Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-07-23
What Shall We Do with Oar Boys
BY SARAH FORD Crosby.

Bh SARAH EOkD Crosby.
A queenly woman startled us by asking
What shall we do with our girls2' Righ
royalty was her answer given, and let ui
hope that many girl grown tall" viii
rise up and call her blessed.
Mems rights and women's rights and
suffrage and pathy have been billed aud
discussed and voted and vetoed until ono
might well fear that the people had left the
ordinary affairs of life and were running
wild after some new theory or ism but
not quite all the ways of the old fogy,
work-a-day world have been left behind.
A young child is still found in some house.
holds, and boys are not altogether out OF
fashion.
Winter came, with his "palace Of crystals
and realm of coolest snow >" and took Young
America from the streets, and we imagined
that all was well.
The signs of spring have come, and what
are they ? Birds and sunshine and CHEEKY
words ? Yes, and something more, mud
and marbles and profanity general phys.
ical and moral nastiness. Is this because
boys, being human and Of the earthly, put
away their clean hands and words with the
clean snow7 BE that as it may we meet
the fact on every street corner and the
question is forced upon us, What shall
we do with our boys ~
We commend the wisdom Of Esculapius
in requiring sick persons whom he healed
to hang a tablet in his temple, containing a
statement of the disease and manner of
cure and as he was the most celebrated
of human physicians, let US see where he
found his model. We are told that the
Evil One tried experiments on man and
caused the results to appear on his spirit /;
hence the fall. The Healer, following tho
same plan, obliterated the work of the De-
stroyer, and then the great physicians tab
lets were over all. Shall not the mothers
OF this generation be as wise as this old
Pagan doctor Can we not see that every
child is speaking after the manner in which
it has been trained 2-that its temple, the
body, is filled and covered with these testi-
monial tabets7 II is so easy to lay all
the blame to "poor, frail human nature"
and fail to see in these street tableaux the
hanging of another tablet
Let us see if we can read any OF them.
A fearfully profane oath shocks the parents
almost to deafness. We read the manner
in which this result is reached The boys
parents are very good people, but we are
sorry that they could not always remember
to drop the " Oh fudge !" and 81 vow !"
when they were provoked, until they are
Mortified at the trapslations the boy gives
to these doubtfully innocent expletives.-
Another boy is playing 4" for keeps !" can
his parents be to blame in this case? Let
us look at him in his hourly training in the
home school. Luck" and "chance" and
" it happened so" are household words
there. Not word is said to or of the
great God who doeth all things well. The
boy has seard that there is God, but he
has been taught that everything depends on
luck and worse, he knows where his par.
ents have taken the advantage in some
" half penny" dealings with his brethren.
This is a progressive age Boys are quick
to learn. The old Serpent is always ready
to suggest. and SO the boy plays for keeps"
Alas for his future ! He has one chance
left,-to become new creature.
A third tablet reads, "No love or re-
spect for the Sabbath" That boys mother
often said in his presence, that she did not
believe in sending boys to Sunday School
and church, and thus teaching them to hate
the Sabbath. She forgot that the path of
duty in childhood as well as in mature
years can alone lead 10 contentment and
happiness, and that youth is the time in
which to form correct habits. She would
almost make her boy believe that is cruel
to keep him moderately quiet for sixty con-
secutive minutes during the twenty-four
hours of Sunday. Strange that her boy is
a Sabbath -breaker2 We think not.
Another violates the eighth command
ment. What has been bis training9 If
all the promises made TO him had been
kept, how many ears would have been cut
off? More baskets full than were gathered
up after the feast of " the loaves aud fish
es." And think Of the improbable places
peopled by "black men and " bears ;"
You can teach a boy to be untrue very
easily; for you bave powerful ally in
" The Father Of Lies"
Thus we might continue to read tablet
after tablet; and we can usually tell, IL we
have been observing how the change has
been wrought. Homes have not been
made attractive. Injudicous teachers have
been employed. The easiest way has been
chosen, aud the result is, the boy Is on the
high road TO ruin. 1t takes a great deal
of time to SO train child in the way be
should 90 that he will not depart from it,
more time than some mothers think they
can spare from the demands of dress and
society. Persons are employed to care for
the children, with whom the mother would
never think Of spending an hour; and can
We be surprised il low tastes are acquired,
when we are as prone to evil as the sparks
are to fly upward? Better never bring
these souls " out of the unknown into here,
than to let them perish for want of care.
Better keep a girl to pay your calls than
to ruin your boys. Far better set the
bupglers at work upon the wardrobe than
upon the soul. God would never have
given these precious gifts to you, my sister,
if he had not wanted you to care for them.
What shall we say of this modern idea
that there shall not, on any account, be
more than three olive branches on any home
tree? Small families often have their re-
ward, for it is usually from such that our
widest oats are soWu Where thnro arc