Year: 1864




We have always cherished an unbound
ed esteem for boys. The genuine human
boy, may, we think, be safely set down as
the noblest work of God. Pope claims
that distinction for the honest man, but at
the present time the nearest we can come
to such neurological parsonage is real
human boy, without thought beyond
his next holiday, with his heart overflow
ing with happiness, and his pockets chuck
full of marbles. Young girls cannot help
betraying something of the in-dwelling
vanity so natural to the sex !; but the YER
liable, unsophisticated boy, you may dress
him up with superhuman care, try to i'm
press on his mind that he is not only the
pride of his parents, but one of the most
remarkable beings that ever visited this
mundane sphere, and he will listen to you
with becoming docility but his honest
nature will give the lie to all your flattery
as soon as your back is turned, and in ten
minutes you will find him kicking out the
toes of his new boots, or rumpling his
clean collar by "playing horse" or using
the top ofhis new cap for drinking ves-
sci, and mixing in with the Smiths and
Browns on terms of the most unquestioned
equality. The boys thinking powers are.
to be sure, fallible, and he may be misled
by deceptive influences, but his instinct Is,
in the main, sure, generous and trustwor-
thy. There is no aristocracy of feeling
among boys. Linsey-woolsey or broad
cloth find equal favor in their eyes. What
they appreciate and applaud is just as
likely to be found under coarse raiment as
under purple and fine linen. If their COM
panion is real good feller," even though
he be the son of q rich merchant or banker
he is esteemed as highly as if his father
were carpenter or an editor of newspa-
per.


The sincerity and generosity of boyhood
rarely outlives its years of unselfish hap
piness. They are severely shaken, if not
wholly destroyed, when the jacket is
heightened into sack, and the lad begins
to take his share in the conceit, ambition,
and sel6shness of full grown humanity.
1t is sad to think that promising, true
hearted boy, full oflife and joy, may be
stricken down by death, and all his hilarity
stifled in the grave; but to our mind it is
even more melancholy to think thathe may
live to grow up and be hard, worldly and
ungenerous as any of the rest of us. For
this latter fate is accompanied by no such
consultations as naturally assuage our sor-
rows when "death has set the seal Of
eternity upon his brow, and the beautiful
has heen made Dermanent,"


The period of boyhood has been short
ened very considerably within few years,
and real boys are becoming scarce. They
are no sooner emancipated from the bright
buttons which unite the two principle ar
ticles of puerile apparel, than they begin
to pant for virile habiliments. Their cho-
leris reused if they are denied a choker
or stand-up-dickey. They sport canes.
Their young lips are not innocent of dams
and short-sixes, and they initiate the vul-
garity and conceit of the young men Of
the present day so successfully that you
find it hard to believe that they are mere
children. Since this period of dearth in
the boy market set in, of course the genu-
inc article has become more precious. We
recall with earnest regret the days of olden
time, when boyhood had its marked, gen.
uine and definite characteristics; and
when the simplicity, sincerity and spark
ling vigor of early life was the precursor
ofmagnanimous, energetic and diuseful man
hood. ...