The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-01-03
s. MOther's'' Boy.

oned of much. account, especially by
fathers. A mothers boys spoken ofin
a tone hall eontemptuous, as a sort of
Girl, who cliRgs to his mothers skirts
and shelters himself under her wing.
THIS is often avery mistaken estimate
of the mothers boys character. Be-
hind the boy, necessarily, is the mother;
and it depends mainly upon her what
sort of animated intelligence her boy
will turn out to be. 4fA
Bows who are not mothers boys, cruel
boys, careless boys, reckless boys, and
boys who think only of gratifying their
own selfish and animal instincts, think
they show manliness in making brutal
fun and casting coarse ridicule upon
boys who, by their helpfulness or quiet,
domestic habits, obtain the appellation
of ''mothers' boys" 3.'
For some reason. or other, boys seem
to be expected to be cruel, careless, in
considerable of others, and obstinate in
the qualification of their own desires.
Exhibitions of this kind, are neither
Judged nor punished as they would be
in a girl. 1t is considered sufficient to
say, that boys 'sGLlcGyS are so and so,
that he is all boy" or thatit is "iust
like boy" and so forth.
A boy who is obedient, treats his
mother with respect, who constitutes
himself protector and guardian of his
smaller sisters, is nowadays so rare that
when such specimen is found it is gen
orally thought that there is something
lacking in him. ''He is an amiable lit
tie fellow, oh, yesl but he lacks spirit,
and will not be likely to make much of
man :" the popular idea of a man, en-
bodied in such a speech, being that of a
selfish, appropriative monopolist.
1t has often struck me, that if our
Savior, who suffered all things, had
been measured during his life by popu-
lar standards, what poor spiritless
specimen of man he would have been
called.
In regard to mothers boys, | have a
standard, which was furnished me by
one of them many years ago and it is
this picture which should ike to draw,
for the benefit of the mothers who may
read thesewords.
He was the only son of widow, who,
though lady by birth and breeding,
was poor, and obtained her living by
teaching music, and taking in sewing,
in little village in Massachusetts.
Their home was small cottage, which
had belonged to her parents, and to
which was attached a yard and garden.
The gard0n was quite extensive, and
was worked on shares by a neighbor,
thus affording the little family, consist
ing only of the widow and her son, all
the vegetables and most of the fruit that
they required.
The boy, at the time of which | write,
was II years of age, and took the entire
management of the outdoor business off
his mothers hands. This kept him very
Dusy.
He sawed, split, and piled the wood !;
he kept the yard and doorways mira
cles of cleanliness he went on all the
errands. and for his own special pleas
ure reared chickens, which supplied his
mother with eggs; and cultivated ex-
tensive hower-beds, which furnished
her with bouquets. All this, in addi-
ton to making the fire in the morning,
doing household chores,n and, regu-
lar attendance at school, occupied his
entire time, and left him no leisure, even
if he had had the inclination, to 90 fish
ing or bird's-nesting, or apple-stealing,
with the young Arabs in the vicinity.
So, gradually, bright, handsome Ralph
W began to be looked upon by the
bows of his native village, and therefore
by their parents, as a sort of milk-sop-
a mothers boy; and the wiseacres said,
"Why doesn't the woman send that boy
away to school, and try to make some
thing of him; he will be ruined if he
remains at home with her all his life
But, in reality, not a boy in the village
seemed so little in danger of suffering
from the influences of his life, as this
same Ralph. He was his mothers boy
in every respect. He was like her, in
the possession of a sound, sweet, health
full nature, which naturally gravitated
towards all good things, and as natural
" felt repealed by false and evil ones.
Their lives were natural and spOn-
tancous as it was possible to be. Inev-
er have known 4 woman who was so
good, and who said so little about it, as
Mrs. W. She often thought herself
that perhaps she did not say enough to
Ralph in the way of exhortation, warn
ing and appeal; but their lives were so
simple ard so happy, that there. seemed
to be no necessity for disciplinary meas
ures and if there had been, she would
have felt that she deserved them far
more than her boy, who was so good to
her-who was the comfort of her life,
her companion, and even, in a certain
sense, her protector.
How could she think of him as a milk
sop, or as likely to be weakened by con
slant association with her, when she
knew that she relied upon him, and that
this reliance had developed every manly
attribute of his nature.
1t was early on Christmas morning
in the year IS, that l first made Mas
ter Ralph's acquaintance. | had a little
Christmas Gift for his mother, who was
one of my brothers. parishioners; and
although | knew of the close relation
between mother and son, yet was re-
cent conner, and up to that time had on
" seen Ralph at distance.
He was engaged in carrying in wood,
and piling it up at the back of the stove,
in which brisk fire was burning. |
explained my errand, and was immedi-
ately taken into confidence, and two
pretty pictures exhibited, enclosed in
rustic frames of his own making, which
had been prepared as a surprise for his
mother on Christmas morning.
''She is not up yet" he said, with
sparkling eyes, s'for she went TO bed
late last night, and l shall have the table
all fixed ready before call her, and
she'll be so glad to have the pictnres,
fnr she docs NOT know a word ahnnf