The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-06-07
THE PkovERBIALpAD 1of.I
TIT. s. Keller. in UFsca Pfess. !

kfx- D. he0cfs m UTICA fxeSS.i In behalf of that much-abused s.bad
 boy," am constrained to take uo the pen in defense. in the first place he isn- |
 half so black as he is painted. am
 we'll aware of the fact that, as a rule, he is not favoxife of susceptible ladies oi questionable age, who .abhor-or pre- tend to to-anything in the shape of manly
 brooches. To such, the bad boy is a terror, and he knows it; if he didn't, he'd cease to make himself SO eyerlastinply odious in their estimation.
 Let the bad boy know to a surety that you dislike him, and you open up a channel of tribulations that is productive of much disaster, especially if you own an orchard, gate that can be lifted from the hinges, or dog with a rail long enough to fasten a can to.
 There is much truth in the old adage -"You can catch more flies with molasses thar you can with vinegar" The pro- verbal bad boy" is just like one ol those self-same flies. Give him a dose of molasses and you win him for life but one drop Of vinegar, and he is your re- lentless foe As true and devoted friend, the "bad boy" is a success as an enemy, he IS as great a success. In his overcoming brain are schemes which
 will cause your hair to rise in horror and in that same brain arc gendered acts of kindness which are capable of thrilling your heart to thevery core.
 Some one says that the bad boy has too much rope If he has you are to blame. You give him the wrong sort of rope. It is full of hard, cross-gr grained, sour, vindictive knots. If you had given him rope of a different material there would bo no danger of his dropping suddenly from the end oft.
 am acquainted with one of the sweet est dispositioned boys in all the world. He is bright, quick. and a perfect little gentleman when you treat him as a human being should be. He will 20 a
 mile out of his way to assist a cripple over the fence; he will go as far to fasten can to Browns dogs tail. Brown has carloads of apples: he'd rather see them rot upon the ground than give one to the bad boy" He wouldn'. give a boy an apple for anything. Oh, no; not he. He hates boys; they're a nuisance, he says. The result is, his dog chases his nose often to I'd himself of The dis agreeable, rattling can fastened to his tail
 There is poor old lady who lives all alone in little cottage just across the road from the bad boys home. That boy never goes to school withou, drop ping in to see if the old lady has plenty of wood in the box. Call him a bad boy m her presence and she'll quickly tell you that the world would be better with lots more of just such bad boys in it.
 l am no admirer of that personihcation of goody-goody boy who never did bad thing m ali his life. ..s isa'; a 5oy he's only little machine, wound up 10 go for, say ten, twenty years. Then, when he is for the first time really tempt cd, the cogs refuse to move and the wheels no longer revolve with their wonted smoothness; a bolt drops out and he falls. When the goody-goody boy falls it is 'ong, long fall, and it takes years to recover his lost prestige. de- test and hate that evil-minded boy who has never the sign of a redeeming quality about him. He helps fill the prisons early m life; yet there may be extenu- ating circumstances surrounding his case If so, let those who bear him near kinshlp begin to practice early. or else prison bars, rope and scaffold Bu, the proverb,al bad boy" the boy of rollick- ing laughter, rosy cheeks, the boy who will help a poor old woman over the gutter, then hasten away to attach tick tack to some Miss Snodgrasses' window is person I've always loved. This sor, of boy makes things lively when he's growing but grown up-what a model