AN EXHIBITION OF PRIGS.
HOWEVER cordially one may approve of the general
aim of the coming Exhibition at Chicago, and may wish for its complete success, it is difficult to feel an entire sympathy with some of the ideas for its accomplishment that are apparently entertained in all sad seriousness by its Com- mittee of management. When that enterprising body sug- gested that the Spanish Regent should send over her baby- son and Sovereign as an appropriate side-show for their colossal entertainment, one could afford to smile pleasantly at this condescension on the part of the "almighty Dollar" towards the proudest Court in Europe, and wish them better luck in their next venture. When, however, their next ventures took the form of an attempt to bribe first the Wagner Company of Bayreuth and then the Passion-players of the Oberammergau to break through their rules and tradi- tions, and consent for once to become an American " raree- ahow," one was tempted to wish the Committee in question better manners and a little better taste. Unfortunately, those rebuffs seem only to have determined them to fix their affections upon some attraction which was more capable of realisation, and the result is that they now offer, as an inducement to their future visitors, one of the most deplorable entertainments that American ingenuity could well devise. A series of Congresses upon every conceivable subject, religious, scientific, and social, in which all the learned men of the world would be invited to partake, was quite bad enough ; but as it was impossible, we suppose, that any exhi- bition—and much less an American exhibition—could take place without some such confusion of speech-making, one was fain to look upon this waste of breath as a necessary evil. Even a Woman's Congress, on a gigantic scale, might be looked forward to with equanimity, when one reflected what a comfortable opportunity it would afford to the gentle sex to work off some of that superabundant energy with which, for the moment, they seem to be oppressed. But when it comes to a Congress of Youths, from the age of thirteen upwards, who are to be "adequate representatives of the educated youth of all countries," "the worthiest and most talented" boys of all the schools of every possible country, and therefore "the corning leaders of mankind," the congressional prospects of the World's Fair assumes a form which is simply appalling. Ridiculous as it seems, that is apparently a perfectly authentic description of the latest proposition that has been put for- ward by the Committee, to judge from those portions of the official circular that have been quoted in the Press. "It is purposed," we read, "to draw together the worthiest and most talented youth of all lands—the coming leaders of mankind— that, they may be led to realise, as could not otherwise be possible, the meaning and the worth of the fellowship of nations and the brotherhood of man." And with this purpose the Committee invite from fifteen to fifty delegates from every nation in the world, and recommend that the young people should be selected from the "high-school and grammar. school grades," and that their selection should be determined by some test in scholarship, the writing of essays, and declamation on some patriotic theme. The young dele- gates, we learn, will be allowed to participate to a reason- able extent in the work of the general Congress ; but the chief object that the Committee will have in view is to bring them into contact with the most eminent educational leaders of the day. It is expected that these youthful members of the Congress may number about five thousand. Five thousand little prigs, drawn from every country under the sun ! 0, Mr. Barlow ! 0, Harry Sandford and Master Tommy Merton, why did you not live a century later !
"The fellowship of nations and the brotherhood of man" is quite in Mr. Barlow's style, and for his memory's sake we welcome the high-sounding phrase. But how is its meaning to be brought home to the youthful visitors ? By the con- templation of the biggest cannon in the world, which, we are told, will be one of the most notable exhibits ? Or by listening to controversial discussions upon the world's religions ? In either ease, the meaning will be far to seek. And how, in the name of wonder, will these "coming leaders of mankind" be singled out from the nick of their future followers? That schoolmaster would indeed be a singularly discriminating man, who could select from the bulk of his scholars the future statesman or leader of thought. The writing of essays and declamation on patriotic themes hardly seem to be tests sufficient for the occasion : mankind has a provoking habit of belying its early promise, and it is not often that the pattern boy of a school, the writer of prize essays, and the undaunted declaimer of high-flown rhetoric, maintains his prominent position in the great world outside his small school circle. As a rule, the model boy is nothing more nor less than a little prig,—a quality which he does not lose until contact with the big world has modified his school virtues and caused him to forget his school triumphs. And fancy five thousand of these model boys assembled together ! Youthful prigs, English, French, and German ; little prigs with pigtails from China, flat-nosed little prigs from the "grammar-schools "of Greenland, black- faced little prigs from the " high-schools " of Africa. No; the picture is altogether beyond the compass of one's imagina- tion. Now, however, that the idea has really been started, we do not fancy for a moment that it will be abandoned. There are far too many prigs in the world of more mature growth,— parents who would not lose so unique an opportunity of adver- tising themselves through their progeny. Soon we shall see a new addition to the familiar school prospectus in the shape of Special preparation for the Congress of the World's Fair ;" and for years afterwards we shall be reminded of the departed Exhibition by the schoolmaster's boast that "Two pupils from this Academy for Young Gentlemen took part in the famous Congress of Youth in 1893." We sincerely hope that English parents will consider it well before they consent to send their own children as " exhibits " to the World's Fair, and brand them with such a fatal mark of distinction. With Americans the exhibition of their children is quite a different matter; the American child is accustomed from its earliest infancy to live before the public. It was only this week that we read in the American newspapers of an exhibition that had been held in New Jersey in the shape of a parade of babies in perambu- lators. The babies were so numerous that they took twenty- five minutes in passing a given point, and the show was witnessed, we are told, by about thirty thousand spectators. Each babe, apparently, received for its trouble a package of sweets, a feeding-bottle, and an air-ball ; while their parents were, doubtless, sufficiently rewarded by the encomiums passed upon their offspring. A people who can exhibit and take pleasure in the sight of a mile of babies in perambulators, may well rejoice in the chance of exhibiting five thousand schoolboys in round jackets.
After all, we are fain to confess that there is a certain amount of reason in this peculiar proposal on the part of the Chicago Exhibition Committee. Congresses and pow- wows of all descriptions are certainly a feature of the age that we live in; and so also, for that matter, is the juvenile prig. A combined show of these two products may well serve to illustrate the tendencies of the coming century. It is for a similar reason, we suppose, that a large building has been assigned to womankind, and will be devoted to the sole use and enjoyment of our future conquerors. What the ladies, who have been busily holding preparatory congresses in all parts of the world, are going to do in this immense building still remains a mystery. It is supposed by some that it will be the scene of an enormous female parliament, at which the wrongs and rights of the sex will be fully discussed, and laws will be drafted for the better guidance of man. Other people believe that it is intended to hold therein a gigantic exhibition of feminine frocks and fashions ; and we hope, for the sake of the World's Fair, that this belief is the correct one. It is certain that nine ladies would cross the Atlantic to see the latter show for every one who would cross it to join in the discussion. However that may be, the time and energy of the ladies assembled will now be fully occupied in keeping a watch- ful eye upon th-. Congress of Youth, and preventing it from getting into mischief. Even the little prig is capable of an occasional outbreak, and disorder is apt to be contagious. Supposing, for instance, that Master Sandford from France should seek to convince Master Merton of Germany by kicking his shins ; what would be more natural than that each youth should be immediately supported by all of his own nationality ? Not only would France and Germany fall upon each other, but Russia would, of course, hasten to the aid of the former, and the whole Triple Alliance would make the cause of Germany its own. There would be a pretty to-do, especially if the youths of less civilised nations joined in the fray. It is at least consoling to think that in a congress conducted on the lines of physical prowess, the English schoolboy is likely to hold his own.
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