Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-07-01
Mrs. Perry's Boys.


What a beautiful family Of children
you have, Major Perry" said |, as tall,
sodierly looking man took his seat in the
omnibus beside me bound for City Hall. |
bad dined at his house the day before, and
been introduced to three fine looking young
men and two lovely young ladies, who, in
the fifteen years since ! had seen them, had
grown out of my knowledge.
"Yes, they are nice children" said he !;
"but those boys are Mrs. Perry's boys. l
don't deserve any credit for raising them at
all, and the girls | only saw once in a while
from the time when they we're babies till
they flushed school. You know I've been
in service all my life, and it is only two or
three years ago that | bought on Clinton
Avenue and settled down at home, as a man
ought to, with my wife and children"
MRS. Perry has certainly been very
successful in raising her family" said |.
"Well, you see,' said the Major, 8" Mrs.
Perry is a very uncommon woman, very
she has a way Of managing everything, aud
everybody around her, that's really remark
able; and she's the pleasantest woman il
the world she never irets or scolds, but
somehow she makes US do just as she wants
US to, and we think we're having our OWL
way all the time"
81 must find out her secret" said !, as
bade him good morning
A few days after my interview with thC
Major, attended Mrs. Eyerett's excellent
lecture on the Management Of Girls be-
tween ten and twenty-five, the marriageablt
age as she AYERS, and chance or Providence
seated Mrs. Perry and me together.
As we walked homeward, exchanging
ideas, discussing and endorsing the thor
oughly sensible aud practical views Of the
lecturer, turned the subject Of converse
ton on the raising of boys. Major Perry
says you deserve. all the credit of raising
those boys so WE'LL said |, and | woulC
like very much to know how you conduct
their social and domestic education"
"Theres a great deal to be said on that
subject" replied Mrs. Perry, "but here w
are at my house come in, and well have
long talk together The summer after
left school | visited Mammoth Cave, anC
extended my tour to Nashville. There
met a lady who cannot, | think, be ALIVE
now she was the sister.in-lsw Of old Gen
Carroll, Of Tennessee. A very amiable
lovely-spirited woman she was, and quit,
advanced in years. l was asking her abou
the inhabitants Of the city, knowing that sh,
had lived 10 it from the earliest date of it
settlement, and in replying among othe
things, she said this I've lived in Nash
vile for fifty years, and there's one thin
I've noticed that is very remarkable, anC
that is the success that widows have had il
raising their families Then she went ol
to recount the prominent men in Nashville
and it seemed that large majority of then
had been left fatherless early in life, an,
been reared solely by their mothers, 8
don't remember an instance said she
where one of our Nashville widows has ha'
a prodigal son.
"At that time, took, of course, sligh
interest in this statement but afterward;
when found myself the mother Of littl
family Of children, and as their father wa
absent nearly all the time, quite alone j
the responsibility Of raising them, wha
, Mrs. Carroll said came back to me agai
and again, and | revolved in my mind a.
, the elements that must have entered int
, the success of those Nashville mother,
They must have inspired their boys, rea
soned, with love of high and noble mani
ness, else, when the boys reached an age
throw off maternal authority there woul
have been trouble. | read very carefully
too, the manner in which George Washing
! tons mother trained him. and gradually m
mind grew clear as to my best course wit
. regard to my sons In the FIRST place | r,
solved that home should be the very cheer
est aud happiest place in all the world.
asked clergyman once why minister
children were so often a reproach to the
parents. The answer is easy, said he
God has placed the family first, and tn
church afterwards; ministers too often II
verse the Divine order. and esteem th
church of paramount Importance, and the
suffer the inevitable results of changing th
natural order of things.
al resolved in the next place that
would make the Bible the most interestin
: of story books, as indeed it is, and thu
Q every day, regularly, we would have famil
t devotions, and the boys should take turns
leading in prayer. This course l hay
kept up from their boyhood till now, au
r they have all learned to make excellel
Q prayers without embarrassment or unplea
ant consciousness.
: Then l resolved that they should loy
5 me, not only as their mother, but the
. companion, their playmate, their frien,
/, | helped them make their kites, | took pa
s in their games, | assisted them in the
b studies, in puzzling out hard question
+; arithmetic, or in constituting a difficult pa
r sage in Latin, and / had them help n
5 whenever their assistance was availabl
I They were made TO feel that | was d
;, pendent on them, in a manner, for prote
3 ton, for companionship, for sympath
t Nothing makes boy manly and chiyalr
(; in his feelings like that.
Y "Then l resolved to feed their minds
d stories Of nobility, and honor, and aspir
o tion. / rehearsed to them the lives
Q Columbus, OF Cromwell. Of Frederick h
Great, of Alfred, Of Peter Of Russia,
Q Socrates and Pericles, and occasionally Q
! tertained them with tales Of the old m
r thology, and chapters from the Arabil
T Nights; thus formed in them love E
Is historic truth and for elevated literature,
a that when they were fifteen and upwar
:, they selected, Of their own accord, readil
b Of high character. My constant endeav