134 The American Boy 



right against the sneers of his companions who are 

 themselves wrong. Ridicule is one of the favorite 

 weapons of wickedness, and it is sometimes incom 

 prehensible how good and brave boys will be in 

 fluenced for evil by the jeers of associates who have 

 no one quality that calls for respect, but who affect 

 to laugh at the very traits which ought to be pe 

 culiarly the cause for pride. 



There is no need to be a prig. There is no need 

 for a boy to preach about his own good conduct 

 and virtue. If he does he will make himself offen 

 sive and ridiculous. But there is urgent need that 

 he should practice decency; that he should be clean 

 and straight, honest and truthful, gentle and tender, 

 as well as brave. If he can once get to a proper 

 understanding of things, he will have a far more 

 hearty contempt for the boy who has begun a course 

 of feeble dissipation, or who is untruthful, or mean, 

 or dishonest, or cruel, than this boy and his fellows 

 can possibly, in return, feel for him. The very fact 

 that the boy should be manly and able to hold his 

 own, that he should be ashamed to submit to bullying 

 without instant retaliation, should, in return, make 

 him abhor any form of bullying, cruelty, or bru 

 tality. 



There are two delightful books, Thomas Hughes's 

 "Tom Brown at Rugby/' and Aldrich's "Story of 

 a Bad Boy," which I hope every boy still reads; 



