The Baltimore County union., 1884-09-20
Short Talk with the Boys.
III. Quad, in Detroit Free Press.

WHAT'S the matter that you can't re-
fer to them as your father and mother
Suppose your parents should speak Of
you as "the kid" or "the fy2" You'd
soon begin to think you had been born
into the wrong family. The son who
is ashamed of his parents ought to be
ashamed of himself.
Suppose their ways are old fashioned
and their grammar little off, and they
don't feel like keeping up with the fash
ions of the day. Not one father or
mother in ten had the advantages you
enjoy. Forty or fifty years ago they
walked three or four miles to a country
school to pick up little learning,
while now you are talking of going to
college. They began poor and have
toiled and labored and saved for their
children. You just remember that
things have greatly changed in this
country. Years ago calico dress was
seen at church far oftener than a silk.
Men went to meeting clad in homespun.
The rule in most houses was for the
children to stand up and eat. The big
gest piece of pie went to father and
mother, and children were not allowed
to sit up until ten O'Clock at night, or
to aroue a-1u0orrUn alter the heaQ OF
the family had decided it.
My boy, don't get any foolish no.
tions into your head. If your father
is old and gray and bent-if your
mother is tembling and weak and has
no care for the frivolities of this day,
it is toll which these days of hard work,
and nights full of anxiety that their
children might be spared the same lavish
life. Where they wore blue jeans you
have broadcloth. Where they ate
Johnnycake you have sweet cake and
pie. Where their mode of life and
forced economy prevented them from
enjoying society, amusements or books,
just think how you made the shillings
fly, and what is offered to interest and
amuse you.
Now let's have word to say about
economy. I've been right among you,
and l know that you want this, that and
the other, and "want it bad" Up to
the time of the war if one of the boys
of that day had dime to spend for
Fourth of July, he thought himself well
fixed. The boys want fine dollars
apiece nowadays, and that's all gone
before noon.
If we got a new book it was consid-
cred great piece ofextravagance. The
lad who had cash enough to walk into
a panoramic exhibition, buy a pair of
skates, or treat himself to sweetmeats
was looked upon by the rest of us as a
Jay Gould.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't
have money and use it, but right there
is vital point. Be sure that you really
need what you buy. Ask yourself if it
will pay1 Money is the wheels on which
t5hfN 81 iYq51mgoYes a.,Aseopiea the habit
brought out and you'll by and by have
a second hand museum and no cash to
run it.
1 dislike stingy boy, but when
see lad planking his nickles down at
the desk of savings bank | know that
he is one of the future men who is 60
ing to build our railroads and do our
wholesale business. There's big dill
ference between being stingy and eco
nomical. The richest men IN America
are liberal in giving to churches, asy-
lums and to the unfortunate, but they
never waste. They don't indulge IN
this or that simply because they have
money enough to pay for it.
Now, if you are about fifteen years
old you've got sneaking idea into
your head that it's big thing to use
and oath occasionally. You never
made a greater mistake 1t is true
many men use more or less oaths, but
| would like to have you find one who
isn't ashamed of it! It's mean habit,
for it is habit. l know you can point
to the greatest men in the land and
prove that they spit out oaths, but that
no reason why you should follow suit
There isn't swearer in this country
who doesn't feel quiet satisfaction IN
sitting down to converse with man
whose language is clean and pure
There's nothing manly in using an
oath. Swearing is about the first thing
YOU hear from the lips of a fool OF
drunkard. Even heather can swear.
Now, don't get the idea that 1 want
you to be too good. The too good boy
is a nuisance. He was born to be an
angel, but they forgot to spike on the
wings. Go to the circus? Certainly
I know there are people in this world
who look upon a circus as the next
thing to a visit from old Satan himself,
but they ought to have lived forty years
ago. If you were my boy I'd walk IN
show you every animal and curiosity,
and then we'd take a reserved seat and
see the circus. When man has train
ed a horse or mule or dog to obey
him with almost human intelligence ne
has proved to you the practical value
of patience and perseverance. Every
shade of men will stop on the streets tt
see man lift, or to watch jumping
match. Then why deprive you OF th'
| performance of an athlete, who ha
spent years to bring his strength ant
agility to perfection.
want my boy to rub against every
day in life little while he is boy. l
he has the idea that hunters life l
full of juicy buffalo steak and victorie
over grizzlies I'm gong to send hin
into the woods for a week to live OF
woodchuck meat, carry cold in hi
head and be jumped out of his boot
the first time an owl boots. If he ask
for money I'm going to give it to him
but want to sit down on a Saturda
night and see how he spent it, and sho'
up some of his foolish bargains. If h
wants to sail the bounding billow
know of lake captain who will tax
him on trip from Detroit to Saginaw
and if he can't cure him in just on
voyage nobody else need try.
Sit down and talk to your boy as yo
would to your brother. Don't bul
doze because you happen to be h