| room to himself, and sometimes went in TO
supper in the. dining room, and helped his
tutor to correct the press for the Protest
ant tracts which the Carisbreoke case, or
some such portent, had made necessary
|. for the neighborhood. With the other
big fellow, his solitary ~classmates he was
bound in the enduring chains of an eter-
nal friendship, and the condolences ex-
changed between the pair during the LONG
walks In which, they, not being confined
to 'bouuds," were free to indulge, We're
intimate and intense. There could be
no cricket, and they had, outlived the
solace which the small boys still found
in tops and marbles. If they had no
love affairs already in existence, 1t be-
came an absolute necessity to nyent them.
The mental con.iit thus springing out
of solitudei or want"of larger conApsnioni
ship was fostered by the habit Of CORES
pondence which had been handed down
as Il traditions. and which burst into an
exuberant vititality in the early years
Of cheap postage. by way Of prelude to
its subsequent extinction But for the
existence here aud there of old desks
filled with letters, the fifth and sixth
form boys of the present time could
scarcely be brought to believe in the let
ter-writing performances of their private
school representatives, a generation since.
The school hoy life as we have describ-
ed it in the housesrOf private tutors was
familiar throughout the rural districts.
Curates in charge, whose curaces were
almost life tenancies in the days of plu-
ralities, and rectors with small benefces
or large families, were everywhere to be
found with a college reputation which
secured them a succession of pupils; and
public schools were not in. much favor
with the middle class in Evangelical so
cietv. The so. called school" was an
institution distinct from the establish
ment of the clergyman who prepared
young men for the universities" =. and
who, with numbers varyiny from two to
six, at ages from sixteen to twenty, often
found himself with a good deal of re-
sponsibility on his hands of a very diff
ferent kind The 9 school of the 'pri
vate tutor did no particular harm, Or
chard robbing had passed out of fashion,
and if it was not evident at once how
the materials for the 9TH of Novem Der
bonfire were collected, the farmers mend
ed the hedges and asked no questions
!. The 4Fyoung. @men fer, the U.niEeEsi-
ties" too often had other pursuits, and
the genuine ''freshman" of the past was
not recruited from their society. This
iingo1rous youth, being .ineAPabI~s -nf
scrapes. and not giRel to, disreputable
ways Of employing his spare time ior
thought, fell in love, as rule, becau Sc
he had nothing else to do; and in this
lies, it may conf iently be suggested, the
principal explanation of the contrast
which the, public school, boy, his son, is
now presenting to his experience. An
other influence may to some extent have
operated to the same end, but not, as we
think, with any considerable force.
| Early marriages were much moreiln ia
vor during period of thinner .popula
ton than they are, now; and marriage
itself was with many persons implicitly
regarded, if not directly represented, in
the light of religious duty. 1t became
therefore duty to fall i'll love, as ne
cessary preliminary; and the youth sup
posed in a vague sort OF way that the
s'altar" and housekeeping would follow
at some future time as matter Of course.
But it is very doubtful whether the mat
fimonial reality was not too distant and
shadowy in prospect for any PRACTICAL eff
feet; and he loved, or became engaged,
as a thing absolutely good in itself, with
out relation to anything beyond! His
first love'Yas not ia his view the means
to an, end,i but the end in itself. 1t is
obvious that all this ser timental haze has
disappeared from the atmosphere breath
ed BY our modern youth. Other theories
lin explanation of this fact of social
l.ohange have been offered, and may pass
current in casual conversation. But
among these the good old times" doc
trine, which has been the unfailing re
source of later middle age from Solo.
man 8 time EDWARDS, never really count;
for much The girls Of the present ARE
as good and as charming as the. girls Of
the past, one the most obstinate CLAUDIA
| tor temporis acti" VIII not allow hi.
principle to be applied IN the case of bis
own daughters A little more hesitation
may be justifable in dealing with the
proposition that the external garb Of
young ladyhood in later times is respon
sfble IN great measure for the decline o
worship -
"A RoIygamIst.s Faithful Wife.