The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-06-02

BY HARnrEr srzcHxn srowk.
YeEshat Is the question The fact is, there
seeun 10 Be no place in heaven above, or earth be-
neath, exactly safe and suitable, except the bed.
While he 70 asleep there. our souls have rest-we
Know where he Is and what he 10 about, and sleep is
early, and begins footing, pounding, hammering,
singing. medalng, and asking ions; in short,
overturuingt the peace Of society rally for about
shlsfsen hours ont Of every tventy-Sour.
Everybody wants to know what to do with him
everybody 10 quite sure that he can stay where they
ara The cook can't have him in the kitchen, where
he insests the pantry to get -four to make paste for
his kites, or melt lard in the new saucepan. II he
goes into the wood-shed. he is sure to pu4tthe wood
pile down upon his head. If he be sent mp into the
thu problem, till yOu 6nd what q boundiess field for
activity 10 st onos opened, amid all the packages,
boxes, bags, barrels, and cast-off rubbish there. Old
letters, newspapers, trunks Of miscellaneous contents,
are all rummaged, and the very reign of chaos and
old night is instituted. He sees endless capacities in
Al, and be Is always hammering, or knocking some
thing apart, or saving, or planning, or drawing boxes
and barrels in all directions to build cities or lay rail-
road tracks, till everybody's head aches quite down
10 the lower floor, and everybody declares that Char
ley must be kept out Of the garnet.
Then you send Charley to school, and hope you are
fairly rid Of him for a few hours at least. But he
QOuic uofIc uUfSfc anu more OreeZy IMAM ever, nav
ing learned Of some twenty other Charleys every
separate resource for keeping up a commotion that
the superabundant vitality o. each can originate. He
can dance like Jim Smith-he has learned to smack
his lips like Joe Brown-and Will Briggs has shown
him how to new like q cat. and he enters the premi-
go With q new ~war-whoop, learned from Tom Evans.
He feels large and valorous; he has learned that he
u . boy, and has a general impression that he IS
growing immensely strong and knowing, and despises
more than ever the conventionalities of parlor life; in
tact. he ls more than ever an inferruDtIOn in the Way
Of descent folks who want to be quiet.
1t Is true, that If entertaining persons viii devote
themselves exclusively to him, reading and telling
stories, he may be hept quiet; but then this is dis
work, for he swallows a story rs Rover
does a piece Of meat, and looks at you for another
and smother, without the slightest consideration, so
that this resource Is Of short duration, and then the
him!
But after all, Charley cannot be wholly shirked.
Tor he is an institutions solemn and awful fact;
and on the answer to the question, What is to be done
with him 2 depends q future.
Many q hard, morose, bitter man has come from
. Charley turned of and neglected; many a parental
heart-ache has ONE from n Charley left to run the
streets, that mamma and sisters might play on the
piano and write letters in peace. 1t is easy to get
rid OF him; there are fifty ways of doing that. he IS
n spirit that can be promptly laid, but If not laid
Alright will come back, by-and-by, n strong man
armed, when you cannot send him off at pleasure.
Mamma and sisters had better paw a little tax to
Charley now, than a terrible one by-and-by. There
Is something significant in the old English phrase,
with which our Scriptures render us familiar, a MAN
child MAX child. There you have the word that
should make you think more than twice before you
answer the question I" What shall We do with Char
ley s'
For to-day he is at your feet; TO-DAY you can make
him laugh, you can make him cry, you can persuade,
coax, and turn him to y ur pleasure; YOU can make
his eyes ill and his bosom swell with recitals of good
and noble deeds; in short, you can mould him if YOU
take the trouble.
but look ahead some years, when that little voice
shall sing IN deep bass tones; when that small foot
shall have a mans weight and tramp; when a rough
beard shall cover that little, round chin, and the
wilful strength Of manhood fill out that little form.
Then you would give worlds for the key to his heart,
TO be able to turn and guide him to your will; but if
you VIII lose that key now he is little, you may search
for IL carefully, with tears, some ether day, and
never find il.
Did housekeepers have a proverb, that one hour
lost In the morning is never found all day. 1t has
signi6cance in this case.
One thing is to be noticed about Charley, that,
rude, and busy, and noisy as he ID, and irksome as
carpet rules and Paror sa,.:ye 70 him. he is still a
social little creature, and wants to be where the rest
Of the household are A room ever 50 well adapted
for play, cannot charm him at the hour when the
family is in re-1nion; he hears the voices in the par
lor, and his play room seems desolate. It may be
warmed by q furnace and lighted with gas, but it is
human warmth and light he shivers for; he yearns
for the talk Of the family, which he 50 imperfectly
comprehends, and he longs to take his playthings
down and play by you, and is necessarily promising
that Of the fifty improper things which he is liable to
do in the parior, he viii not commit one if you let
him stay there.
This instinct Of the little one is Natures warning
plea-God's admonition. o, how many a mother
who has neglected it because it was irksome to have
the child about, has longed at twenty-five to keep her
son by her side, and he would not! Shut out as q
little Arab; constantly told that he is noisy, that he
is awkward and meddIesome, and n plague in general,
the boy has found at last his own company in the
streets, in the highways and hedges, where he runs
till the day comes when the parents want their son,
and the sisters their brother, and then they are scared
at the face he brings back to them, as he comes all
foul and smutty from the companionship to which
they have doomed him. Depend upon it, if il is too
much trouble to keep your boy in your society, there
viii be places found for m-warme and lighted
with no friendly fres-where he who finds some mis-
chief stin for idle hands to do, will care for him, if
You do not. You may put out a tree and it will grow
while you sleep, but a son you cannot-you must take
trouble for him, either a little now or a great deal by
and by. ~
Let him stay with you at least some portion of
every day; bear his noise and his ignorant ways.
Put aside your book or work to tell him a story, or
show him a picture; devise still parlor plays for him,
for he gains nothing by being allowed to spoil the
comfort Of the whole circle A pencil, a sheet Of
paper, and a fer patterns will sometimes keep him
quiet by you for an hour. while you are talking, or
in Q corner he may build a block-house, annoying
nobody If he does now and then disturb you, and
it costs you more thought and care to regulate him
there, balance which is the greatest eviL-to be dis
turbed by him now, or when he is n man.
or all you can give your Charley, il you are a good
man or woman, your presence is the best and safest
thing. God never meant him to be without you any
more than chickens were meant to grow without
being brooded-
Then let him have some place in your house where
it shall be no sin to hammer and pound and make all
the litter his heart desires and his various schemes
require Even il you can i'll afford the room, weigh
well between that safe asylum and one which, if de-
MED, he may make for himself in the street.
or all desices for Charley which we have, a few
shelves which he may dignity with the name of a cab
met is one Of the best : He picks up shells and peb-
bles and stones, all odds and ends, nothing comes
amiss; and il you give him a pair Of scissors and q
little gum, there is no end of the labels he will paste
on. and the hours he may innocently spend sorting
and arranging.
A bottle Of liquid gum is an invaluable resource
for various purposes, nor must you mind though he
<n--snh LIE noeo and 6neaxx and xlofhos lxLsol L.