The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-03-17
ELIZABETHAN :,ROYS,
How Lad. Of ENGLAND Were Trained
Three Centuries AFRO.

How Lads Of ENGLAND Were Trained
Three, Centuries Ago. -,
Some 18th to the wars to try their fortunes
Some to DISCOVER. lands far away. =.
Some to the studious universities. j
These were some of the manifest des-
TIMES of the Elizabethan boys writes
Il. II. Sturtevant in st. Nicholas. What
sort of lad he was who waited i'm
patiently for the time to come when he.
80, should go out into the world and
~ his fortune, is not so easy to find
aHt. Elizabethan chroniclers do not
waste their time In. ia lkine. OF chill
ZEN! Even Harrison, who writes at
myth OF most: things, from the high
@Aurt of parliament to the, brewing Of
beer, scarcely mentions boys and girls.
He might so easily have given us a
chatty chapter on them, 'and he so
evidently thinks it not worth while,
for he pads his book now and then
with far less interesting matter.
He Goes complain that the poorer sort
Of women do not sufficiently correct
their children, wherein their husbands
caron, very fairly, and "by means
"uCICOL very uldlllc VI lnclll 200
oftentimes come to confusion -
which might have proved good men,
bers of their commonwealth and
countrie.' This same Harrison
whipped his own children Conscientious
~ until his mastiff ''essaies to catch
the rod in his teeth for the prevent
ing of further punishment, which in his
masters mind, "is not unworthie to be
noted.''
That kindly mastiff should be known
and remembered Of all children,
| though the years be so many since,
moved by his big loving heart, he inter-:
ceded for the little Harr1sons.
Certainly lack of discipline was not a
failing of the sixteenth century, land
We know that children were brought
lup austerely and made to study hard,
whether they had tutors at home or
We're sfnt to the excellent grammer
schools of the time, where such a
quantity OF Latin was crammed into
them. for they profited much, and were
packed off to the universities early, in
deed, as we shall see.
They were carefully trained in all
courtesy Of speech and bearing, but
repressed and kept in the background
In a way that would be little relished
by boys of today. They We're advised
to be checked for silence, but never
taxed for speech" or, as Sir Henry Sid
ney puts it In a very noble letter to his
sMl Philip, then ~ years old, rather
be- rebuked of light fellows for maiden
like shamefacedness than of your sad
friends for pert boldness. Tell no un-
truth; no. not in trifles," he goes on
there cannot be greater reproach to
a gentleman than to he accounted q
liar
/ An Eltzabethan boy was not likely tc
be a babbler, and in truth. silence
seems to have been much esteemed TO,
,I all men; and Harrison tells us with
pride Of the great silence that is useC
at the tables of the honorable and
, wiser sort, generallie all over the
realm"
! The fathers Of that time sent theil
sons to travel on the continent wher
they could, for they believed tha
"home keeping youth have ever homel,
wits and that "he cannot be a per
feet man, not being trieu and tutoret
In the world So let him go, sait
these wise fathers, practice tits ant
! tournaments, hear sweet discourse. con
verse with noblenen;" he will be tn,
tniore ready to 80 out in the world AM
! take his place with other men. !. :
The carefully guarded sboyhOods wa
soon over, and they were marvelOusl,
Iyoung when they sprang from the quie
! and seclusion1 Of childhood into til,
lSlow and dazzle Of that WondTous ag,
sEkt