The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-12-07
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BOYS.
ny IGONOCLAST.


Mn Dear Bogs-An old man always stands
in awe Of boys-if he has any sense. When o
man has occasion to address crowd Of his
own age 1t Is great consolation for him to
reflect that In all human probability vast
majority Of his hearers are as stupid rs him
self, and II he talks drivel, they delight In
It'll But boysl All that ID quite different.
They are like so many king birds pursuing q
hawk They fly over and under and around
q speaker. They peck at him, and fly ahead
Of him. and come back and hurry him up,
and finally. IL they are too polite TO leer ut
him, they guess at what he is going to say.
They Jump, by intuition, to the conclusions
he must struggle for by slow logical
processes, and are ready to laugh Ia
his face, with good natnred banter,
when he finally reaches the end. There Is
the same difference between boys wit and
o mans as there Ia between bright new
| Ratchet and @ rusty old Ak.
| Did 1t ever strike you how harmless George
Washington would have been If he had been
armed with the old gentlemans rusty old
AK Instead of his own bright little hatchet2
| Perhaps you remember the poet sings
You may brulse with an ak. cherry trees. If
i you will.
But tho bright little Ratchet Ia the thing that
| will kill"
Thus you will see, that while 1t is f.
very Jolly thing to be boy, 1t Is q
very sad and serious thing to be 8
man, and all good boys should strive
against 1t as long and as earnestly as they
can 1t has always been great mystery to
me-and, indeed, to many other men-whY o
wise and kind Providence should ever have
insisted upon boys either dying or becoming
men SO far as practical results go, boys are
infinitely more valuable. Men are the great
cat gpendthriits la the worsd, and accumulate
absolutely nothing. Talk about young men
gauandering their patrimonyi | would like
to AK whether each one Of you boys are moi
working hard day and night to accumulate O
fund OF knowledge, and Frightening up wits
for the coming man to squander and 8tupefy
Every age tells the same tale and shows the
same results. There Is hardly q boy or yontt
un0sr twenty who, If he could be introduced
sduarely and underStandingly to his future
! self, would not blush for shame, and utterly
rtGudate and di8own the lnatared idiot he
had become.
There would be q strange code Of laws
, framed for men If boys could legislate, and
Z few men could stand before the bar Of Justice
If the judicial ermine rested upon the homes,
breasts and was directed by the wise heads
l and clear conscences OF uncOntaminated boy
: hood.
! The good DR. Holmes advised men
, Be stupid II you can.
It il very serious thing to be q funny man.
How much more serious thing 1t Is to be 2
man at all Prom my limited experience II Il
were not for the feae Of my fellow sinners
! should frankly advise you boys to hold 8
mass convention and absolutely and entirely
| abolish man-as an institution. He Is Of bu
7 little use, even rs an example, and you can az
t many more things than he can, and every
: thing he does you can do 1t q dozen different
9 ways. I remember even To this day that thf
!, professor in our school always walked from
chapel to school-room and took his seat Il
, exactly the same way. | don't suppose, ever
In 80 simple and easy thing as that, hF
J could possibly have been Induced even TO IN
!, to make that trip in any other way; and yet
? assure you from frequent experience th t
/ were at least three hundred and sfventy-flV'
: different ways known and practiced by every
}. boy In school.
G only mention this as an Illustration, and
4 know your fertile fancie9 will finish the pic
g ture and at once indOrSe my statement ~
: very "tame," even "thin." A thousand othe
. facts will at once occur to you to show con
8 clusively how supremacy the matured maj
: disappointS, disgasts and even di5graces tn
;. fond hopes OF the boy and the I8JmiseS Of hi
;. routh Al id Engllshman, whom even tn
: aut0craCy of man have called a poet OF tn
> name OF Wordsworth, has gone 50 faf az Y
D admit the superiority OF boys, and describe
8 how far men fall below the standard Of boy
q hood, and how they degrade the TRAILING
: clouds OF glory" which Is the common inherl
lance Of boys, to the common light Of day
which surrounds manhood.
He admits further that
Heaven lies about us In our infancy
: Shades Of the prison mousse begin 10 close
THDu the grow ng boy,