St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-01-19
If I Were a Boy Again.

Let ME tell you, my young friend,
some of the things | would do if were
a boy again some of the too often neg
lected acts l would strive to accom-
plish if it were in my power to begin
all over anew.
l would learn the art of using tools
of various sorts. l think l would in
sist on learning some trade, even if
knew there would be no occasion to
follow it when | grew up. What Il
pleasure it is in after life to be able to
make something, as the saying is; to
construct a neat box to hold ones pen
and paper or pretty cabinet for Il
sisters library or co frame a favorite
engraving for a Christmas present to Il
dear, kind mother. What loss not to
know how to mend chair that refuses
to stand up strong, only because it
needs few tacks and bit of leather
here and there. Some of us cannot
even drive nail straight, and should
we attempt to saw off an obtrusive
piece of wood, ten to one we should
lose finger in the operation.
/ think | would ask permissiOn-if
had happened to be born in a city-to
have the opportunity of passing all my
vacations in the country, that | might
learn the names of trees, and flowers,
and birds. We are, as people, sadly
ignorant of all accurate rural knowl-
edge. We guess at many country
things, but we are certain of very few.
1t is inexcusable in grown-up person,
like my amiable neighbor, Simpkins,
who lives from May to November on a
farm of sixty acres,in beautiful wood
ed country, not to know a maple from
beech, OIL a bObOlink from cat bird.
He once handed me bunch of pansies,
and called them violets, and on other
occasions he mistook sweet peas for
geraniums. What right has a human
being, while the air is full of bird mu-
sic, to be wholly ignorant of the per-
formers name? When we go to, the
opera, we are fully posted up with re-
gard to all the principal singers, and
why should we know nothing of the
owners of voices that far transcend the
vocal powers of Jenny Lind and Chris
tine Nilsson. A boy ought also to be
at home in barn, and learn how to
harness a horse, tinker up a wagon,
feed the animals, and do hundred
useful things, the experience of which
may be of special service to him in af-
ter life as an explorer or traveller,
when unlocked for emergencies befall
him.
i'll were a boy again, would learn
how to row a boat and handle sail,
and above all, how to become proof
against sea-sickness. | would conquer
that malady before l grew to be fifteen
years old. 1t can be done, and ought
to be done, in youth, for all of us are
more or less inclined to visit foreign
countries, either in the way of business
or mental improvement, to say nothing
of pleasure. Fight the sea sick malady
long enough, and it can be conquered
at very early age. Of course every
young person nowadays, male or fe-
male, learns to swim, and so no advice
on that score need be proffered but il
l were boy again, / would learn to
float half day, if necessary, in as
rough a bit of water as l could find on
our beautiful coast. A boy of tifI cen
who cannot keep his head and legs all
right i'll a stiff sea ought to try until he
can. No lad in these days ought to
drown-if he can help it.
l would keep "better hours" if
were boy again; that is, would &C
to bed earlier than most boys do. Moth
ing givestas more mental and bodily
vigor thaa sound rest when properly
applied. Sleep is our great replenish-
er, and if we neglect to take it natural
ly in childhood, all the worse for us
when we grow up. If we go to bee
early, we ripen; if we sit up late, We
decay, and sooner or later we contrac
a disease called insomnia, allowing it tt