The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-05-24
PICKS BAD BOY AND HIS PA.
BY GEosGE W. PECK.

"Ah.l good morning.. said the grocery man to the bad boy. as he was going by without looking towards the store. "Cone ;n. and lets talk over the state 0. the country.
 Well, what part of the country shall we begin on :" asked the boy. as he came m and husked a few strawberries from A box, and complained because the grocery man did not put cream and sugar on them. Shall VIC toueh on finances, politics, religion or agriculture :"
 Enhances said the groceyman. as he laid down paper in which he had been reading of tae Grant failure. took of his spectaoles. wiped them on piece of manila paper and pu; them in lin case. What do you think sf the trick Grants sons played on the old man :: That's about as bad as any o. the tricks you have played on your Pa, Hennery l should not be surprised to see the New York papers accuse you of being respon- sibie for the downfall of the Grant boys, as tAey accuse you of running all the boys that go wrong"
 70, the Grant boys arc like lots of other boys all over the country, and Grant IS like many fathers, of less busi- ness sagacity. Grant IS good man 10 sit around and draw a pension. and wait for another WAT. He IS entitled to live like king, and have all expenses paid by the government he perpetuate9 by his military genius, but he IS not equal to running peanut stand. There should be law 10 prohibit him from trying 10 get into business. and no one should be allowed 10 kanoodle him into the use of his name to catch suckers. Grant made the mistake that nearly all fathers make. in thinking his sons are smarter than other boys. Because Grant was sue cessful soldier, 1t was no evidence tha, his boys were above the average. They were ordinary boys, had an ordinary education, and would have stood as good a chance as most boys in running a grocery, reporting on a daily paper, ar brakins on freight train. and in any of these positions they might have failed and they might have been successful, and come 10 the front. But because their father was a good soldier, the boys thought they could run a business that would paraiyze the ablest 6nancieT m this country, and the poor old father was induced 10 believe his boys were made of better material than other boys, and he lent his name 10 their wildcat foolish enterprises. and they al once owned the earth. Some one else owned the earth under them. but they owned il on top, and they got the big head, and competed with Inillionaires who had more i..oney than they could possibly spend, and for year or two you have read more about the style the Grants were putting on than you have of the Astors and Nanderbilts. Whilethe latter were spending money that had already been earned, and laid up, the Grants were discounting the future and spending money borrowed on the strength of the name of their pa. Now that t IS over, anybody can see what fools they were, and what weak old father Grant was, and they will drop down to their level, and if they ever amount to anything again, it will be from what they earn, un- less they are weak enough to help spend the money that grateful people contrib used to their father, and should think they would be about equal to that emer- gency. It IS clear case of big head on tke part of the whole fam fly, and nobody is sorry for any of them except the pa and ma It is not entirely the common boys like me that make trouble for their parents You would think that the sons of great men, statesmen, soldiers and scholars, would be perfect models for us boys to