The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-08-02
IF I Were a Boy Again.

the things 1 would do, if l were boy
again, some of the too often neglected
acts l would strive to accomplish, if it
were in my power to begin all over
anew. This paper was expressly written
for you young fellows, who are beginning
to think of yourselves, and are not averse
to hearing what an old boy who loves
you, has to say to his younger fellow
students.
would learn the art of using tools OF
various sorts. think 1 would insist on
learning some trade even if 1 knew there
would be no occasion to follow it when l
grew up. What pleasure it is in after
life to be able to make something, as the
saying is-to construct meat box to hold
ones pen and paper, or a pretty cabinet
for sisters library, or to frame favor
lite engraving for Christmas present to
dear kind mother. What loss not to
know how to mend a chair that refuses
to stand up strong. only because it needs
few tacks and bit of leather here and
there Some of us can not even drive a
nail straight, and, should we attempt to
saw off an obtrusive piece of wood, ten
to one we should lose finger in the OPP
Grafton.
1t is pleasant relaxation from books
and study to work an hour every day III
a tool shop; and my friend, the learned
and lovable Prof Oliver Wendell Holmes,
finds such comfort in " mending things,
when his active brain needs repose, that
he sometimes breaks piece of furniture
on purpose, that he many have the re
lief of putting it together again much
better than it was before. He is as good
a mechanic as he poet.
think l would ask permission, if
happened to be born in city, to have the
opportunity of passing all my vacations
in the country, that l might learn the
names of trees and flowers and birds. We
are, as people, sadly ignorant of all
accurate rural knowledge. We guess al
many country things, but we are certain
of very few. 1t is inexcusable in person
like my amiable neighbor Simpkins, who
lives from May to November on
farm of sixty acres in beautiful wooded
country, not to know a maple from
beech, or bobolink from catbird. He
once handed me bunch of pansies and
called them violets, and on another oc-
casion heI mistook sweet-peas for gerani-
ums
What right has a human being, while
the air is full of bird-music, to be wholly
ignorant of the performers name? A boy
ought to be at home in barn, and learn
how to harness a horse, tinker up
wagon, feed the animals, and do hun
dred useful things, the experience of
which may be of special service to him in
after life as an explorer or traveller, when
unlooked-for emergencies befall him.
have seen an ex-President of the United
States, when an old man, descend from
his carriage, and re-arrange buckles and
straps about his horse when an accident
occurred, while the clumsy coachman
stood by in kind of hopeless inactivity
not knowing the best thing to be done
The ex:Preisdent told me he had learned
about such matters on farm in his boy
hood, and he was never at loss for
remedies on the road when his carriage
broke down.
If [ were boy again. would learn
how to row a boat and handle sail
and, above all, how to become proof
against sea-sickness. Of course, every
young person nowadays, male or female,
learns to swim, so no advice on that score
needs he profered but, if 1 were boy
again, l would learn to float half day
if necessary, in as rough bit of water
as could find on our coast. A boy Of
fifteen who can not keep his head and
legs all right in stiff sea ought tory
until he can. No lad in these days ought
to drown.
would keep better hours" if were
a boy again, that is, would go to bed
earlier than most boys do. Nothing
gives more mental and bodily vigor than
sound rest, when properly applied. Sleep
is our great replenisher; and, if we neg
lect to take it naturally in childhood, all
the worse for us when we grow up. If
we 90 to bed early, we ripen, if we sit
up late, we decay and sooner or later
we contract disease called insomnia, al
lowing it to be permanently fixed upon
ne, and then we decay even in youth
Late hours are shadows from the grave.
If were boy again, | would have a
blank book in which / could record, before
going to bed, every days events just as
they happened to me personally. If /
began by writing only two lines a day in
my diary, would start my little book
and faithfully put down what happened
to interest me. On its pages I would
note down the habits of birds and animals
| 90 ,o en-, "a ON onJ &c 4Lo borgo fo11 III