nected with the function of government and the state; as Plato said, ‘a reform in music would mean a political revolution,' and Melanchthon called it the theology of the heart. . . . Aristotle said music molded character as gymnastics do the body." Narrow-mindedness in a boy is sometimes due to shyness or drawing away from the society of others, sometimes to devotion to a few fellows of his own temperament. What he needs is social broadening, the meeting of people in various walks of life, of varying religious and political views, travel, and the experience of camping with other boys. A summer in a well-conducted boys' camp will do much to broaden his social horizon. By being placed among strange boys and men who do not look after his selfish comfort and cater to his whims as his mother often does, he is thrown upon his own resources and forced to become self-reliant and considerate of others. Scores of boys have returned home from camp, new men in every sense of the word. Life's real problems are social, its true values are those of personal relationship and leadership, for "It takes a soul To move a body; it takes a high-souled man 8 Hall, "Adolescence," Vol. II, p. 31. The dust of the actual. Ah, your Fouriers failed The social instincts bring a new sense of law. Conscience awakens. Right is conceived, no longer as from an external authority, but as resting upon inward grounds of obligation. Leadership of the gang becomes the stepping stone to leadership of the masses. Boys' ideals of altruism develop into service for country, home, and the church-hence the great need of wise adult guidance during the plastic period of youth. Choice of companions, choice of books, choice of pictures, choice of music, choice of sports-all share in determining ideals which become the realities of manhood. Low ideals mean a low plane of living. High ideals mean a high plane of living. Society needs the leadership of men who have lofty ideals. These leaders are now in the making. Social instincts and impulses of boyhood must be harnessed to altruistic service and worth-while action. The Church, as well as the home and the school, must realize that it is dealing with the future citizen who must be related to the ends of social endeavor, as well as a soul to be saved for eternity, for the only stuff in the world out of which you can make a man is boy stuff. "Give us men! Men from every rank! Fresh, and free, and frank; Men of loyal breeding, Men of faith and not of faction, Men of lofty aim in action, Give us men-I say again, Give us men! "Give us men! Strong and stalwart ones; Men whom highest hope inspires, Men whom purest honor fires, Men who trample self beneath them, Men who make their country wreathe them, Worthy of her sires! Men who never shame their mothers, True, however false are others, Give us men-I say again, "Give us men! Men who when the tempest gathers, Men who strike for home and altar, True as truth, though lorn and lonely, Men who tread where saints have trod, Give us men! I say again, again, Give us such men!" BISHOP OF EXETER. CHAPTER V MORAL CHARACTERISTICS "Life's more than breath and the quick round of blood; 'Tis a great spirit and a busy heart. We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives -BAILEY. Action is one of the major laws of boyhood. The proper field for morals or moral sentiment is voluntary human action. Unwilled action has no moral quality. Activity is, to a very large degree, the test of intelligence. Morality is a growth from within, rather than anything that can be put on from without. Development is an uphill process. The struggle between the higher and the lower is a warfare in which every boy must engage. "When the fight begins within himself, Man's worth something. God stoops o'er his head; He's left himself the middle; the soul awakes and grows." -BROWNING. |