Gilpin observer., 1907-03-07
HOLD HONOR HIGH
MARGARET SANGsTER's GOOD
ADVICE TO BOYS.
Tho TeII-Tale Is Rightly Unpopular
Proper Life Is One in Which
There Is Never Anything
to Conceal. L.
BY MARGARET E. sANesrER.

endure because he is simply too mean
and too hateful for anything but con.
tempt, is sneak
When fellow is too cowardly to
bear the blame If he happens to do
something wrong, when he lets others
suffer for what he has done or said
when he is a hypocrite, there is no at
titude possible to him except that of
abhorrence. Nobody can respect a
coward, and the sneak in the school
boy world is always cowardly.
In one of Dickens novels, one that
every boy should read, there is a
cringing creature called Uriah Heep.
Nothing is too petty or shameful for
this person who rings false like coun-
terfeit coin from beginning to end.
Perhaps you are so busy in reading
the books that are published to-day
that you have not found time to read
the books that stand in stately rows
on the library shelves, full of quaint
illustrations and belonging in the
ranks of standard literature. Among
these books are several by Charles
Dickens that you ought to read. A
boy who can resist the charm of Da-
vid Copperfield or who would not be
interested in Nicholas Nickleby, Is
not a boy after my heart. Although
Dickens portrays more than one lad
of the variety known as sneak, he de.
scribes manly fellows, too, with whom
anyone would like to be intimate at
school.
Cowardice is of several kinds
There are boys who have an abun-
dance of physical courage, who would
dash forward and seize the bride OF
a runaway. horse, or interfere in a
fight between savage dogs, or rescue
a child from sudden peril, If they
could. Very seldom do we find a fel
low who has this sort of headlong va.
lor who is at the same time sneak.
1t would almost seem as if the brave
impulse, the real manliness told also
on the spiritual life for good. Yet
there are boys, and for that matter
men, who have shown courage enough
to lead forlorn hope physically, but
who are moral towards One needs
to cultivate beyond everything else a
stern determination to see the truth
to tell it Whatever else we do, we
never save ourselves at the expense
of truth.
In school life there are often temp
tations to break rules. A boy can.
not Understand why teachers make
peremptory regulations, for example,
about smoking, trespassing beyond
boundaries and doing other things
that If generally done would com.
pletely frustrate the well-being of an
institution. A thoroughly manly boy
makes up his mind that so far as
he is personally concerned he will
obey rules whether he likes them or
not. A boy who is unmanly pretends
to observe the same rules. and some
times gets credit for doing so, when
At the same time he stoops to decep-
tion and in numberless little ways,
by articles and evasions. gets what
he thinks to be the better of his
teachers. He is not getting the bet.
ter OF his teachers. He is not get.
ting the better of them, but he is de.
cidedly getting the worse for himself
He is lowering his moral tone, and be.
coming more or less a sneak.
Another form of sneaking always
unpopular, and for the best of reasons,
is indulged in by any boy who spies
upon others or deigns to be tell-tale.
Whoever may insist to the contrary,
the instructive feeling of every school
boy is right. 1t is not honorable to be
a spy and to curry favor with ones
superior by relating the misdeeds
of other boys. Schools in which this
system is In vogue are sending out
unworthy graduates who will not com.
prehend the true meaning Of honor
and sincerity in later life. Boys
should not permit themselves to tell
tales of others. One Is never COM
PEELED to throw blame on a classmate.
The other side of the shield, however,
makes 1t obligatory on the classmate
to step forward and assume the re-
sponsibility for his own acts.
The schoolroom Is miniature
world. As we bear ourselves here,
60 shall we appear in days to come
when we are out in the wider school
OF business or professional life. What
you are to-day you will be ten years
hence. 20 years hence. A boy who
begins life by doing mean, low and
cowardly things. will later on become
a mean. low and cowardly man.
There is great lead that each fel
low can do In bolstering up q strong
straightforward rectitude in those
about him. This may be done in the
simplest way by example.
What you are. always makes an i'm
preston on the community, a much
deeper and more forcible impression
than what you say. For you the com
munity is the school. It is your place
for power and manly influence. You
will find quite enough to do II you
49,, 10 ltyo r,aooly onA nura1y