San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1877-11-10

or incapable. The strength in such
boys is simply held in reserve, and when
later occasions develop it, there is much
said in regard to the change which has
taken place in the boys character; but
this is all a mistake; there has been ne
change, only growth. 1t was the par
ents or teachers who were stupid in not
judging him correctly.
There Is one great certainty about q
boy of pluck-he can not be suppressed.
Genius without pluck may be extin-
guished, defeated, rendered curse to
the possessor; but pluck, aided by in
dustry and perseverance, ia genius, and
will bring almost every thing else that
is desirable in its train.
Evidences of the mistakes made by
grown persons in reference to the pos
session of certain qualities by children
occur often enough, but are rarely so
strikingly illustrated as in two cases,
one Of which was recently reported in
the newspapers, the other occurred
within my own personal knowledge.
Every reader has been shocked by hear
ing of the case of the little English boy,
who, subjected at school to the tortur-
ing cruelty of boy MONITOR" older
than himself, ran away to his home, and
begged his father not to force him to
return. But the father ordered him
back, and to the former i'll treat
ment was added severe castiga-
ton administered by the higher
authorities, and system Of still greater
and more unremitting brutality on the
part of his tormentor. The boy a Sec
ond time ran away to his home, and i'm
plored his father on his knees to permit
him to remain, or to send him to anoth-
er school. But the father misapprehend-
ed the whole situation, had no concep-
ton of the honesty and con-
scientious regard for what he
conceived to be his duty, which had i'm
PEELED his little son to 60 home to him
, instead of wandering among strangers
and simply Judging that to be want of
courage which was only want of strength
, and extreme sensitiveness to suffering,
he, with stupid, cruel obstinacy, took him
3 back to his prosecutors, and gave him
: overto bedealt with as theysawfit. Again
severely whipped, thrown out by his
natural protector, the poor boy saw only
q one way remaining by which to release
himself from his sufferings. He was
; only ten years old, but he tore part Of
! his clothing into strips, made a moose,
and hung himself! Poor little fellow,
q he did not know that in committing
that act he was liberating hundreds o.
h brave, bright boys from the thraldom o.
! some overgrown bully, whose physica
! strength had been used to make him the
8 terror of all boys smaller than himself
: For while your coward and bully is al
, ways ready for an attack upon some
one smaller and weaker than himself
the boy of real pluck and courage
: rarely makes an attack at all; he
i defends himself manfully, and tc
f the very best of his ability against an
: attack, be his assailant small or large
but he is never the aggressor, unless
ambition and love of power, as some
times in men, have dulled or warped his
e sense of right
a The second instance referred to was
q like the first in this respect, that the boy
: was at school, and ran away because he
could not endure the classifying, the
+ meanness, the base pretension, the sub
t terfuges, the utter poverty of resource
$ which existed there. He, too, went
t home, told his father his story, and re-
/. ouested him to send him to another
: school. But the father had selected this
|, school; he thought it a mere case OF
( previous pampering and want of dis
a CT oline; he said some pretty hard thing;
Che was rich man) in regard to his
q sons desire to escape study and school
+ regulations, and indulge his appetites
e and propensities, finishing by ordering
n him to go straight back, or never enter
n his house again.
e In this case, again, the father totally
misconceived the sons character and
Y motives; he was not an INDUCED boy al
/ all. He was, On the contrary, honest,
!. truthful, actuated by principle, sincere
{ " DESTROYS of making the best use OF
his opportunities, and simply Disguised
b and repealed by the want of honesty and
truthfulness about him.
Rnt his father WAS a hard man. in