Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-09-13
Boys Not Allowed"

l dtftu surprises ulu not Quite colulItHtHu
the meaning of the words. At last | under
stood it, | was waiting in large railway
station, where many trains connect, and
most Of the passengers from the train in
which was were eating dinner in hotel
near by. | was entirely alone in the car,
with the exception Of one boy, who was,
perhaps, eleven years old. ! made an invol
untary ejaculation as ! read the words on
the sign, and the boy looked around at me.
"Little boy" said /, solemnly, "do you
see that sign ?"
lie turned his head, and, reading the ON
inous warning, nodded sullenly but said
nothing.
Boy, what does it mean 2" said |. "Boys
must be allowed to come into this railway
station. There are two now standing in the
doorway directly under the sign"
The latent sympathy in my tone touched
his heart. lie left his seat and, coming TO
mine, edged in past me, and putting his
head out Of the window read the sentence
| aloud in contemptuous tone. Then he
offered me peanut which | took, and he pro-
ceeded to tell me what he thought of the sign.
Boys not allowed" said he. That's
just the way It's everywhere but | never
saw the sign up before. 1t don't make any
| difference, though, whether they put up a
| sign or not Why in New York (you live
in New York, don't you y they won't even
stop the horse cars for a boy to get on.
| Nobody thinks anything II hurt a boy but
they're glad enough to allow us when
there's any errands to be done, and"
DO you live in New York 2" interrupted
| /, for did not wish TO hear the poor little
fellows list of miseries, which | knew by
heart beforehand without his telling me,
! l. Il g
/ pressed boyhood all my life
Yes, he lived ia New York and he
"went to a grammar school," aud he had
two sisters" And so he talked on in that
| sweet ready, trustfu talk which comes natu-
rally only from children's lips, until the
" twenty minutes for refreshments were
over, and the choked and crammed passen-
| gers, who had eaten big dinners in that
breadth of time, came hurrying back TO their
seats. Among them came the father and
mother Of my little friend. In angry sur
| prise at not finding him in the seat where
| they left him, they exclaimed
Now where is that boy just like him
We might have lost every one of those bags.
Here | am, mamma" he called out pleas
antly. 81 could see the bags all the time.
Nobody came into the car"
" told you not TO leave the seat, sir
What do you mean by such conduct 2"
"Oh, no, papa" said the poor boy, "you
only told me to take care of the bags" And
an anxious look of terror came into his face
which told only too well under how severe
regime he lived. interrupted hastily with
I" | am afraid am the cause of your little
sons leaving his seat. lie had sat very still
until spoke to him; and ought to take
all the blame"
The parents were evidently uncultured
shallow people. Their irritation with hin
was merely surface vexation, which had
no real foundation in deep principle They
became complaisant and smiling at my firs'
word, the boy escaped with a look OF great
relief to another seat, where they gave hin
a simple luncheon of salaratus gingerbread
" Boys not allowed to go into dinner at tn,
Massasoit, thought / TO myself, and upon
that text | sat sadly medtating all the way
from Springfield 10 Boston.
How true it was as the little fellow had
said that "it don't make any difference
whether they put the sign up or not" Nc
one can watch carefully any average house
hold where there are boys and not see thai
there are a thousand little ways in which tn,
boys comfort, freedom and preference will
be disregarded, when the girls will be con
sidered. This is partly intentional, partl,
unconscious. Something is TO be said, un
doubtedly, of making the boy realize early
and keenly that manhood is to bear and L
work. and womanhood is TO be helped anC
sheltered But this should be included. moi
inflicted asked, not seized; shown and ex
planned not commanded. Nothing can b,
surer than the growth in a boy of tender
chiyalrous regard for his sisters and for al
women, if the seeds of it be rightly sowr
and gently nurtured. But the common
method is quite other than this. 1t Begin
too early, and at once with assertion o.
assumption.
"Mother never thinks am of any conse
quence,' said dear boy TO me, the othe
day. "She's all for the girls
This was not true, but there was truth il
it. And am very sure that the selfishness
the lack of real curiosity which we see 81
, plainly and pitiaby in the behavior of tn,
average young man to-day, is the slow, Ger
tain result of years of just such feeling a
this child expressed. The boy has TO scram
BILE for his rights Naturally he is too bus,
TO think about the rights of Others Tn
man keeps up the habit, and is negativel,
: selfish without knowing it.
Take, for instance the one point of the mi
nor courtesies Gf we dare to call any cour
tesies minor) of daily intercourse. How
many people are there who habitually speal
to boy OF ten, twelve or fourteen with tn
same civility as to his sister, a little younge
or older
! al like Miss. -" said this same dea
> boy TO me one day; " for she always bids m
Good morning."
Oh never is one such word thrown ava,
on loving, open-hearted boy. Men know
that safe through all the wear and tear o
/ life they keep far greener the memory o
some woman or some man who was kind /
them in their boyhood than of the frien
l who helped or cheered them yesterday.
Dear, blessed, noisy rollcking, torment
, ing, comforting boy What should we d
l without him ? How much we like, wthou
: suspecting it, his breezy presence in tn
! house Except for him, how would errand
) be done, chairs brought, nails driven, COW
{ stoned out of our way, letters carried, twin
4 and knives kept ready, lost things founC
+ luncheon carried to picnics, three-year-old
! that cry led out of meeting, butterflies an
| birds nests and birch bark got, the hors
t taken round to the stable, borrowed thing
sent home--and all with no charge for time
Dear, patient, busy boy Shall we nc
I sometimes answer his questions Give hir
a comfortable seat Z Wait and not reproy
him till after the company has gone ? Ii
him wear his best jacket, and buy him hal
as many neckties as his sister has Civ
! him some honey, even if there is not enoug
TO go round? Listen toerantly TO his littl
! Dragging, and help him "do" his sums n
! With sudden shril scream the engin
slipped off on a side track, and the car
! glided into the great, grim city station
looking all the grimmer for its twinklin
lights. The masses of people who wer
waiting and the masses of people who ha
come surged toward each other like tw
great waves, and mingled in a moment
caught sight of my poor little friend, boy
following his father, struggling along in th
crowd, carrying two heavy carpet bags,
strapped bundle aud two umbrellas, an
, being sharply told to Keep up close there.
, "IIa " said ! savagely TO myself, "doin
porter's work is not one of the things whic
are not allowed III H., IN Bits of TAD
Thus talks am old farmer about his boys