Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-01-10
YOUTHS COLUMN.

The Boys of my Boyhood.-Ihe boys
of the generation To which l oeiongeu
that is to say, who were born In the
last wears of the last century or tne
earliest of this-were brought up under
a system of discipline which put far
greater distance besween parents anu
their children than now exists Inc
parepts seemed to think this necessary
In order to secure obedience. Iney
were believers in the old maxim that
familiarity breeds contempt. MY own
parents lived in the house with my
Grandfather and grandmother ON the
nother's side. Ny grandfather was
disciplinarian of the stricter sort, anu
can hardly find words to express the
awe in which | stood of him-an awe
40 great as almost to prevent anything
like affection on my part, although ne
was in the main kind, and, certainly;
never thought of being severe oeyonu
what was necessary to maintain
proper degree of order in the family;
The other boys in that part of the
country, my school mates ana play
fellows, We're educated on the same
spstem. Yet there were at that time
some indications that this very severe
discipline was beginning 10 relax
With my father and mother was on
much easier terms than with my grand
father. If favor was to be asked OF
nv grandfather, it was asked with
fear and trembling; the request was
postponed to the last moment, ana tDen
made with hesitation and blushes and
a confused utterance.
One of the means of keeping the boys
of that generation in order was little
bundle of birchen rods, bound together
by a small cord, and generally sus-
pended on nail against the wall III
the kitchen. This was esteemed as
much u part of the necessary furniture
as the crane that hung in the Kitchen
fire. place, or the shovel and tongs. lt
sometimes happened that the boy sui
fered a fate similar to that of the eagle
in the fable, wounded by an arrow
fiedged with a feather from his own
wing; in other words, the boy was
made to gather the twigs intended for
his own castigatiOn.
Ii has never been quite clear TO me
why the birch was chosen above all
other trees of the wood to yield Its
twigs for this purpose. The beech of
our forests produces sprays as slender,
as flexible, and as tough; and farmers,
wherever the beech Is common, cut Its
long and plant branches for driving
oxen. Yet the use of birchen rods for
the correction of children Is OF very
great antiquity. In his discourse on
Forest Trees" written three hundred
years ago, Evelyn speaks of birchen
twigs as an implement of the school
master; and Loudon in his "Arbore-
tum." goes yet further back. He says:
"The birch has been used as the ins;ru-
ment of correction in schools from the
earliest ages" The English poets of
the last century make frequent mention
of this use of birchen twigs; but In
LOudon's time, whose book was pub
llshed thirty years since. he remarks
that the use of these rods, both in
schools and private families, was fast
passing away,-a change on which the
bows both OF England and the United
States may we'll be congratulated,-fOr
the birchen rod was, in my time, even
more freely used in the school than in
the household.-St. Nicholas.