St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-04-01
If I Were a Boy Again.
A Plain Talk with My Nephews
BY JAMES 7. FIELDS.

Let me tell you, my dear lads, some
of the things | would do if | were a boy
again-some of the too-often neglected
acts would strive to accomplish if it
were i'll my power to begin all over
anew.
This paper was written expressly for
you young fellows who are beginning
to think tor yourselves, and are not
averse to hearing what an old boy, who
loves you, has to say to his younger
fellow students.
When we are no longer young we
look back and see where we might have
done better and learned more, and the
things we have neglected rise up and
mOrtify us every day of our lives. May
| enumerate some of the important
matters, large and small, that if l were
boy again | would be more particular
about
l think / would learn to use my left
hand just as freely as my right one, so
that if anything happened to lame Ell
Their of them, the other would be all
ready to write and "handle things just
as if nothing had occurred. There is
no reason in the world why both hands
should not be educated alike. A little
practice would soon render one set of
| fingers just as expert as the other; and
| have known people who never thought
when Il thing was TO be done, which
particular hand ought to do it, but the
hand nearest the object took hold of it
and did the office desired.
| would accustom myself to 60 about
in the dark, and not be obliged to have
lamp or candle on every occasion.
| Too many of us are slaves to the day
| light, and decline to move forward an
inch unless everything is visable. One
of the most cheerful persons | ever knew
was a blind old man, who had lost his
sight by an accident at sea during ear
| ly manhood. He went everywhere, and
could find things more easily than
could. When his wife wanted spool
of cotton, or pair of scissors from up
stairs, the gallant old gentleman went
without saying a word and brought it
He never asked any one to reach him
this or that object, but seemed to have
the instinct of knowing just where ii
was and how to get at it.
Surprised at his power of finding
things, asked him one day for an ex-
PLANTATION, and he told ME that when be
was a boy on board a vessel, it occurred
to him that he might some time or 9th.
er be deprived of sight, and he resolved
to begin early in life to rely more on 8
sense of feeling than be had ever done
before. And so he used to wander, by
way of practice all over the ship il
black midnight, going down below, ant
climbing around anywhere and every
. h. NI,N ln ,.rbt Nf III.
ness, not become wholly helpless anC
of no account in the world. In this way
he had educated himself to do withou
eyes when it became his lot to live 1
} sightless man.
would learn the art of using tool:
of various sorts. | think | would insis
on learning some trade, even if | knew
there would be no occasion to follow i
J when l grew up. What pleasure it is
in after life, to be able to make some
thing, as the saying is! to construct
neat box to hold ones pen aud paper
or pretty cabinet for sisters libra
ry; or to frame a favorite engravin,
for Christmas present to a dear, kline
mother. What a loss not to know how
J to mend a chair that refuses to stand NJ
strong only because it needs a few tack
! and a bit of leather here aud there
r Some of us cannot even drive a mai
{ straight 4; and should we attempt t
saw off an obtrusive piece of wood, tel
} to one we should lose a finger in tn
. operation.
1t is a pleasant relaxation from book
, and study to work an hour every da
in a tool shop; and my friend, tn
learned and lOvable Prof. Oliver Wen
! dell Holmes, finds such a comfort i
: "mending things" his active brai
needs repOse, that he sometimes break
a piece of furniture on purpose that h
may have the relief of putting it to
, gether again much better than it wa
: before. He is as good mechanic a
= he is a poet but there is nothing me
chanical about his poetry, as all know
} who have read his delightful pieces
r An English author of great repute sal
I to me not long ago, professor Holme
= is writing the best English of our time.
= and l could not help adding, "Ye:
t and inventing the best stereoscopei
= too -
D / think | would ask permission, if
i, had happened to be born in a city, t
l have the opportunity Of passing all m
' vacations in the country, that | Nigh
] learn the names of trees and flower
e and birds. We are as people sadl
| ignorant of all accurate rural know
J edge. We guess at many country thing
r but we are certain of very few.
1t is inexcusable in person like M
s amiable neighbor Simkius, who live
I from May to November on a farm of 6
0 acres in a beautiful wooded country
: not to know a maple from a beach, {