Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-06-10
Independent in all things.
ASHTABULA OHIO, SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 1877
A Boys Advice to Old Men.

cannot pick up newspaper without
advice 20 Boys" starcs me in the face.
Old men write it / 'spose. Nobody else
is capable of giving advice to boys, Of
course not They know all about us,
they. do, cause they have been there.
Advice is good thing to have, no doubt,
and no family should lie without it, but
felleT don't want to be crammcd with
it all the time to the exclusion Of all
other diet.
Now, old men need advice occasion
ally, but in looking through the news
papers don't sec that they get it. So
i just thought ] would write n little
advice to Old Men" myself, if am
not presumlng too much, las Aunt Chloe
says and | presume ! am.
In the first place yoa old chaps oueht
10 get over telling how much smarter
boys were when you were BOYS than
boys are now. You believe it your
selves, of course, cause you've told it so
many times, but we boys can't see it.
We have notion that BOYS are bows
pretty much, Except some that are girls)
the world over, and one generation Of
them don't lay over another generation
to any alarming extent.
Only let you tell it, and you could ont
run, out jump, and ont anything else the
rising generation of to-day, when YOU
was boy. Grandfather, who has got
the gout and half dozen different kinds
of rheumatism, is always saying that.
heard him singing the other day, 81
would were boy again" would he
were too. If | couldn't beat him run
ming and flop him on his back, side holt.
| don't want a cent.
| wouldn't go so far as to say, "Pa.
rents obey your Children" but / would
suggest to fathers that they give US a
hearing occasionally, on matters in
which we are most interested. Don't
make US go aud slide down hill when
we want to skate, and don't try to make
preachers of US when we much prefer
to run sawmill. This is figurative, but
| guess you know what mean.
After giving us boys sage advice about
our conduct, and how to behave, you
old men ought to be careful how you
get to relating your boyish scrapes to
each other and laughing over them be-
fore we are out OF earshot The other
day grandfather read me long lecture
about the rights of property, temperance
and Sabbath brelking. That night an
old crony of his'n come to visit him and
tney had glass of punch together
They thought was asleep on the sofa,
and the way they went on about the fun
they had when they were boys together
They told all about robbing Captain
Lyman's melon patch, and it turned out
it was a Sunday night, too When |
went to bed they were taking their
glass of punch, and don't know how
many they had after that. l know
grandtather's rheumatism was a great
deal worse the next day, aud he COM
Iplained about his liver. Old men ought
to be careful about taking much punch.
know old men hate to give in that
they can't stand as much as they used
to, or as young men can. They get mad
if feller like me hints that they can't.
But what is the use of fooling your
selves ? We have all got to play out
some day, and when man feels he is
losing his grip, why not come down and
acknowledge the corn =?
Now, in the above remarks, don't
mean any disrespect. like old men in
their place, but don't want much of
their advice Give the boys chance.