The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-08-11
BOYS.
BY Fl. vs.. BEECHER.

BY Fl. W.. BEECHER.
e A boy is piece of existence separats
from all things else, and deserves sepa
rate chapter in the natural history of man.
The real lives of boys are yet to be writ
ten. The lives of pious and good boys;
which enrich the catalogue of great pub
fishing societies, resemble real boys life
about as much as a chicken, picked and
larded, upon the spit, and ready for de-
licious eating, resembles a free fowl in
the fields. With some few honorable eN-
ceptions, they are impossible boys, with
incredible goodness. Their piety is mon
strous. A mans experience stuffed mo
a little boy is simply monstrous. And We
are soundly skeptical of this whole school
ofjuYenIe cato de Joi- gras piety. APP
pies that ripen long before their time, arc
either diseased or worm bitten.
- So long as boys are babies, how much
ere they cherished! But by-and-by tie
crodle is needed for another. From tie
time that a babe becomes boy until lie
is young man, he is in anomalous CO,
dition, for witch there is no place assign
ed in Nature. They are always in tie
way. They are always doing something
to provoke rebuke. They are as inquisi-
tive as monkeys mcddlesome just where
you don't want them to be. Boys ha. g
period of mischief as much as they ha
measles or chicken pox. They invade
your drawers, mix up your tooth powd,r
with hair oil, pull your laces AMI cola s
from their repositories; upset your ink
upon invaluable manuscript; tear up pres
cious letters, scatter your waters, stick
everything up with experimental sealing
wax; and spoil all your pens in their eff
ort to spoil all your paper.
Poor boys What are they good for!
1t is an unfathomsble mystery that We
come to Our manhood (as the Israelites
reach Canaan) through the wilderness Ct
boyhood.. They are always wanting some
thing they thdst not have, going where
they ought not to be, coming where they
are hot waited; saying the most awkward
things at the most critical times. They
will tell lies; and after infinite pains to
teach them the obligations of truth, they
give lis the fill benefit of frankness and
litetalusss by blutting out before company
d whols budgst Of fsntil5 SECRETS. Would
you take quiet nap! Slam-bang 60 a
whole bevy Of boys through the housed
Has the nervous baby at length, after all
manner Of tfottihga; sihgihgs, soothing
and maternal busom=opiates; just failed
asleepf Be sure nh iinrfianiieriy boy will
be OH hand to bawl out for permission
to do something OF other which he has
beeB doing all day without dreaming Of
leave:
WHO shall describe the daily battle Of
the hair and the bath; the ordeal of aprons
for the table, the placing and moving up,
and the endless task Of good manners?
If there IS one saint ought to stand high
er than another on the calendar; it is d
patient; sweet-teinpered children's hiirsc!
Talk of saintship, simply because he lived
IN cafe; and was abstemious; or BECAUSE
he died bravcly at the stake! What afe
fagots of fiery sticks for few moments;
compared to those animated fagots viii, b
consume nurses and goyernesscs for
months and years, to say nothing of the
occasional variety of parental coalsl
z Are we, then, on the boys side? To
be sure we are. 1t is not their fault that
they are boys, nor that older people are
not patient.
'a The restless activity of boys is their me-
cessity. TO restrain it is to th@aft Ma
ture. We need to provide for it. Net
to attempt to find amusement for them;
but TO give them opportunity.
-------v. 90. 60