The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-02-24

Ii you do not read another word in this
magazine, read this article, If you are old
enough to do So Read each line care
fully and thoroughly. You may not find
anything to make you laugh-possibly
you may; but you will be certain to find
something of almost inestimable value
to you in every sentence.
Boys are scarce nowadays. In the
days of Methuselah, male human beings
were still boys when nearly n century
old; twenty. five years ago boys were
still such until we'll out of their teens;"
now tire interval between infancy and
the age at which the boy becomes a
young man is 80 brief that boyhood is
almost thing of the past. The happy
period OF care-free, joyous innocence
which formerly interviewed between
childhood and early manhood is now
almost undesirable. Boys grow old
too fast. They learn to initiate the
vices and manners of their seniors before
they reach their teens, and are impa-
tient to be counted as men, no matter
how great may be their deficiencies,
their untitness for the important duties
and responsibilities of life. The conse-
quence of this inordinate haste and i'm
patience to be old is premature decay.
Unfortunately the general tendency of
the young members OF the rising gener-
alton Is to copy the vices OF their elders,
rather than the virtues of true manli-
ness. A strong evidence of this fact, if
there were no other, is the unnaturally
old looking faces which SO many of our
boys present. At the present time the
average boy of II knows more of vice
and sin than the youth of 20 OF the past
generation.
- is not SO much foi these human
mushrooms, which may not inaptly be
compared to toadstoo!S which grow up in
single night and almost rs speedily de-
cay, that we write, but for the old"
fin .hioned boys, "a few such there may
be, those who have not yet learned to
love sin, those whose minds are still pure
ana uncontaminated. Those who have
already begun course of vice and wick
edness we have title hope of reforming,
but we are anxious to offer a few words
of counsel and warning which may pos
sibly help to save, as brands plucke6
from blazing fire, those whose moral
sense is yet alive, who have quick and
tender consciences, who aspire to be
truly noble and good.
What are boys for? This question
was answered with exact truthfulness by
little boy. who, when contemptuously
accosted by a man with the remark,
"What are you good for ?" replied,
Men are made of such as we" Bows
are the beginnings of men. They sus-
tain the same relation to men that the
buds do to ull-blown flowers. They are
still more like the small green apples
which first appear when the blossoms
drop from the branches, compared with
the ripe, luscious fruit (which in autumn
bends the heavy-laden boughs almost to
breaking. Often, like the young an
plns, boys are green but this is only
natural, and should be considered ~
disgrace to the boys. III they grow up
naturally they will ripen with age, like
the fruit, developing at each successive
stage of life additional attractions and
excell ent qualities.
A nations most valuable property is
its boys. A nation which has poor,
weakly, vicious boys will have still
weaker, more vicious and Enthusiastically
men. A country with noble, virtuous,
vigorous boys is equally sure OF having
noble, pious, brave and energetic men.
Whatever debases, contaminates, or in
any way Injuries the boys of country,
saps and undermines the very founda-
ton of the nations strength and great
ness. Save the boys from vice and
crime, give them good training, phys
icaily, mentally and morally, and the
prosperity of the nation is assured.
When skillful artist perfects a work
Of art, painting, drawing, statue, or
some other work requiring great talent
and exceeding all his other efforts, it is
called his masterpiece. So man is the
noblest work of God, the masterpiece of
the Almighty. Numerous anecdotes are
toldsof the sagacity of dogs, horses, ele-
plants and other animals, of their intel
igence and ingenious devices in over
coming obstacles. avoiding difficulties,
etc. Our admiration aud wonder are Of
ten excited by the scarcely less than hui
man wisdom shown by these iowly bro
theirs of the human race. We call them
noble animals, but they are only noble
brutcs, at best. Compared with man,
even in his most humble form, as seen
i'll the wild savage that hunts and de-
YOURS his prey like wild beast, lion
or q tiger, they are UNNECESSARILY infe-
rior. And in the highest development,
man, civilized, cultivated. Christian
lied, learned, generous, pious, certainly
stands at the head of all created things.
Boys, do you love what is noble, what
IL pure, what is grand, what is good ?
You may each, il you will, become such
ment how noble character is ruined.
A noble character is formed by the
development of the good qualities of an
individual. A bad character is formed
by the development of bad traits or evil
propensities. In other words, sin is The
cause of the generalization of character.