Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-07-23
The Careless hoy.
"Where's my hat?"
SWho's snan nv knife?r

where's my hatr"
"Who's seen my knife?"
'Who turned my coat wrong side out
and slung it under the lounge?"
There you go, my boy! When you
came into the house last evening you
flung your hat across the room. jumped
out of your shoes and kicked ;em right
and left, wriggled out of your coat and
gave it toss, and now you are annoyed
because each article hasn't gathered it.
self into chair to be ready for you
when you dress in the morning. Who
cut those shoe-strings? You did 1t to
save one minutes time in untying theml
Your knife is under the bed, where 1T
rolled when you hoped, skipped, and
jumped out of your pants. Your col
lar is down behind the bureau, one of
your socks on the foot of your bed, and
your vest may be in the kitchen wood
box for all you know.
Now, then, my way has always been
the easiest way. had rather fling my
hat down than to hang it up; I'd rath-
er kick my boots under the lounge than
place 'em in the hall; I'd rather run
the risk of spelling new coat than to
change it. l own right up to being
reckless and slovenly, but, ahl mel
haven't had to pay far it ten times
overl Now, set your foot right down
and determine to have order. 1t is a
trait that can be acquired. An orderly
man can make Two suits of clothes last
longer ard look better than a slovenly
man can do with four. He can save
1, Iax- n w
filings things helter skelter. He stands
twice the show to get a situation and
keep it, and five times the show to con-
duct business with profit,
An orderly man will be an accurate
man. If he is carpenter, every joint
will fit. If he is turner, his goods
Will look neat. If he Is a merchant,
his books will show neither blOts nor
errers. An orderly man Is most always
an economical man, and always a pru-
dent one. If you should ask me how
to become rich, l should answer: "Be
orderly-be accurate"
Now, about school. Nine boys out
of ten look upon school something in
the light of a Juvenile prison. They
are more than half right. The idea
seems TO be to command a boy to open
his mouth and swallow as fast and as
much as he can bite off, and many of
the rules and regulations are too cap
tlous to have come from sensible men.
But, hark you; ignorance means vice,
crlme-degradation. The man with
out education must make his muscles
earn him a dollar day, where brains
would earn him s.. The more ignorant
the man the more naturally he becomes
a law-breaker. Education will enable
you to compete with capital. 1t will
make capital for you. Only, if you
were my boy I'd educate you In par
ticular and not in general. l mean by
that, that if you want 10 be lawyer |
wouldn't let you fritter away two or
three years in n'algebra, astronomy and
the dead languages. If you wanted
to become doctor wouldn't educate
you for a lawyer. If you had a fancy
to become civil engineer I'd push you
in algebra instead of colonial history.
As the case stands in our schools to-day
every boy must study what one does.
No two of them will probably follow
the same pursuit in life, but all were
thrown into the same hopper and the
mill set going.
Now about recreation. a boy who
attends school five daysa week shouldn't
be set TO splitting wood or hoeing corn
on the sixth. The labor of gong to
school is just rs hard for growing boy
as showing jack-plane is for a man.
Saturday ought to be his own day, and
so acknowledged. Twenty-Five years
ago the father who couldn't find other
work for his boy would throw down a
fence and set him TO rebuilding. The
idea was to work him. No thought
was given to the anatomy of boy.
Nobody seemed to realize that his
bones were soft, his joints easily put
out of order, and his muscles in such
condition that too much work must
use him up. Find Inc a stIff-legged
man, bow-backed man, a lOp-shoul-
dered man, a man whose spinal column
is out of plumb, and III prove to you
nine times out of ten that he was over
worked as boy.