Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1860-02-16
cfanliIp GirtIe.
Tim Bunker on Giving Boys a Start.

Tim Bunker on Giving Boys Start.
Mr.. EDIToR: "Be sure you're right
then 90 ahead" Davy Crockett got out
considerable truth when he started that
preyerb. | guess it is about as applica-
Bile to starting boys in life, as it is to
starting land on a right course to make
it profitable. Now you may take poor,
run down land, and pillow it, and crop it,
as much as you have mind to, and you
can't make it pay for the labor Of work
ing. 1t needs the right start to begin
with. and then you can goahead and get
pay for cultivating. w
Now a great many folks make the same
mistake with their boys, that / did 10
working Mrs. Bunker's dowrys lots, until
begun to turn in green, crops.,- They
don't give 'em the right start. "a good
many work theirboys till they are twenty
one. and then send them off 'tosshft for
themselves without capital, without any
experince in the earning and use of mon
ey. They stint themAo schooling in the
latter part of their minority, because their
work Is. worth as much as mans. They
seem to have as little regard for the fu-
ture welfare of the boy, as they do for
their land when they get all they can out
of it without putting on any mannre.-
They pay very little attention to their
morals, and before they know il, the boy
mas learned to chew tobacco, smoke,
drink, and swear. and perhaps to rob
water melon patches. and ben roosts.-
He comes up to manhood Kier Frink
fond OF low company, and ready for any
mischief that offers. They do not see
their mistake until it is too late to mend
| it. da -
Now you see, to give boys the right
start, you, must begin early with them.--
If you don't get right notions into their
heads before they are twenty.one, / guess
you might as well give them up. You
can't begin too soon to cultivate their
hearts, and to teach them to respect the
rights of their Maker and the rights. of
their fellow men. Some seem to think it
makes no difference what sort of princi
pies young man adopts, or what habits
he forms. have lived long enough to
see that there is nothing pays SO well in
the long run, as correct habits. These
make young man entirely reliable, and
bis friends can trust him in any business.
Any one Of the vices, to which so many
boys are addicted, is great pecuniary
damage. 1t is just like contracting q
heavy debt at the beginning of life, and
having to pay interest all through. You
may safely put down the use of tobacco
as debt OF five thousand dollars, the use
of Intoxicating drink as five thousand
more, and swearing, lying, and theft, at
about the same figures. A young man.
wants nothing so much, when starting iii
business, as the confidence of his fellows.
This must be based upon his character.
But when we have got boys heart
and morals all right, there is something
else to be done for him. A man. howev-
|er upright. will not succeed without in
dustrious habits, and a knowledge of the
value of money, which is one of the best
Incentives to industry. There is only
one way In which We can estimate money
at its value, and that is to earn it.
silver dollar represents a days work oil
the laborer. If it is given to boy, he
has no idea Of what it has cost, or what
it is worth. He would be as likely to,
give dollar as dime for top, or any
other toy. But if the boy has learned to
earn his dimes and dollars by the sweat
of his face. he knows the difference. The
painful stretch. of his muscles through the
long rows of corn, or at the pillow tail, is
to him a measure Of values, that can nev
er be rubbed out of his mind. A hun.
dred dollars represents hundred weary
days, and it seems great sum of money.
A thousand dollars lisa fortune, and ten.
thousand is almost iaconceivable, for it
is far more than he ever expects tospos
sess. When he has earned dollar, he
thinks twice before he spends it. He
wants to invest it so as to get the full
value of days work for it.
1t is great wrong to society and to
b y, to bring him up to mans estate with
out this knowledge. A fortune at twenty
one, without it, is almost inevitably
thrown away. With it, ard little cap.
ltal to start on, he will make his own
fortune better than any one can make it
for him. The most OF the capital they
need to start with, they might earn in
their minority. 1t is better for farmers
10 pay their boys regular wages, begin
nlng, say, when they are fourteen and
teaching them how to take care of it,
than to give them much larger sum
when they are of age. The seven YEARS.
wages, if put in the SAVING Bank, in
annual Investments, would come to over
a thousand dollars, and with this and a
good character, and Industrious habits,
Young farmers. fortune is secure. That
is double the capital had to start with:
but then | had Sally Bunker for wife,
and the like OF her is better luck than
common mortals can expect.
Yours to command,
TIMOTHY BUNKER, ESQ.
Hookertoacn, CT, jan. Is.