The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1869.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2524, 4 February 1869, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1869.

The great boy question has been revived of late. Our boys, it appears, are ignorant, impudent, and wanting in reverence for their seniors, Moreover, they are prematurely given to drinks, tobacco, and billiards—and generally to what Dr Johnson calls the lighter vices. The boy has become a nuisance, and must be abated accordingly. After all, may not the boy have something to say for himself? He might answer the objections that are made to his conduct somewhat in this strain: Respected public, for nearly the whole of my life I have been under the absolute control of my parents or guardians. They have brought me up as they thought fit, and you see before you the result of their training. If they have made a mess of it, I am verj sorry, but it is not my fault. If the colonial boy has his faults, and we certainly do not deny that he has, they; are simply the faults of colonial society displaying themselves in a peculiar form. If we want to reform our boys we must set ourselves to consider, and remedy the moral faults that affect the whole community. It is useless to expect that a part of the community will escape diseases with which the whole body is infected. If the various faults of which the colonial boy is accused are summed up they will) we think, be found to be merely so many different manifestations of an idea ou his part that he is equal, if not superior to the rest of mankind, 'and that he must impress this fact on his fellow creatures. His elders smoke, drink, and gamble; he shews his equality with them by doing the same. Many highly respectable people neither smoke nor drink nor gamble, but give out their opinion as infallible on all manner of subject*. The colonial boy will not be behindhand, but is prepared with a decided opinion on every, possible subject, from the points of a horse to the planetary theory. In the colonies, there are but few of the political or social distinctions that (there sre in the old country. People coming here suddenly find them-

selves equal, politically and perhaps socially, to everybody else. Do not let supposed tbat we for a moment object to this; it is far preferable to x what' we left behind us, but like every ■other condition of society it has its peculiar dangers. It is apt to generate an impatience of all superiority or •want of respect and reverence, not only for those things which'-have been respected and reverenced by custom, but for most things which are intrinsically worthy of respect and reverence. If people have no political or social superiors, they are to imagine that morally' and intellectually'tliey We equal to everyone else, They come to love equality, and anything that jars with the sentiment of equality is put aside as distasteful. The love of equality, the impatience of superiority, are feelings which pervade colonial society. "What wonder is it if the colonial boy shares the feelings of the society of which he forms a part ? If the colonial boy is to be made unassuming, modest, and respectful, it will not be by stern treatment, by objurgation, or chastisement, but Bimply by shewing him his own inferiority, and by putting before him something worthy of respect. If we wish to induce a wholesome intellectual humility we must shew our pupil how little he really knows, how sublime are the depths of his ignorance. Newton, with his vast' learning, said that he [was like a child picking up shells on the shore of the ocean of knowledge. The sentiment is entirely uncolonial, but it would be very desirable if it: could be properly appreciated by the colonial boy. We should try and give our boys something more than what is called a sound English education. A clever boy will soon find out that he can master the whole of such an education without much trouble. We should introduce our pupil to sciences of which he will probably master only the elements. Let him see clearly how boundless is the field of knowledge, what diligent labour and unceasing,study are required to master anyone branch of it, of how much even the most learned must be ignorant. If any traiuing will produce a modest frame of mind, surely this will do so. Too often, when a lad can read and write and cypher, he is turned out into a shoporoffice; hiseducationissupposed to be finished, and he is left to shift for himself. He is made a man of prematurely ; he apes the vices and follies, and gives himself the airs of a man. What more natural than such a result. Outdoor sports of all kinds are fine instruments of moral culture. We wish to point out two facts to shew that such sports should be especially encouraged in the colonies. One is, that boys come to maturity earlier here than at home; another is, that the colonial born boy does not seem to have the innate love for active exercise to the same extent as his English cousin. He seems to love lounging more and cricket less. If these facts are true, all medical men, all who have had any experience in bringing up boys, will agree with us that active sports must be insisted on if we wish to secure the physical or moral health of our youth. If our boys as a class are bad, society must be bad too; if the present generation of boys are worse than their fathers were, the next generation will probably be worse than the present. We shall progress in moral and intellectual degradation. Let society look to itself; let parents look to themselves. If the tone of society improves, if parents lead higher and truer lives, we shall no longer have to complain of the colonial boy.