American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-05-25
A Word for the Boys.


GUS troop as free and almost as wild as
the winds that blow after them. A series
of bangs preceded their exit from the
sitting room to the outer door, and the
gate slams after them its salvo of relief
as the house settles into blessed quiet.
Before they left it was one series of ex-
periments on nerve and temper from the
time the second boy showed his head
down stairs. To be sure the first one who
was reading Oliver Optics last immoral
ity, in the shape of a novel for boys, an
swered the good morning of the grand
mother with one so curt that it sounded
more like "Hush up and don't bother
me-"
His mother and I were just recalling
some old time frolics, which harmonic
so well with mullins and coffee, when
day, and, oh dearl how l do hate to have
to read mine. l hope nobody will visit
the school to-day Say, will you? Oh,
don't! don't want you to-" and so on in
that silly tone which children, eaten up
with self consciousness, take to bring the
conversation near themselves. His tone
took the lead of everything which could
be said, and by similar remarks he con-
trived, as he generally does to break up
all interest for tie older people at the la
bic. His brother began sneering at him
in an undertonc, leaning across the cor
ner of the table to whisper some COM
ment on a young lady's words.
Their manners were not choice in the
matter of eating. Albert, the Oldest,
took piece of bread and industriously
wiped the gravy from his plate. using his
elbow for fulcrum. Ethelfred drank
from his cup without lifting it, bending
his head to the level of the table-cloth to
do so, and Francis ended by a stretch
and yawn, with arms over his head,
which told that his capacity was well
taxed
His mother, on this, did see the propri-
ETY. of interfering, but her lecture was so
long and sharp, ending in captious ar
gument with Francis, who cannot bear to
be in the wrong, that the listeners were
the worst punished. Having her hand in
she made it convenient to scold Albert for
leaving the marks of his gluey fingers on
the door-knob, after FASTING cover on
his book, which, as Albert vigorously
contested the point, and the boys never
think it necessary to lower their voices in
the house, finished off breakfast with a
pleasant imitation of bear garden
There" was the last injunction, do go
along out of the house, and stay there.
Do anything-go anywhere; but don't
come indoors. You are not fit to he
here"
The young lady visitor leaned back in
her easy-chair as the mother disappeared
pantryward. Il don't like BOYS" she
said, they are such plaques about the
house. Do your"
How could l say yes after such scene
from the domestic Comedy of Tcrrors
which is acted in homes all over the coun-
try. Reverend Mrs. Aldine's boys do
just so and Mrs. Percy, who writes"
as everybody in town says as they point
traf 10 ncfS To Sfrnr, and
fessor Rawdon's, and the miller's, and
Mrs. Samuel Smiths, the merchants, and
my cousin GabriePs, whose wife is Il
model to society, and so many more boys
whose mothers never SO much as take a
book out of the circulating library As a
rule. the more particular and eXacting the
mothers, the worse the boys seem to be-
Yet, couldn't say, no. for there is a
whole portfolio of deeds of boyish chiv-
airy and self-denial laid up in my mem
DRY. l must stand up for boys. They
have been my Knights from the brother
in pinafores, who drove away the great
Shanghai from my window when 1 was
in brain fever, lest his growing should
startle me, and the baby who brought his
hat full of aster and golden-rod to please
my taste for flowers, to the clever lad up
to my shoulder who used to escort me to
concerts and lectures when escort was
only needed for the look of the thing.
I've known boys to come into parlor
and behave not only endurably, but make
themselves positively acceptable compa-
ny, when at home the mothers greeting
was: "Now take yourself off unless you
can be perfectly still, for the sight of you
worries me SO l can hardly stand it"
This last case explains itself. No boy
could do very well after such damper of
welcome. But there are other boys, and
fax NH haa
at home as well as abroad are as refined
as the most cXacting ought to look for.
Their presence is as much a pleasure in
its way as that of bright people of any
age. Wasn't it Goethe who said, "Chil-
dren are the only originals?' 1t is the
mothers fault, and not the child's, if boys
are unlovely.
I'm sure | talk to my boys enough, and
| can't be following them up all the
time"
Beg pardon for an unwelcOme asser-
ton, but that is the very thing it is your
duty to do. That's what you are their
mother for, and your homes are for, so
that your foresight, and care, and correc-
ton, may be round them every hour of
their lives. If you put this aside, your
children might as well be brought up by
the state in an asylum, as the Commun-
they would gain the benefit of discipline,
which your training lacks.
The reason boys are not polished in
manners is because mothers do not peTse-
we're in their systems of education. There
is no Inheritance so valuable to Il man as
that of refined address. There is moth
ing your son will so thank you for-not
college course, or the command of money
as for what is meant by good breeding,
that attention to personal habits and the
self-sacrifice which fits a man to mingle
with his fellow men on agreeable terms.
1t is the lack of this polish which mars
the value often of great gifts and Chris
tian principles. You cannot ba willing
to neglect this in your children, least of
all in your sons who will soon pass from
your control. You cannot impart it
without steady labor. Scolding will do
verylittle for your purpose. 1t is a whip
suited only for the meanest spirits that
cannot he goaded by anything else. The
same words in Il different tone will have
thrice the effect
There is method for breaking up bad
habits which never fails. Every time an
error is committed make your boy repair
it as quickly as may be. If he leaves IA
door open twenty times day, twenty
times must he come back and shut it.
Call him back each time, without any
sharpness of tone, but make him feel that
il is no use forgetting-the thing left I'M
done will have to be done. Be memorable
as Fate on all bad habits, and three
weeks work will cure what you may daw-
die and scold over three years in vain.
If boy brings snow or mud into the
house on fresh carpet or clean floor, make
him clear il away rs neatly ms you would
yourself. II viii punish you more Than it