Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-06-08
PUBLIC LEDGER.
rnIpAr rvEsrNe, JusE 5. lss8
The Good Boy.

ANN--N
Bow" Not an issue comes out bu
it's 1.-THE Bad Boy" Then again the.
are equally demented on the SambC
dialect. They are wild about educat'
ing his descendants, and yet thel
crowd their columns with unneaninl
.sgibberishn and miserable urthogra'
ply" incident to slavish period
Whole nations sometimes 60 crazy
about war, fashions, religion and poll
tics; and now the newspapers seem to
have lost their reason in the dissent
nation and publication of discon-
nected, senseless jargon, neither in
structive, funny nor witty, thereby
disessing and vitiating the morbid ap-
petite of restless, imatiable, excita'
bic public.
AS with dialect, so with ''The Bad
Boy" They have modified his bad
ness, humored his meanness, condoned
his wickednes, while even the father
and mother, overlooking his faults,
pat him on the head and call him
their "lah de dah," their hearts
delight" until he has become
irreTocably bad = almost beyond
REDEMPTION. We for our own part
don't fancy "The Bad Boy" (although
we have some kids ourselves) that puts
pins in the bottom of the chairs tor
the benefit Of the family; that ties tags
to his uncle's coat tails, makes mouths
at his mother, sticks hot pokers to the
nose of the yard dog, ties crackers to
the cats tail, raps the knuckles of his
biz sister with the shoe brush, cheWs
tobacco. smokes cigarettes, writes
notes to the girls, curses like a sailor.
comes home late ct night, plays truant
from school and hates his books, on
the principle of 'go it while you re
young, for when you get old you
can't" -. +,
the boy that minds his mother, minds
his father. kisses his sister, pets his
little buddy, goes to school, learns his
lessons, who knows how to behave
himself, abroad or at home. who
neither drinks nor chews, nor swears;
who goes to Sunday school and the
church, and says his prayers at night.
Yesl the good boy, who is lively, tract
able, though youthfully mischievOus.
1t is a fact that corrupt men,
scbeming men, bad men, generally
manage to get the Offices and the
spoils: while the honest men have to
stay at home AID earn their bread by
the sweat OF their face. So it is with
the bad boy. He manages to get in
the newspapers, books are written
about him, he is heralded all over
Christendom, from the north pole to
the south pole, as somewhat OF
model, thereby increasing the bad
BOYS, while the good boy has to plod
along. unhonOred, unnoticed and I'M
known. Now, what Incentive has a
bow to be a good boy2 Why none.
No matter what the newspapers may
saw. the good boy is a Ohristian-hes
an Abel, that offers up sacrifices with
good intentions-he is gentleman, a
Ghevalier Bayard, without reproach.
On the contrary, The Bad Boy"
is sinner, a yeritable Cain, sur
charged with treason, strata
gem and spells, a rough, a rowdyi
an unmitigated lOafer and scamp. DE
is everywhere but where he ought to
be. Put him to work aHd he Is out
and gone, like Changers eye. He
hates work and everything else but
devilment. He's an untamed Jumbo,
more vicious than a wild cat or
grave digging hyena. He nauseates
us worse than pop skull whisky or a
cabbage, He's an exoreseHce, and
even an eating cancer on the body oil
society. He Vitiates everything ne
touches, infects all the boys he associ.
ates with; and is more to be dreaded
by mothers than the small pox or the
seven year itch. Some used up man
in his old age, when he was raeking
with rheumatism wrote
"Tm further of from Heaven
Than when l was boy"
The Lord held him if he's no nearer
than "Peck's Bad Boy"
1.-THE Good Boy" is a model; he
deserves praise and commentator; he
shall be lsuded. We intend to write a
book about him. he shall be a sun,
star, an electric Iight-he shall that
We love "The Good Boy" with has
shiny morning face, his cherub smile
of innocence and health, with his
shout. his songs his bursts Of joy-the
Lord bless 1.-The Good Boy" even il
he does sometimes fly around and blow
his whistle and hack cherry trees. like
another Ben Franklin or George
Washington. But we everlastingly
tetotally, irreconcilably and irrepress
IDLY dislike THE Bad Boy" and hi
ways. We saw one the other day, il
our wanderings, about knee high to
duck, with cigarette in his mouth
reminding US Of pig with straw il
his snout, making mouths at his grand
mother, while she was scolding hin
for eating up the baby's candy, rock
ing his sister with clods, and pokin
the milch COW with fence rail, an,
we felt like putting head on him
Yes, we own up, whenever we NEE
with one, we feel like beating hin
within an inch Of his life, with snak
pole.
at mends their minds never mind the pain.