The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-09-20
Train the Boys to Business.

There Is one element In the nome ln-
struction of boys to which too little atten-
ton has been given, and that is the culti-
walton of habits of punctuality, system,
order and responsibility.
In many household boys lives between
twelve and seventeen years are generally
the calmest of their existence. Up in the
morning Just in season for breakfast; moth
ing to do but to start off early enough not
to be late; looking upon an errand as tax
ing SO much time and memory away from
enjoyment; little thought of personal ap-
pearance except when reminded by mother
to ''spruce up little; find his wardrobe
always where mother put it; in fact having
nothing to do but enjoy himself. Thus
his life goes on until school ends. Then
he is ready for business. Vain thought!
At this point he perhaps meets with his
great struggle. Many times during our
business experience have we witnessed
failures caused by the absence Of thor
ough home discipline. How the boy with
out this great advantage fails is thus fairly
described by the Scientific american:
He goes into an Office where everything
is system, order, precision. He is expected
to keep things neat and orderly, sometimes
kindle fires or do errands-in short, to be-
come part of nicely regulated machine
where everything moves in systematic
grooves, and each one is responsible for
correctness in his department, and where
in place of ministers to his comfort he finds
taskmasters, more or less leRient to be sure,
and everything in marked contrast to his
previous life, In many instances the change
is too great Errors become very numer-
Gus; blunders overlooked at first, get to be
matter of serious moment; then patience
is oyertasked, and the boy is told his SER
vices are no longer needed. This is the
first blow, and sometimes he never rallies
from it. Then comes the surprise of the
parents, who too often never know the real
cause, nor where they have failed in the
training of the children.
What is wanted is for every boy to have
something to do; to have some duty at a
definite hour, and to learn to watch for that
time to come; to be answerable for certain
portion of the routine of the household; to
be trained to anticipate the time when he
may enter the ranks of business, and be
fortified with habits of energy, accuracy,
and application, often of more Importance
than superficial book-learning
The spread of infectious disease, through
the agency of milk constituted one Of the
subjects of discussion at recent confer
enee held in the Health Exhibition. DIR.
Thursfeld said the consumption of unboil-
cd milk might literally be said to bring the
consumer into close connection with the
animal from which it was drawn, and al
ways to some extent, and often most init
mately, with the family and domestic ar
rangements of at le,lst. one household, and
frequently two. The wonder was that not
50 many but SO few bad consequences had
hitherto been traced to milk. Ifthere was
one fact which more than another had been
uniformly brought out in the records of
milk epidemics, it was that the consumers
of boiled milk had, as rule, escaped; and
the same had been noted in outbreaks of
an American epizootic, which was readily
transmissible to man, known as 'sthe milk
sickness" To boil milk might be said,
for practical purposes, to confer immunity
from infection by its means Professor
De Chaumont believed that frequent way
in which enteric fever was conveyed by
milk was the adulteration of it with impure
water.