Boys | Page 7

dull, they must bear
their share of the depression as well as the masters, and the true
principle is for men and masters, or if you like the expression better,
capital and labour to go hand in hand. The success or ruin of the one is
the success or ruin of the other. There are of course cases of grasping
masters who will endeavour to grind their workmen, and there are cases
of worthless and obstinate workmen, who look only to themselves and
the present moment, but both ought to be and might be very rare
exceptions, if the good and true men on both sides would come to the
front.

2nd. How to spend the money. Remember that you are God's steward,
and will have to account for the use of this bounty. Give your tithe to
God first. The tenth part of your profits, whether reckoned weekly or
yearly, should be given to God in some way or other, and those who do
it will find themselves blessed in earthly things, whilst they are laying
up a treasure in heaven. God's tithe paid, how is the rest of your income
to be spent? 1st. Necessary expenses, i.e., food, clothing, &c. 2nd.
Useful expenditure, i.e., learning, books, &c. 3rd. Recreation and minor
luxuries.
Pay your way as you go, and never run into debt. Debt is next door
neighbour to theft. Two things I would impress upon you, first, that
where the need is you should repay your parents care by helping them.
England is disgraced by the number of old people who are left to the
care of the parish by children who ought to be thankful to be allowed to
support them. Secondly, that it is your duty to make provision for the
future, so that the workhouse may not even enter into your calculations,
as a possible refuge in old age for you and yours. This can be done by
regular savings, even though very small, and by insuring your life. Post
office and other savings' banks, will help you in the former, and various
insurance offices offer special facilities by weekly and monthly
payments for the latter.

AMUSEMENTS.
Recreation is as necessary as work. What kind is to be sought after, and
what avoided? For health's sake, if for nothing else, boys should have
some kind of out-door amusements. A boy has an easy choice of good
and healthy recreation, and therefore has no excuse for taking up with
bad objects. Cricket, Rowing, Volunteering, and such-like, are healthy,
and easily obtainable recreations. Gambling, drinking, loitering, are not
to be thought of for a moment, they are the curse of the lazy and
weak-minded. Theatres are very good if you keep out of the cheap and
nasty ones. Music halls are much better avoided. I do not say that it is
necessarily wrong to go there, or that you are certain to come to harm if
you frequent them, but there is more chance of temptation, and an

inferior entertainment for your money. Well acted plays may open out
your mind, but the silliness of the music hall entertainment will only
react upon you. You can tell a music hall frequenter, not by the words
of his mouth so much as by the shuffle of his feet: his highest ambition
seems to be to dance the double shuffle, and perhaps sing a few verses
of some jingling rhyme. Out-door recreation is not so easily attainable,
in the winter, as the time at your disposal is so short. In-door
amusements must, to a great extent, take their place. The gymnasium is
a good institution; chess is a game worth learning, and very fascinating
to some minds; cards are good as long as gambling is avoided, and
many other games readily suggest themselves to one's mind.
Reading will be more to the liking of many. Read books which are
worth reading, not the penny trash which shops offer to the boys of
England. I should hope that the boys of England have sufficient brains
to care for something a little above the penny dreadfuls, otherwise it is
a bad look out for the future men of England. Independently of libraries
you can now get books, by good writers, as cheap as sixpence--Walter
Scott, Fennimore Cooper, Maryatt, Dickens, &c. A word about books.
Of course, in books by writers such as I have mentioned you will find
many things spoken of which are wrong and ought not to be. They must
write so if stories are to be written of life as we find it, and mere
goody-goody books, which avoid all mention of such things, are
unnatural, and do not give true pictures of life. The harm of too many
cheap publications, and not only the cheap ones, is,