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THE OOU VTB, YMAN. 67 The Robin. (for the children.) There is a pretty robin flying about the room. We must give him something to eat. Fetch some bread for him. Throw the crumbs on the floor. Eat pretty robin, eat. He will not eat. I believe he is afraid of us. He looks about, and wonders where he is. 0, he begins to eat. He is not afraid now. He is very hungry. How pretty it is to see him pick up the ciumbs, and hop j upon the floor, the table, and the chairs. Perhaps when he is done .eating, he will give us a song. My GcamW? attunes Gftair. “De omnibus rebus, et quibusdam aliis." RY W. W. TURNER. Yol. 1. NOVEMBER 24, 1862. No. 4. Boys. “NowT'will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne; one phoenix At this hour reigning there.” The race whose name stands at the head of this article is fast becoming extinct. Specimens are, even now, and have been, for a good while, objects of curiosity. Some years ago, a wag, in the town of Greensbovough, walking along the street one day, called to some of his acquaintan ces, telling them to follow him, and he would show them a sight, such as they had not. viewed for many a day. Well, they accompanied him, and he stopped at the cake table of an old negro woman—it was court-week—where they beheld a genuine 15-year-old boy, clad in a complete suit of copperas homespun, round jacket, and trowsers, eating gingerbread, and drinking -persimmon beer. There was no mistaking him, for he was as different from the mod ern yearling as if he had belonged to an. other and distinct genas. Boys, I say, are fading from the earth. The time will probably come when it will be doubted whether such beings ever had existence. All authentic record of them may be lost, and men will be able only to wonder and conjecture concerning them, as they now speculate about the dodo. The only evidence that such a race flourished will be, not actual, tangible skeletons, like those of the mastodon, which we dig out of the earth, but certain anecdotes; cer tain mental remains,that will tell something of their natures and habits. Long ages hence, people may read how young per sons were modest, respectful to the old, and distrustful of themselves; in short, the very reverse of anything known in that degenerate day; and then those who read will perceive that those characteristics must have belonged to a kind of animal then forever passed away from the face of the globe. From scattered passages in an cient books, men will gather materials out of which to construct a theory concerning a species to which they may or may not give the proper name of boys. Still farther, in the course of time, even these evidences may be wanting. All sucb accounts will be considered fabulous, and the boy will be ranked with the strange beings which peopled wood and stream in the heathen mythology. Even now, it is thought, by many, that if some Barnum would capture a good specimen of the real, old-fashioned boy, he would be amp ly repaid for any outlay of money that the experiment would cost him.' People would flock to his museum in such crowds as he never dreamed of, and he would re alize such sums as would astonish even the proprietor of Joyce Heth. Mermaids and woolly horses would be entirely overshad owed and forgotten, in the presence of so rare and strange an animal as a sure-enough, live, kicking, playful boy. Before tlie very last of them shall pass away, reader, let us examine some of their peculiarities. Perhaps, in a future age, the antiquarian may pore over this description, and wonder whether it has any foundation in truth. I will do what 1 can to preserve at leasttlie nameoi the boy from threatened oblivion. The pure and unadulterated boy is known, at once, by the fact that he actual ly believes grown-up people to be wiser than he is. When in company with them, he listens with profound respect to what they say, and never presumes to dispute with them. If he differs with them in opinion, still he keeps silence, or states, with diffidence, what he “ thought” in the premises. Somehow he cannot rid himself of the idea that old persons, having had more opportunities for observation, every thing else being equal, must have more knowledge than young ones. Especially is he convinced that his parents can tell what is best foi him. He has something akin to reverence for his father, a sweet and holy love for his mother. The displeasure of either is exceedingly painful to hun. He is content with boys’clothes. A de cent hat, around jacket, plain trowsers and shoes, with a nice turn-down collar—these satisfy him. His amusements are suited^to his age. He^loves tops and marbles, kites and balls. Minnow-fishing, chinquapin-hunting, &c., delight him. He dearly loves to get a pack of curs, lialf-hounds, Jices, &c., and chase the hares through the swamps aud fields, on Saturdays. All these sports he follows with avidity, except when his parents have some other employment for him. Few children love to labor, but the true boy, if required by his parents, does not consider it a very great hardship to work part of the time, when not at school. L He loves shows—how can he help it 1—but he does not take it for granted that he must throw away a quarter or half on every company of vagabonds who stroll through the coun try. If he has a sweetheart—and who among my readers can blame him if he has 1—he loves her in a boyish, blushing kind of way, that does nobody any harm. So far from spoiling the youngster, this makes him better. Nowadays, the age of boyhood is skip ped ; passed over ; left out. From child hood to the grown-up state, there is but a single leap. In place of boys, we have Young Americans; fast young men ; b’hoys. These have little respect for age. They have a pool opinion of the wisdom of pa rents,whom they call “the old man”and “the old lady.” They consider sober-sided, de cent people as old fogies, who are ignorant of what is fit and proper. Such amuse** ments as are afforded by tops and balls have no charms for them. These are too slow ; too boyish. Minnow-fishing and rabbit-hunting are beneath their notice. They want fast horses, cigars, billiaids and brandy. The fast youth will not wear boyish ap parel. He looks on round jackets with contempt. A long-tailed coat must dan gle around his calves. Some sort of wide awake hat, the uglier the better, sits jaun tily on cne side of his skull to show how empty" it is. Fantastic pantaloons encase his legs. A flaming vest displays itself on his front. His feet are crowded into high- heeled boots, or costly shoes, so tight that he appears to walk on sharp-pointed rocks. A garrote collar protrudes itself out of a leopard-spotted neck-tie, and frequently a hyena-looking shirt completes the ridicu- ou8 costume. Such are the humans who are fast ta king the place of those concerning whom we may soon say : “ The wind blows out, (Re bubble dies ; The Spring entombed in Autumn lies; The dew dries up ; the star is shot; The flight is past, and boys forgot. “ Perfect valor consists in doing, with out witnesses, all we should be capable of doing before the whole world.”