Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-04-23
BRIEF MISCELLANY.
OUR LITTLE FOLKS.

BRIEF MISCELLANY.
OUR LITTLE FOLKS.
Legend Of tho Ground Hog.
4 ground hog climbed mp TO the mouth Of his hole
rS. nse Z. no sn to
For hs said I've some foes, and I know who they
Ba. e thought 10 would 1t. to know whether
Tho long, cheer1ess winter was certainly o'er,
Or whether 'tNould Hnger for six weeks or more.
He pseped sIyly out-,twas dull, cloudy day,
And the prospect was dismal and gloomy; 49,
But It suited him well, for he bolted right out,
And the way that he froiicked and gamboled about
: Showed liking for places moro roomy
Than the close and contracted, though snug little
In which he'd been aleeping a. blind a. mole.
What queer look he hadl You'd have thought
80, I'm sure, "'~3'h'1.-=s -~s@s
IL H.a 4, yon caught s but glimpse Of the fellow;
That were black, for the fourth was Is white As
While his fur VA. q mixed gray and yellow;
And right ianky was he With famishing nav,
He rose with an appetite, doubtless you'll think
Twas exactly his own way of thinking;
80 he made up his mind that ned soon have his
To garden hard by started of with will,
And the sight that he saw set him blinking;
For splendid repAst to his taste there he found
In the winter fruit scattered all oyer the ground.
He had only just taken 9 nibble or two
When he noticed chill wind ALLOWING:
And TO- and behold he could scarce trust his eyes,
For clear azure streak showed itself in the skies,
And soon the bright sun, too. was showing;
His shadow he saw, and with piteous dole
he cried, out too soonl I must back to my
Ar1 fo~
-Wm. n. Pe0sana, In St. Nicholas.
City Boys Chances.
= Can anything be done to give boys in
the city better chance2
:: Yes; there are some things that can
be done, and that must be done. Our
system of education must be modified
80 as to provide industrial as we'll as
mental training. The education of the
hands, the education of the eye, the
education of the Judgment, the educa-
ton OF the will, that boy gets by learn
ing to work, are of more consequence
to him in future life than arithmetic
and geography and grammar. These
last are of great Importance, but those
first are of greaser importance; and It's a
poor system of education that makes no
provision for them.
It is habits rather than methods of
industry, however, that you need to
learn; and many of you find some op-
portunities of learning these about your
own homes, if you viii look for them.
There is considerable work of one kind
or another that boys can do-that some
boys do-in connection with the house
or the garden or the grounds; and, if
you will shoulder this, and do it well
and faithfully, the exercise and the
training will be very profitable to you,
and may be very helpful to your par
ents.
Furthermore, there is plenty of chance
for you to do faithful, mental work.
To begin with, there is your every
day school-work, to which some of you
might give good deal more time, with
great profit. If you will take the
studies that you like least, and 20 at
them with the determination to master
them; if you will put yourselves right
down to the disagreeable parts of your
school work with steady patience, and
hold yourselves to them till they are
thoroughly done, you will get in such
victories as these a discipline of will
that is almost as good as you would get
in hoeing stony potato-feld. Beside,
there are lines of reading or of study
that you could take up in connection
with your school work in which you
would find the best kind of discipline.
If the boy who now spends almost all
his afternoons in the park, or visiting
boy friends, and almost all his evenings
at his club, or at the music hall, and
who fills in the intervals of leisure with
Fireside Library stories, will make up
his mind to give at least two solid hours
Of every day to the reading Of some in
structive book-doing it of his own &C.
cord, doing it thoroughly, not fooling
around with the book in his hand, but
holding his attention right to it, wheth-
er he is specially interested in it or not,
till he comprehends it and fixes it in
his mind-that will prove to him most
valuable training. The bov who can do
thing like this can make man of him
self. He is not the chap to be elbowed
off the track by country boys, nor by
anybody else.
OF course you ought to have chance
to play. A boy likes to play, and a
school-boy needs to play. [ should
wish my boys to have at least two hours
every day of good, wholesome, vigorous
outdoor sport; so much as that would
not hurt them, am sure-though that
is a great deal more than I had. But
am equally sure that all those city boys
who really expect to hold their own in
the great competition of the world must
give less time to idleness and play and
foolish reading, and put their minds
and their wills in training for the seri-
GUS work of life.-Washingto11 Glad
den, in st. Nicholas.