tion, deliberately manufacturing the raw material of the baseness and brutality that lead to those very "conflicts." This we call the cultivation of a manly spirit, and we think it fine to say, "This or that battle was won at Eton," or " This or that successful career was won in virtue of the energy learnt while the boy was fagging at Winchester." Two reflections occur upon all this wicked loose talk. First, that if we took more pains not to cultivate bad passions, and not to familiarise young minds with each other's basenesses, we should much less frequently have need of battles to be won on one side and lost on the other. Secondly, the energy that makes the successful career of a great man of the world is a painfully complex quality, upon which the angels, who see the amount of crushing and trampling down which goes to a successful career, may not look as complacently as―say a leading article writer or an enthusiast in Natural Selection. "This is better than Moscow," said the bloody monster who had walked over the carcases of a hundred thousand of groaning wretches to his fireside at Paris. What an energetic man! How dreary is that prospect of running short of brutality which makes it desirable for us to wink at its persistent culture by our educational methods! Thank God I was born

AN IRRECONCILEABLE.

VOL. XI.

3 B

"WANTED-A CAREER!"

A COLONIST'S ADVICE TO CERTAIN BRITISH FATHERS.

"Come, my friends,

"Tis not too late to seek a newer world;

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows."-Tennyson's Ulysses.

THE British father, of what I may call the middle-middle class, must frequently be at his wits'-end to know what to do with his boys. He is the most unfortunate of individuals, so far as position in the social scale is concerned. The trading magnates, and those who are lucky enough to attain the leading positions in the learned professions, have no cause to complain of the pecuniary rewards which attend their efforts now-a-days. There never was a time, I suppose, when the profits of trade, or the emoluments of distinguished professional men, were larger than at present. The duty of making provision for their families presents no difficulties to these gentlemen. The eldest son of the mercantile Nabob is probably taken into partnership, with a view to his succession to his father's share in the business, when that highly respectable old party thinks fit to shuffle off this mortal coil. The rest are sprinkled over the professions with laudable fairness: Tom goes to the army, Frank to the bar, and George to the Church, while Charley is probably "licensed to kill" by some College of Surgeons or learned University. They can hardly fail to succeed with so much money and its attendants' influence to back them, unless they are greater donkeys than the ordinary run of young men. If they do get an ugly fall in their attempts to fly, they have only to return to the parental ark, and live quietly on their portion of goods which falleth to them, when the "governor comes to be "cut off." Then, again, the lower-middle class can easily provide for their children, if the latter are content to follow the occupations of their fathers, or any other business which principally consists in manual labour. An increasing number, however, now-adays are not so content; and the shopkeeper's son, having got a smattering of education, turns up his nose at anything so low as retail dealings, and must either be provided with a clerk's situation, or some other billet equally "genteel." It is this tendency to poach on what formerly used to be looked on as the preserves of the middlemiddle class, which must give many parents, who belong to its ranks,

cause for anxiety. They may see their sons growing up around them and developing every good quality of mind and body which the most exacting could desire; but their pride and satisfaction must be often dashed by care for the youngsters' future, and the thought of the ever-increasing difficulty of giving them a decent start in life. With the tastes and feelings of gentlemen, they are without the means to support their position in every particular in the way they would wish. They have enough to keep house on a moderately liberal scale, to educate their families, and entertain their friends, but without entirely changing their mode of life, and screwing and pinching in every direction, they cannot afford to give their sons. anything beyond a very modest sum when they enter the lists to do battle with the world. It is necessary, therefore, that these young gentlemen should address themselves without delay to some occupation which will afford immediate remuneration, and then comes the difficulty. In what direction is it to be found? If they enter any of the professions they find all the avenues which lead to wealth and honour already crowded with eager aspirants, some full of the golden hopes of youth, and others beginning to have some little foretaste of that mortal ailment, heart-sickness. It is true that, providing they have the necessary talents and perseverance, they may eventually succeed, as others have done, in gaining a foremost position, but they cannot afford to wait on a providence which may never smile. It is absolutely essential that the profession or occupation they adopt should afford them a living within a few years. If eschewing the profession they turn to trade, their prospects are not much brighter. In the subordinate offices connected with commerce they are jostled by the aspiring members of the class below, while the upper walks are reserved for the race of capitalists, and the lucky few, who, by natural force of character, industry, and skill, overcome all difficulties, and conquer a position for themselves in spite of every obstacle. we well know, however, the ability to do such doughty deeds is not given to many, and while one man here and there, in trade or professional life, succeeds in drawing away from the ruck and achieving the honours of a 66 win," hundreds are never placed, while thousands break down utterly in the midst of the running. The last named, no doubt, might have done better under happier auspices, while of the second description some would have made a name for themselves probably, had the competition not been so excessively keen. Every year sees thousands of young men born in the class I have been speaking of, thrown upon the world to sink or swim as best they may; and in England at the present day, the odds are terribly against their success. The majority are not geniuses, neither are they fools. As a rule they have good natural capabilities, a fair stock of knowledge, and are as decent honest young gentlemen as a public school education and an English home-training can produce.

As

Now, can nothing better be done with so much good raw material than to condemn it to fret its strength away in endeavouring to push through the crowds which throng every road to advancement in the old stereotyped civilisation of Europe? I certainly think there is a "more excellent way" of utilising this annual increment of good serviceable brain and muscle. Let those youths who see no very good prospect at home, emigrate. I think I hear some people saying, "Well, this is no new panacea for our domestic ills. Emigration has been the order of the day for years past. Of the young fellows who have gone out, some have done well, while others have gone to the dogs, which they could have done as well had they remained at home." True, most sapient reader; idleness, vice, and extravagance ruin hundreds in the colonies in the same way they do at home. There is no delivering a man from himself, no matter to what part of the world you may send him. But the advantages which the colonies have, as fields of labour, over Great Britain are manifold. The crush is not so great, and second-rate talent has a chance in every sphere of action. Social laws are not so rigid. If a man makes his money honestly, it matters little whether it has been made by hand or brain. The wealthiest landowners in Australia are men who have tended sheep and cattle in the old days, and know how to handle a team of bullocks-in short, those who have laboured hard in occupations which fall to the lot of farm-labourers at home. And above all, there is the almost certainty that honest labour will assuredly meet with its reward. Those who are sober, moderately thrifty, industrious, and persevering-even when their capabilities are of the most mediocre description-can, as a rule, make a good living, and also secure some provision for the future; while those whose talents are only slightly above the average, have chances of turning them to account, which present themselves very rarely in England.

Here, then, is a ready escape offered from a great and increasing difficulty. The British middle-middle class father, if he will only adopt this method of starting his boys in life, need not be under any apprehension for their future, provided they are physically of the right stamp, have been brought up in such a way as to fit them to play their part as men, and have had impressed upon them the salutary lesson that life is not "all beer and skittles." On this point I shall have more to say presently. Meantime I must combat some objections which may be raised by their lady-mothers, who, doubtless, will stand aghast at this proposal to rob them of their cubs. There is a prevalent idea, I know, current amongst many of the worthy matrons of England who live at home at ease, to the effect that there is something very terrible about a long sea-voyage, and that those who survive the dangers of the deep will meet with unknown perils and hardships on landing. Now I can assure them that such opinions are entirely erroneous. Let us see how it would fare with

Mr. Charles Newchumpurr, supposing a reluctant assent had been wrung from his fond mother, to his trying his fortunes at the Antipodes. I will assume that he has fixed on the flourishing colony of Victoria as the scene of his future labours, because that is the place with which I am best acquainted. There are several ways of reaching Melbourne, its capital city, and I can assure the anxious lady that it is a capital city in more ways than one. If 50l., more or less, is no object, young hopeful may improve his mind by coming vid Suez in the P. and O. Company's boats. Or, better still, he may cross to New York, see something of the Eastern States, take a week's railway journey to San Francisco, leaving his card on Brigham Young by the way, and thence ship himself for New Zealand and his ultimate destination. Perhaps, however, it may be necessary or advisable to economise, in which case there are steamers starting from London and Liverpool, and making the voyage round the Cape of Good Hope in from fifty-five to sixty-five days; or cheaper still, sailing-vessels of all sorts and sizes. A passage taken, an outfit becomes the next consideration. As a rule, people who start from Australia fit themselves out for a six-months' voyage. They have not yet got rid of the idea that it takes about that time to reach any of the southern ports, as it used to do in "the brave days of old." My readers may remember the description given of the activity of the old Dutch navigators in that delightful book "Knickerbocker's History of New York;" here they were accustomed to show all sail before turning in for the night, lest haply they should run down a continent in the dark. Fine easy-going gentlemen these, who knew little of "life's fitful fever," but who smoked and chewed and "schnapped" themselves through life in a way which we hurrying, scurrying mortals may envy, but cannot, for the life of us, imitate. Now, however, the merchant skipper is ever at his post, keeping a sharp look-out to take advantage of the slightest chance. Thanks to this and the improvements which have taken place in naval architecture, passages from England to Melbourne by sailing-vessels of under seventy days are tolerably frequent, while seventy-five to eighty-five days may be looked on as the average. Anything over ninety is considered preposterous. So that Materfamilias should bear this in mind when making her calculations in respect of the necessary linen. If young hopeful sail by way of Suez or San Francisco he will have plenty of chances of getting some washing done by the way, but should he determine on the Cape route, provision for three months should be made. There is another point which this very excellent lady would do well to remember. She should put far away from her the absurd idea that because her boy is going a two or three months' voyage it is necessary to pack his trunks with all sorts of kickshaws and abnormal things, under the impression that they may "come in useful" in this uncivilised country whither he goeth. One prevailing