Moreover, the presentation
of these somewhat ridiculous notions brings ridicule upon a whole class
of errors; and when errors are so ingrained that men cannot reason in
regard to them, ridicule is often the only weapon of successful attack.
And it is no compliment to an American audience for the speaker to say
that their own minds already suggest the refutation which these errors
demand. If the chief end of man, for which boyhood should be a
preparation, were to weed turnips or to frighten blackbirds from
corn-fields, then surely the objection of Mr. Ball, and the complaint
and spirit of resistance offered by Lord John Russell's farmer, would be
eminently proper. But Lord John Russell did not himself assent to the
view furnished by his correspondent. Mr. Ball's theory evidently is,
"Take good care of the turnips, and leave the culture of the boys and
girls to chance;" and Lord John Russell's wise farmer unquestionably
thinks that cereal peculations of blackbirds are more dangerous than the
robberies committed by neglected children, grown to men.
Mr. Clay, chaplain of Preston jail, says: "Thirty-six per cent. come
into jail unable to say the Lord's Prayer; and seventy-two per cent.
come in such a state of moral debasement that it is in vain to give them
instruction, or to teach them their duty, since they cannot understand
the meaning of the words used to them.
Pages:
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38