Conclusion.

upon the character of the manufacturing districts have awakened a reprisal of argument, and perhaps of invective, very prejudicial to cool discussion." We are, we sincerely trust, animated with no party motive. We have one grand aim-the salvation of the young. We would enlist statesmen of every political creed. We would invoke the zeal of every sect of religionists to hasten to the rescue of the child.

May He who suffers us not to approach Him without the use of an expression calculated to awaken the tenderest feelings of filial regard towards Himself, and an universal sympathy of our common brotherhood to all of human kind-"OUR FATHER"-grant "that His work may appear unto His servants, and His glory unto their children, and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it."

views; im

§ 1. In the previous chapter our attention was directed to Correct "the inquiry into the present state of juvenile depravity," portance of as essential to all calm and sanguine efforts on behalf of children. A knowledge of the sources of that depravity is of primary importance to those who engage in the work of prevention and reformation. It is possible to mistake the symptom for the disease. An error at the outset, will vitiate our purpose, and render abortive every philanthropic undertaking. It will be difficult, indeed, to decide, whether more evil results from our neglect, or from our unwise interference in the matter. It will, we trust, be apparent, that there exists as great a necessity for retracing our steps in some respects, as for proposing and prosecuting more enlightened and liberal measures.

Happily for our country, there is no lack of information Information. on the subject of our investigation. If the knowledge of an evil be a part of the curative process, we have no barren field to explore as pioneers. If some experience is necessary to practical measures and certain results, we have the

The cause of

juvenile depravity.

Parental.

Social.

Philosophy of crime.

consolation of knowing that both failure and success, are the valuable stores we inherit from noble-minded and selfdenying predecessors. The former reminds us of the necessity of reconsideration and reconstruction. The latter urges us on to more comprehensive and diversified plans. Experience warns and suggests. The axe may now be laid to the root.

The great enormity and extent of juvenile depravity are apparently the result of an unhealthy state of feeling. Two classes of individuals participate in creating and perpetuating that evil. An unhealthy state of feeling in the parent and in society at large, is the primary cause of the present extent and character of immorality in the rising generation. The natural depravity of human nature is not ignored in this view. That "foolishness is bound in the heart of a child," is a fact accredited by the highest of authorities. But if "the rod of correction shall drive it far from him," the continuance and development of that "foolishness" is chargeable not on the original taint, but the unnatural neglect of the principle, "Train up a child in the way he should go.”+

The neglect of children by their parents is not invariably to be censured, but oftener to be pitied. Can as much be said in favour of society? We fear not. The dereliction of parental duty will be found associated with (1) ignorance; (2) helplessness; (3) too early exposure of children to the hardships and temptations of life; (4) cruelty (5) depravity. So far as the corruption of the large portion of the children of the nation depends upon society, it may be traced to (1) selfish indifference to the condition of the dependent classes; and (2) injudicious and harsh interference.

Much has been said on the philosophy of crime. A tendency to mystify matters has thrown an air of hopeless

ness over the appearance of evil. The existence of some fatality, the influence of some presiding genius of evil, or in fact anything, is the cause of juvenile depravity, provided you can make it intangible, invisible, or altogether undefinable to the practical mind. Affecting to have no privileges beyond those common to man, we would leave such abstruse subjects, as the origin of evil, to perplex the metaphysically disposed. But we assume that, whatever be the source and nature of the evil principle, the cause of its growth into juvenile delinquency is to be sought in the conduct of parents and society. The following facts in elucidation of this doctrine are offered to the consideration of the reader, in the earnest hope that they may disarm prejudice and prepare for the adoption of the plans that are to be detailed in the subsequent portions of this work. To enter vigorously upon remedial measures for the prevention and repression of crime, we must be fully persuaded, that the present race of evildoers is in a great measure the result of past neglect, and that whether the character of our future adult population is to be moral or immoral will depend, under the blessing of God, upon the nature and extent of the attention paid to the spiritual condition of the children of this generation. Among the best informed classes it is not an uncommon Parental sight to meet with parents utterly destitute of all sense of parental responsibilities. This is seen in the absence of due restraint; the granting of license to an extent ruinous to childhood, when least wayward; the absence of reproof; the want of inculcating and enforcing sound moral and religious principles. In the middle and upper classes such cases are comparatively rare, and the evil is in some measure counteracted by circumstances not enjoyed by the children of the poor. The boarding school, we have no doubt, supplies in some measure that discipline which should be practised at home. But the children of the

incapacity.

Labour; leisure; and the lower classes.

Care of

children,

great masses of the nation suffer from the want of proper
feeling and information on the part of their parent on
the necessity of restraint without the means that would
mitigate the evil. The habits and gross amusements
of the people are indicative of ignorance as to what would
enhance their own happiness and comfort. How can
they care for the yet distant wants of the child? The
present mental condition is, alas! in the majority of cases,
but a little removed from that of the beasts of burden. It
is the growing conviction of those who most sincerely long
for the elevation of the lowest classes, that though the toil
to which multitudes are subjected is excessively severe, yet
it is very questionable whether relief in the amount of
physical exertion would be conducive to greater enjoyment
without a simultaneous revolution in their mental and
moral condition. 66
Unable, for the most part, to read
books of instruction or amusement, with understanding or
profit, ignorant of all the sciences even in their very rudi-
ments, uninstructed in any art that has relation to their
higher faculties, with the imagination and the fancy and all
the other ministers of taste unawakened from their sleep,
unacquainted even with most of the little arts having a
relation to their own domestic state, nay, unskilled in the
very games which might innocently fill up a vacant hour,
what could they do with more leisure? Alas! I fear we
have an answer in what we all see around us, in the pro-
ceedings which too generally characterize the haunts most
frequented by them during the intervals of their weekly
labour by day, in their evenings, and even in their Sunday
and other holidays." *

Can this description be gainsaid? If not, what must be ancient and the nature of the training given to children by persons who are not fit to enjoy a leisure hour? Plutarch states of the

modern.

* J. Forbes, M.D., Lecture on Happiness.