"How happy is he born and taught
That serveth not another's will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill!
Who God doth late and early pray
More of His grace dear gifts to lend ;
And entertains the harmless day

With a well-chosen book or friend!"

-SIR HENRY WOTTON.

A pleasant fancy-"Boys will be boys "-What boys might be-An ideal boy described-What he should not be-The ideal boy will be "a gentleman "-Thackeray quoted-Will be studious, (obedient, firm of heart-Will study nature-Will do his duty-Will cultivate religious habits-Prayer-If the ideal cannot be fully attained, we can get near it-Concluding exhortation.

OMETIMES in the intervals of class-work, when I, the teacher, have rested for a while, weary with a constant struggle against thoughtlessness and ignorance and obstinacy, I have amused myself with picturing to my "mind's eye" the figure of an Ideal Boy; a boy who should give no trouble to his instructors and no heartaches to his parents-a boy spotless and blameless, in whom there should be no guile-a boy among boys, as pure and perfect as Tennyson's King Arthur among the knights of his famous I am not so foolish as to expect that the ideal shall ever be realised, any more than I expect to meet with an ideal man, or in my own person to exemplify

court.

Our grandmother's adage that "boys will be boys" is not likely to prove untrue in the time of any one of us; and, to the end of the chapter, boys, like men, will have their faults and be guilty of their follies. But there is no reason that I know of why boys, like men, should not learn to amend their ways; should not strive to approach, if it be impossible to attain, the perfect standard. And it may help them towards this admirable result if we consider here, in my last pages, the characteristics that would distinguish the ideal boy—if only we could get him!

Now, by an ideal boy I don't mean an effeminate, feeble weakling, who shuns temptation and then boasts as loudly as if he had faced and resisted it. I don't mean the hero of goody-goody stories, who has always some trite morality on his lips, and assumes such a pragmatical air of propriety that one is possessed with a keen longing to kick him. I don't mean a home pet, a juvenile fribble, who is afraid to dirty his fingers or use his legs, just as he is afraid or unwilling to go in for an earnest struggle for knowledge, who cries over his Homer, whimpers over his algebra, and stutters over his Latin verses. I don't mean the boy who plays at being good, who airs his excellences in the public eye, parades his Bible where he thinks his assumed piety will attract favourable notice, and ko-toos like a Chinaman before those who are in authority. No; my ideal boy must be manly and honest in his tastes and his habits; must stick to his lessons with heartiness, and “go in” for cricket with readiness. I don't like a namby-pamby, because it is also an insincere and unreal, boyhood. I like boyishness in boys, if the boyishness be generous, unaffected, straightforward, reasonable, and innocent. Sham and pretence and hypocrisy are always repulsive, but never more so than in our boys.

The ideal boy will, as a matter of course, be a gentlemani.e., generous; courteous in his home, among his friends, among his schoolfellows; respectful without being servile to his superiors; well-mannered without being patronising to his inferiors. He will eschew loud tones and rough ways; will govern his tongue and his temper; will listen to advice with deference, and to reproof with humility. "What is it to be a gentleman?" says Thackeray. "It is," he replies, "to be honest, to be gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise, and, possessing all these qualities, to exercise them in the most

AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT.

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graceful, outward manner." And, therefore, my ideal boy shall be a gentleman. He shall not be a sneak or a bully; he shall neither cringe to the strong, nor tyrannise over the weak. To his masters he shall be obedient, for they have a right to require obedience of him; he shall be respectful, because the true gentleman always respects those who are wiser, more experienced, better informed than himself. He shall apply himself to his lessons with a single aim, seeking knowledge for its own sake, and earnestly striving to make the best possible use of such faculties as God may have endowed him with. He shall do his best to store his mind with the high thoughts of great thinkers and poets, and cultivate his taste by a careful study of all that is beautiful and pure. In his sports and recreations he shall seek to excel, if excellence can be obtained by a moderate expenditure of time and energy; but he shall remember that though it is a fine thing to have a healthy body as the corollary (so to speak) of a healthy mind, it is neither necessary nor admirable to develop a muscular system like that of a "navvy." He shall study Nature with an observant eye and in a devout spirit, recognising in the planet as in the wildflower the handiwork of Divine power, and tracing everywhere the benignant presence of Divine love. Whatever falls to his hand to do, he shall do it with all his might, assured that God loves not the idle or dishonest worker. He shall remember that life has its duties and responsibilities as well as its pleasures; that these begin in boyhood; and that they cannot be evaded without injury to heart and mind and soul. He shall train himself in all good habits, in order that these may accompany him easily in later life; in habits of method and order, of industry, perseverance, and patience. He shall recollect that every new achievement of principle smooths the way to future achievements of the same kind; and the precious fruit or purchase of each moral virtue is to set us on higher and firmer vantage-ground for the conquests of principle in all time coming. He shall resolutely shut his ears and his heart to every foul word, every improper suggestion, every profane utterance; guarding himself against the first approaches of sin, which are always the most difficult to resist, because always the most insidiously made. He shall not think it a brave or a "plucky" thing to violate established order, to defy authority, to ridicule age or poverty or feebleness, to pamper

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the appetite, to imitate the "fast," to throw away valuable time, to neglect precious opportunities, to leave undone that which ought to be done, and to do that which it were better to leave undone. He shall love truth with a deep and passionate love, abhorring even the shadow of a lie, even the possibility of a falsehood! True in word, true in thought, true in deed! so shall

"His actions to his words accord; his words
To his large heart give utterance due ! "

And finally, he shall seek, with lowly heart, and in a spirit of love, and faith, and hope, to imitate, as far as is possible to our weak human nature, that One Pure and Holy Life in which we put our trust; that Life which, closing amid the shadows of Calvary, bequeathed to us not only an example but a promise. He shall read his Bible, for it tells of the beauty and simplicity of that Life, and reveals to us the surpassing love which inspired and consecrated it; and he shall strengthen himself by frequent resort to prayer, which brings the soul into communion with its Saviour and its God. "Let prayer," says a quaint writer, "be the key of the morning," with which we open to ourselves the tasks and duties of the day, and "the bolt of the evening," with which we shut the door upon those tasks and duties before giving up ourselves to rest and repose.

Such is my conception of the ideal boy. That any one can fully and entirely realise it, I cannot hope, and I do not ask; but surely it would be worth while to try and get near it. We can none of us be perfect, but we can aspire after perfection. No man will reach the mountain-top who crouches or creeps at the base, appalled by the loftiness of peaks and pinnacles that seem to "strike the stars." He who would succeed must go forward and onward with a resolute spirit; never quailing, never losing heart; neither affrighted by the cold white glacier nor daunted by the rugged precipice. To him who hopes and strives all things are given. To the boy who steadily does his duty will be granted such a measure of success as his most sanguine dreams have not anticipated. To my readers I say then, Do your best; be as honest and diligent as you can; be resolute to live a pure and honourable life; speak the truth like English boys who in due time will be English gentle