FROM A BOY TO HOBBLEDEHOY.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 314, 19 September 1888, Page 3

FROM A BOY TO HOBBLEDEHOY.

TO THE EDITOR. As tko twig is bent tko tree’s inclined. Sir, —It is a melancholy fact, of which we are every now and again reminded, that the morality of a section of our youths is not such as it should be in a socially advanced country whore the market price of education is less than a farthing, and which enjoys a galaxy of religious and elevating agencies. The fact is that New Zealanders are childishly sensitive in regard to anything portaining to their own particular selves or concerns. They don’t relish the “straight tip” if it has an adverse side, so when one is tempted to hold them up the mirror it is hailed not only as an unnecessary proceedure, hut a dire insult to ail within range. It is not long since Bishop Neville found himself in very hot water for publicly stating that our national schools were too little free of an immoral sentiment Recently, a Wellington paper dared to submit something of a like nature, which met with great indignation aud was made the subject of a miserable exhibition in our House of R' pros .datives. “ Prove it,” is the stock arguin' at, and a very thin one where the delicacy and difficulty of singling out cases is held in viow, Wo think ourselves very well all round. The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. It is a comfortable sort of feeling, but its long indulgence leads upon a downward course, which will know no pauses until wo contemplate ourselves honestly in the glass. In the Auckland R.M. Court the other day, an eleven-year old hoy was found guilty of writing unmentionable languago in a public place. The boy’s dcfenco was that all in the school did the samo thing. I lie unhappy father declared having administered a term of bread and wator to his erring offspring, and so the presiding judge -Dr Otto—dismissed the lad on condition that the preceptor would flog the young sinner —an awkward commission for a New Zealand teacher, it will he granted. Thrashing in tho Colony is “ a law more honored in tho breach than in tho observance,” and the youth who badly requires strapping grows up without it, full of himself, and with tho years, hesitates not to try conclusions with tho “ old un,” as he terms him. Parents are nearly always to blame for their children’s filthy tongues aud unbearable front. Youngsters nro men before leaving their swaddling clothes ; arrant cheek, and a stomach for flippant impudence in a hobbledehoy being aceoptod as a token of budding talent by a dotting, helpless and misguided parent. He is busily engaged rearing a hornet’s nest about his ears, and his plaint, “ can do nothing with my boys, comes far too late in the day. I’he law, it would appear, does not permit imprisonment for scribbling low aud aboininablo languago in public places. Should the samo bo uttered, imprisonment follows, with no alternative. The anomaly will bo Been at a glance ; but prevention is ever better than cure, and strong and right-minded fathers and mothers require no intervention from Church or State in the conduct of their children. They reap tho quiet comfort that comes to them through the contemplation of a comely growth, which is never apart from a true manliness and nobility. Who do these crowds of gaping lads belong to who make a practice of molesting the quiet of our Blenheim streets with a mixture of contemptible played out wit and filthiness? To do tho borough justice, thoy mostly havo no abiding place hero. They are, however, old enough and stupid enough to contaminate our younger population, whose notions of what makes men of them are crude in tho extreme. Tho class of gawky lads wo mean, and what parents havo tacitly commenced, ami when this finishing touch has been placed, their youthful admirers duly jump into un irritating hobbledehoyhood, and will do “ nothing for nobody.” Philosophers declare that ignorance is the parent of vice, Is there ignorance in our midst? If so, why should this bo ? A population which does not more than equal a third-rate British city is paying about .L-100,000 annually for free education—not only extended gratis but actually thrust upon us. The law in Britain says: “Every child must he educated; if you can’t afford it, the State will interpose its good gift.” Here, in Zealand, not even tho wealthy are directly solicited. Tho foundation of excellent instruction is open to the veriest pauper iu tho land. Is the poorest open to it ? In the Mother Country the onormous expense of schools is recognised in a rigid enforcement of the Act, vi/., ‘‘that willing or no, go to school you must.” The outrageously costly educational fabric ot Zealaudia involves greatly more !' in can bo afforded. This is bad, but. not onohulf so bad as the fact that with all tho benefits freely held out they are not accepted ; and still worse, that a weak Government do littlo or nothing to enforce acceptance of so much prodigality. There aro ragged urchins in Blenheim and dis trict doing all that men dare do, who outer a school nover, who aro as ignorant of tho First Standard as any Hottentot. Ah ! young men too, rising 20, who cannot scratch their own names. Thoy are on splendid terms with themselves. In the midst of an absolute blankness they aro happy, and ill at oase would they become if forced from tho fetters of an all pervading ignorance, suggestivo of the “ prisoner of Chilton,” who immediately on the shackles being unelapsed, after a weary captivity, confessed :

“ My very chains and I grew friends, So much a lone communion tonds To make us what, we are. Even I Regained my freedom with n sigh.”

School, as has already been indicated, mar not include a fitting moral teaching. The aroma of purity will bo sought in vain if not within tho homo circle. And who will very soon preside over our households ‘i Very many of tho class, we indie ito. “do to school now, Johnnie.” “No, I wont; go yourself,” is presently the sort of position between father and son. The State alone can act effectively in such a melancholy case. It uttorly fails in this duty in and around Blenheim. I am, See., Observer.